Biblical Creation and Evangelism

Some professing Christians are setting themselves up as authorities to say that God did not mean what he said in the Bible. This is a serious problem. Unfortunately, gullible people are being deceived about our alleged goodness, and humanoids that existed before Adam. Credit: Unsplash / Krys Amon American author John H. Walton has some odd views that can be considered Gnostic , and Irish theologian Niamh Middleton presents some beliefs that are truly off the rails. These sidewinders are not only rejecting biblical authority, but are also accommodating atheistic views of origins as well when they accommodate theistic evolution. False teachings like these seriously damage the gospel message. Today, many modern writers who describe themselves as evangelicals openly disagree with the core Christian doctrine of original sin. Some argue instead that Jesus seeks out original goodness in us. They reject a historical Fall in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve rebelled against the clear instru

The immediate reaction from some people would be that God stopped his creation work, as stated in Gen. 2:2, Ex. 20:11 and 31:17. It may be surprising to learn that God is still creating today, but in a different way than he did in the beginning. Credit: Photos Public Domain This is not like some owlhoots who say God is still creating today through theistic evolution. No, he didn't transform a pre-Adamite group of subhumans by giving them souls in a mangled metaphor of Genesis. There are certain acts of creation that are still happening today. God created both man and animals with  nephesh , which means life or soul (see " Brain and Body are not the Soul " for more in-depth material that also refutes naturalistic claims). He is not creating new stuff like he did during creation week, but makes some things out what already exists. Then there's the news in 2 Cor. 5:17 that is so important to Christians. But didn’t God rest from His creation work on Day Seven? The correc

There are some professing Christians who insist on finding ways of adding long ages into the Bible, but they ignore the context. While the context is frequently the surrounding verses, it can also mean culture, languages, and more. We look now at make  and create . Credit: Freeimages / Fernanda Ferrari Those owlhoots have attempted to bushwhack the plain meaning of Scripture by saying that they are different aspects of creation, and that make  means using material that was already created. Their eisegesis becomes heinous when their alleged distinction is used to give them license to add millions of years. Some even try to shove evolution into the picture. It won't work, especially when the greater context includes the New Testament. Many people who have written on Genesis 1 have attempted to make a very significant distinction between two Hebrew words found there: bara (בָּרָא, to create) and asah (עָשָׂה, to make or do). Theistic evolutionists (TEs) and old-earth creationists (O

There are professing Christians who believe that the Genesis Flood was a local event. Worse, some say it was allegorical. Mayhaps they were not taught well, have not seriously read the Bible — or fully believe it. Denying the global Flood has serious repercussions.

Moses, under the inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV) of God, did not give us many details about the identity of the Nephilim  in the sixth chapter of Genesis. There are many speculations and even controversies about them and the "sons of God" circulating for a long time. Credit: Pixabay /  Stefan Keller Who were these mighty men of renown that perished in the Genesis Flood? There seem to be four major views about them. The article that is linked below is a revised section of the book Alien Intrusion  by Gary Bates ( my video review is here ), showing that each view appears to have biblical support to some extent, but only one seems to make the most sense. Probably the most often-used and controversial passage of Scripture by pro-ETH (extra-terrestrial hypothesis) UFOlogists is the account of “the sons of God” and their resultant offspring, the Nephilim.  . . .  For proponents of the ancient astronaut and astrogenesis theories, the “sons of God” or even the Nephil

Perhaps, as some tinhorns claim, those who deny Genesis and recent creation try to appear moderate or reasonable. After all, science has proven that evolution happened and that Earth is billions of years old, right? Not hardly! Such antics are expected from those who ride for the atheism brand, but it is not fitting for professing Christians to do so. Image credits: Original from Morguefile / JCKL8888 , then processed through PhotoFunia People who have little or no understanding of theology, even though they may have attended a church, often reject the plain reading of Genesis because evolution. Because uniformitarianism. Because science. Because they want to look intelligent in the eyes of enemies of God. Because rejection of biblical authority. People also compromise because their church leaders are liberal in their theology or have not bothered to think through how Genesis affects the gospel message. While Christians need to understand God's Word, their leaders have a gr

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Since the Coronavirus has several names and there are several corona viruses, I think the best thing to do is stay with COVID-19 in this context. People refer to COVID-19 as evil , but more specifically it is a natural evil  as opposed to moral evil . Bible-believing Christians know that natural evils are the result of the fall of man way back in Eden. Credit: Freeimages /  Marie Jeanne Iliescu Although this virus is not like the Bubonic Plague that killed a large part of Europe's population in Medieval times which was pneumonic (airborne), people act like COVID-19 is that severe. On the other hand, it could be rightly considered evil when people have cavalier attitudes about spreading it — or using it for monetary gain. To rightly understand evil, we need to go to the Bible. Evolutionists are using the pandemic to further their agenda , and theistic evolutionists seem to be joining right in. Theistic evolution is a fifth column to undermine the

There is something I think I need to say, but it may seem like self-praise. When I write posts and articles, I pray for several things, including that they glorify God, edify the saints, and encourage them to stand on the authority of God's Word. The authority of the Bible is overlooked or waved off far too often. Credit: Unsplash / Ben White The Bible is the foundation for the Christian's life and thinking in every area. It is unchanging. Cultural whims, governments, trends, opinions, and more come and go. Sometimes these change quite rapidly. Atheists have no consistent standard for logic and morality, but God's Word is our ultimate source for those things. If you study on it a mite, you'll see that Genesis is the source of all major Christian doctrines, and that is what secularists are attacking the most — beginning with creation. It is imperative that we respond properly to biblical authority. The linked article is written in an interview format where the au

We know that Genesis is actual history through archaeology and other historical records, and nothing in it or the rest of the Bible has been controverted. There have been some illogical criticisms such as, "The Hittite Empire never existed because archaeologists have not found evidence for them" (a type of argument from silence), but that was refuted . Interestingly, mockers occasionally use debunked criticisms today. The opening chapters of Genesis are not subject to archaeology, but they are historical as well. Image credit: Pixabay /  qimono I'll allow that the creation and the Flood are miraculous events, yet they are written as history. (Scoffers reject miracles out of hand because naturalism ; they presuppose their own interpretations.) There are professing Christians and other religious folks who reject the plain reading of the creation account because they elevate atheistic interpretations of modern science philosophies into the magisterial position abov

This is one of those times when we may wonder if the apostasy of the end times is upon us, especially with the extremely rapid moral decline in society. It is one thing for people to have no concern or even contempt for God, but to pray and confess our sins to plants? Credit: freestocks.org Some Native Americans would pray to the spirits of the animals they had killed, and they had other elements of pantheism and animism in their eclectic religions. Now some global warming activists and owlhoots at an allegedly Christian seminary are having people confess their sins to plants. Union Theological Seminary was, for a short time, orthodox in its theology until it became extremely liberal. They are the ones involved in these shenanigans. Let's ride up on the hill and look at the bigger view for a spell. We have to look all the way back to Genesis, where God gave us dominion and stewardship over creation. Plants were created on the third day of creation week, with land animals an

Biblical creationists and other professing Christians freely admit that the Bible is not a science book. That is a good thing, because it would have to be constantly rewritten — especially regarding origins . There are people who wonder how we should handle the first eleven chapters of Genesis and hot it relates to science. Credit: RGBStock /  Billy Frank Alexander Some folks wonder if the first part of Genesis is poetry, a polemic, or something else. The Bible is history, and this fact has been verified many times. It also records miraculous events, which puts burrs under the saddles of materialists. God does not tell us how he did many things, but we trust God not only for the miracles of history, but Christians trust God for our salvation, the return of Jesus, and the restoration at the end of all things. Science does not warrant a superior position over God's Word even though it is a useful tool.  A letter to CMI asks, As someone who takes by faith that God created t

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen There are people who say that God was too severe with the Genesis Flood. Atheists use this as a way to set themselves up to condemn through their own self-righteous "morality" to judge God (that they claim doesn't exist anyway!) with a fallacious argument from outrage (see Job 40:8). Many professing Christians are not a whole heap better. The Deluge / John Martin, 1834 Let's be direct. God's Judgment is not a pleasant subject, whether it is Hell, the Flood, or other forms. People get a mite uppity, forgetting that God is our Creator and is holy and just. His actions and character are not evil simply because we do not like what he says and does. When Adam sinned, he began blamestorming even though he was told that in the day he ate of the fruit, he would die. Literally, " dying you shall die ", as the process began and his sin affected all of creation (Rom. 5:12, Rom. 8:22). I wonder how many times Adam saw what was hap

While professing Christians claim to believe the Bible, far too many put atheistic interpretations of modern science philosophies into a magisterial position. That is, Scripture is interpreted through the spectacles of long ages. This is backwards. Credit: RGBStock / rkirbycom Some who compromise with secular views put down biblical creation with the falsehood that it hinders evangelism , so they ride for the old earth brand. (Did you ever notice that these folks usually deny the global Flood of Genesis in one way or another?) Bible believers teach the hard truth of sin, Judgment, repentance, and redemption. People may shy away from the Flood because of old earth beliefs, but also because it describes judgment against the wicked people of the day. It is referred to in the Bible, and Peter even likened the Flood to the coming final Judgment (2 Peter 3:5-6). Discussing the Genesis Flood is actually helpful in evangelism. Some Christians claim that insisting on a literal Genesi

Since we are bombarded at every turn with assertions of evolution and millions of years as a fact, many Christians try to reconcile the days of Creation with long periods of time. Expressions like, "Well I  think the days are God's  days, and we can't know how long they really are!" Some are sidewinders who know precisely what is going on and deliberately corrupt God's Word. Background image credit: freestocks.org / Joanna Malinowska To be blunt, it doesn't matter what you or I think. The important thing is what God said in Scripture, and that too many professing Christians are uninformed about the Bible they claim to believe — especially at the foundation, the first chapter of Genesis. Some misquote 2 Peter 3:8, "One day is like a thousand years", which does not help much because it would make creation week six thousand years long, unhelpful for deep time. Also, the verse cancels this idea out, "...and a thousand years like one day".

Something that has puzzled readers of the sixth chapter of Genesis is the use of the term gopher wood. Footnotes often say that the "Hebrew term is uncertain", and Bible translations differ — "I know what that means, Cowboy Bob! Noah commanded his sons, "Shem, you gopher water, Ham can gopher more pitch, and Japheth can gopher wood". No. Anyway, Bible translations differ. Many use the term gopher wood, and using the translations in my copy of theWord Bible Software , Coverdale (1535,) Geneva (1587), and Tyndale (1526) translated it as pine. The NIV translates it as cypress and adds the "uncertain" reference. The KJV, NKJV, NASB, HCSB, ESV, WEB all render the term as gopher wood. Credit: Wikimedia Commons /  Cimerondagert  ( CC by-SA 4.0 ) An excellent possibility is that God was not specifying a particular tree that has disappeared since then, but that Noah was to use hardwood. Getting into the Hebrew language, we see the root word tha

Addendum added later the same day as published. As any rancher worth his salt knows, you can have a hybrid animal such as a mule (offspring of a horse and donkey). It will likely suit your purpose, but critters like this are not likely to spread life. The same can be said for hybridized accounts of creation that mix the Bible and millions of years. Credit: Library of Congress/ Carol M. Highsmith archive Some folks reject the Bible's authority. We expect that from atheists and other non-believers, but there are professing Christians who also downplay the Word of God. Scripture plainly says that everything was created in six days . Instead of humbling themselves and submitting to Christ, they light a shuck out of there and head for the comfort of riding the owlhoot trail . They are degrading Scripture. Why would a supposed believer want to compromise? It seems to me that these owlhoots don't want to look like one of those people who reject deep time, so they seek the

An axiom  is a statement that is assumed to be true without evidence, and often used as a starting point in arguments or discussions. We all use them whether we know it or not, and they make up our worldviews. They are important in logic and mathematics. The word is based on the Greek for value or worth, and the area of philosophy called axiology  can be traced back to the same word. Garden of Eden image credit: Free Christian Illustrations Jaco Gericke, an Old Testament scholar, took a notion to do some axiology on Genesis 1. God called everything good , and he seemed to take exception to that. He says it makes no sense to call something good without an axiological frame of reference. Philosophy (and its related categories of logic and ethics) is good to study in principle, but the "great thinkers" and their philosophies are brought to nothing by the Word of God (1 Cor. 1:19-25). Christians should know that there is no one greater than God. When we take an oath, we swe

When reading a document, it is important to understand the original intent of the authors. The goat rodeo hearings for the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh showed the lengths that some politicians will go to attain prominence for their own political viewpoints. Kavanaugh is an originalist, which means that he considers the original intent of the US Constitution when making his decisions. An interesting parallel can be made with interpreting the Bible. Credits: Left image, Freeimages /  Robert Owen-Wahl ; Right image: US  National Archives and Records Administration It seems reasonable to determine the intent of the authors. Obviously, there are some marked differences because the Bible was written by several people under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the Constitution was written by fallible men with good intentions.  When the original meanings are abandoned, all sorts of bad judgments ensue. In the case of the Constitution, we had the Dred Scott decision and that

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Wisdom itself beings with God (Prov. 1:7), and the Bible is to be the foundation for the Christian's thinking in all areas (Psalm 119:105, 2 Tim. 3:16-17, Rom. 11:33). As we have seen in several articles here and on other biblical creation sites, Genesis is the source of all major Christian doctrines . Some professing Christians as well as atheists, old earth proponents, and other anti-creationists reject the authority of the Bible and attack not only the truth of God's Word, but also the people who take their stand on it. Credit: Pixabay / Jeff Jacobs The Wisdom of the World The Christian's faith is established in God, not in the ever-changing whims of man-made science philosophies. For example, some have joyously stated that proof of the Big Bang validates the Bible, only to have the evidence pulled out from under them. If someone's faith is based entirely on secular interpretations of science, they have little to support their belief