Biblical Creation and Evangelism

Although other cultures have harvest festivals and days of thanks, but Thanksgiving Day has distinctly Christian origins. Canada has Thanksgiving on the second Monday of October, and there are similarities as well as differences between the two. Due to ungrateful hearts and secularization, many Americans have mainly forgotten the reason for this holiday. Visions of feasting, football, and naps followed by a frantic day of shopping on Friday by the financially blessed tend to crowd its origin from our thoughts. We need to examine our history and priorities. Unsplash / Kiy Turk Many people know about the 1621 observance in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It did not establish an annual day of thanks. In fact, there were other times when it was occasioned and the date was not established until President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved it to its present time slot in 1939. Retailers wanted more shopping days before Christmas, but at least FDR remembered that Thanksgiving Day was set up to give honor t...

For a very long time, people accepted the genealogies in Genesis as accurate chronologies: chronogenealogies. After Christians began ceding science to secularists with the advent of deep time and Darwinism, excuses were found to deny their accuracy. There are many problems with this, including casting doubt on God's preservation of Scripture, his care for us, trusting Jesus, and a tacit denial of the truth of God's Word from the beginning. People have lost sight of the purposes of the genealogies. Unsplash / Priscilla Du Preez On a somewhat side note, someone was hawking his book about leaving atheism and coming to Christ. Since he is in the flaming liberal United Methodist denomination (in which I was raised and my father was a pastor for fifty years), I suspect he has some serious theology problems. His reaction to my comment says a great deal: It's unfortunate that you think only those who follow your unorthodox, recently cult derived interpretation of the Bible can clai...

It is common to take a stroll in a wooded area and encounter critters, which often scamper away. Others freeze in place as a defense, or possibly doing threat assessment. They usually want to get away from us. Animals have fear of us and of each other.  Our apartment is on the second floor of three. Lots of trees in the area. Squirrels show no fear in leaping up onto our porch, but when we go outside, they run off.  Wikimedia Commons /  Jineshpanchal  ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) One was on the porch when a big hawk landed on the railing. That's never happened before. The rodent froze in terror and just laid there. The hawk just looked at it, probably not hungry at the moment. If we had gone to the sliding glass door, I lack belief either would have stayed put. Even domestic animals show fear of humans, including pets around strangers. Animals that have gone feral or never knew human contact are in touch with their inner wildness. It takes a mighty long time to make friends with...

The article featured below makes a couple of points, both of which are important to Christians. Apologists and those who value rational thinking should take note of them. One is a common error in logic called appeal to authority . The other important point extends from the first: old Earth compromisers claim that Augustine and other church fathers were "on their side", and people just assume that they are being truthful. People who want the facts can check things out nowadays. Original image: St Augustine in his Study , Sandro Botticelli, 1490 Don't be disunderstanding me here, citing authorities in their areas is necessary. It becomes fallacious when there's an emotional component that is manipulative. Also, getting an opinion from someone who is unskilled in an area is a fallacy, such as quoting Clinton Richard Dawkins, an angry atheist, on matters of theology. Referring to him on zoology or animal behavior might be more accurate. Matt Slick of CARM says, "My ...

It has been often pointed out how Jesus said that the world at the time of his return would be like the world before the Flood, where people were doing what they wanted until the watery judgment came (Luke 17:26-27). In the experience of this child, teachers tend to just touch on the following verses about Sodom. There are some similarities, however, there are important differences. Lot and his family leaving Sodom , Peter Paul Rubens, 1625 The world before the Flood was full of evil. Later, Sodom and the cities of the plain were full of wickedness as well, including sexual sins. Today, people are increasingly callous to their wretched behavior and are proud of their perversions. Interestingly, some people appeal to cherry-picked verses to say that the sins of Sodom had nothing to do with sex. These instances of eisegesis and scripture twisting are handily eliminated . We have two judgments that Jesus used as instructions and warnings for us today. People need to repent fo...

There are professing Christians who falsely claim that the church fathers believed that the earth was far older than Scripture indicates, and that biblical (young age) creationists are wrong. It would be a mighty big help if they did their homework on people like Augustine. St. Augustine in his Study , Sandro Botticelli, 1490 It is important to note that Augustine did not consider his writings to be sacred writ, his views changed in some areas, and he freely admitted that his understanding was imperfect. It did not help matters much that he was unskilled in Hebrew and Greek, and he had access to weak Bible translations. He believed that everything was created in an instant (he should have consulted Exodus 20:11, 31:17). Old-earthers must reject the global Flood as well. While Augustine was in no wise a young-earth creationist as we understand the term, claims that he believed like the pagans that Earth was far older are disingenuous. Old-earthers claim Augustine as support for figurati...

Some people claim that biblical (young age) creation is a recent phenomenon, but that is contrary to most of church history and to the Bible. Theophilus of Antioch was an apologist who believed the creation account in Genesis and defended the truth of Scripture. Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos /  Janaka Dharmasena Theophilus was a former pagan who converted to Christianity, then he wrote a long apologetic to a pagan named Autolycus about the truth of the Bible. He obviously knew paganism and the Scriptures, and affirmed the authority of God's Word — beginning from Genesis. We need to do the same in our own increasingly idolatrous and pagan cultures. In the second century, after the original disciples of Jesus had died, the fledlging Christian church was beginning to grow and expand into a hostile Greco-Roman world, and accusations were brought against them by unbelievers. These accusations came from a number of people, one of whom was Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia. Pliny w...

Many years ago, I attended a Christian high school that was run by Fundamentalists, but the school was interdenominational . Quite a change for this child who was being raised in liberal theology. Anyway, they had a daily "chapel" for the small high school. One guest pastor told us to turn to the book of Hezekiah. I started flipping through my Bible, and the girl next to me was doing nothing. For good reason. King Hezekiah crying out to God. Image credit: Sweet Publishing via Free Bible Images ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) Many of the kings of Israel and Judah were mighty wicked folks, but when it was Hezekiah's turn, his heart was right toward God. Trouble is, they had neighbors that would get the occasional notion to make war. The Assyrians attacked, and things looked bad until Hezekiah implored the Lord for help. He got it in a big way. Bible deniers have said that archaeology has found no evidence of some things recorded in the Bible, therefore, the Bible is full of myths...

Once in a while at The Question Evolution Project , people will ask about structures built before the Genesis Flood. These questions may include the pyramids of Egypt. A proper understanding of Flood geology indicates that it is extremely unlikely that any prediluvian construction could have survived the catastrophic activity of the Flood. However, some people have tried to tamper with biblical texts to say otherwise. Credit: Good Free Photos The original  manuscripts of the Bible no longer exist. The discipline of textual criticism  is the method of determining what those original manuscripts contained, and it can be an arduous process. Just ask Dr. James R. White  (who has made security guards nervous by reading ancient manuscript fragments through the glass at museums). Manuscripts are compared, and many scholars are confident that modern Bible translations are extremely accurate. Ever notice the footnotes in your Bible that refer to the Septuagint ? It is an o...

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...

People may have thought that we had the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, considered to have "officially" begun on October 31, 1517 when Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses on the "social media" of his time. Read an article, listen to a message, have a German beer and ride off into the sunset. Not so. As we saw in several posts last year, the Reformation had its beginnings long before that date, and continued afterward. Luther at the Diet of Worms , Anton Werner 1877 Dr. Albert Mohler had been presenting a series on the Five Solas which I was looking forward to posting in time for the big anniversary observance. Delays happened, so I decided to save them for y'all in time for the 501st anniversary. Before obtaining those, I recommend reading his article, " Here We Stand ". They lectures are in MP3 format, so you can download and listen to them at your convenience. Free of charge, naturally. Each link will take you to the page where...

It is a fair question to ask if there is evidence for Jesus, especially his Resurrection, from non-biblical sources. Is there corroborating evidence from various historical accounts? Maybe some forensic evidence? However, such questions can often an attempt to demand evidence but the inquirer is not interested in biblical information. US Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo (Usage does not imply endorsement of site contents by the US Department of Defense) Some folks don't seem to ponder on some things, and forget that almost instantaneous satellite news didn't exist back then. We're talking about an event that happened over 2,000 years ago. Another is that Jerusalem was a jerkwater town in the Roman empire. Other information may have existed, but it's turned to dust by now. More than those details, however, is that the Bible is historically reliable. We get names, dates, details, eyewitness accounts, and more. People don't seem to have felt a need ...

I suppose you thought that everyone was finished with material about the Reformation. We had the 500th anniversary of what is considered the beginning of the whole thing, where Martin Luther put out his 95 theses on what was the social media of his day.  Huldrych (Ulrich) Zwingli by Hans Asper , 1531 / Wikimedia Commons The Reformation continued developing and theology was being refined. Newer Reformers appeared on the scene, and not all were in agreement. Sincere, thinking people will disagree (just like not all biblical creationists are in lockstep). Ulrich Zwingly is often tacked on as an afterthought to Christian history, which is unfortunate. He upheld the authority of Scripture and was in trouble for disputing Papal decrees. This was not just a dispute over religion, but was a threat to governmental authority at the time. One reason I delayed posting this was to make an emphasis about how Zwingly is neglected. [S]trangely, one of the leaders of the Reformation, oft...

There was a time when the Bible was respected as a source of history from believers and secular scholars alike, but that seems to be fading nowadays. As atheism, anti-creationism, postmodernism, and other things are ramping up, attacks on the Bible are also increasing.  Credit: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center (Usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) However, blatant attacks on the Bible by village atheists who get false information from their bigotry clearinghouses are the domain of amateurs. Many will argue from their materialistic presuppositions by asserting that miracles cannot happen, and find excuses to dismiss them individually. To get even more viperine, scoffers rely on the public's adoration of what "scientists say", then use scientific finagling to discredit miracles. This is inconsistent, since they are trying to disprove events that they claim never happened in the first place. In this example, we have the...

Although the Bible is a book of history and is extremely detailed in many aspects, scoffers often refuse to consider it. Why? Because it's the Bible. They are using the genetic fallacy , and insist on verification from secular sources. This has happened many times (see, for example, " Archaeology Supports the Bible "). One area that is easy to mock is the dispersal of the growing world population at Babel. Credit: Freeimages / B S K Before the Genesis Flood, people packed a passel of years under their belts. Afterward, not so much. However, most of Noah's grandsons still managed to live a long time. Their descendants migrated, built cities, and did what many people still do today: name cities and regions after their patriarchs. The history of these folks is well established. When Noah and his family stepped out of the Ark, they were the only people on Earth. It fell to Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives, to repopulate the Earth through...

Some professing Christians are unaware that the Bible means what it says, all the way back to Genesis. Old Earth believers often claim that biblical creationists are being divisive by insisting on actual solar days of creation instead of treating Genesis as allegorical, mythological, or needing deep time interpretation. Such views are false. In fact, the interlopers are those who add millions of years to Scripture! Image of Flavius Josephus obtained from Wikimedia Commons The church fathers almost universally viewed creation as a recent event, and most accepted literal days of creation. Likewise, the Reformers believed in recent creation . If those sources are insufficient for some owlhoots, how about going way back to a respected Jewish Historian, Flavius Josephus?  Many people who compromise on the plain meaning of Genesis claim that the literal interpretation is a modern invention. Instead, they claim that most commentators in the past took a long-age view. On the cont...

It is October, 2017, the month of the Reformatin's 500th anniversary. The Reformation is considered to have begun when Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the Wittenburg church door — a kind of social media of the time, and not an act of vandalism. He wanted debate, or serious discussion, on some matters that had been troubling him about the Roman Catholic Church, faith, the Bible, and more. A movement does not typically happen in an instant, and Luther was a priest and a monk who had been pondering some things for a long time, including his own salvation. He learned some things from Scripture that brought problems into focus, and his writings caused him a heap of trouble, and he was investigated for heresies at the Diet of Worms in 1521. We've heard and read about it a great deal lately. It sounds like a California fad eating style, but actually a diet  back then was a formal assembly, and this was conducted in the city of Worms. Now the term makes sense, doesn't it? It...

We are not given a great number of details about the post-Flood people in the Bible, but some were so impressive that they warranted special attention, especially the giants. (The writers used giant the way most of us do today, for very large people and not for the impossibly huge people of fantasy stories.)  Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder), from Wikimedia Commons I remember a lecture that Ken Ham gave where he reasoned from accounts of people of great size, photographic memories, and other talents that very few people have, Adam would have been a composite of all of them. After all, he was made flawless and sin had not entered the world and begun genetic degradation. Some of those abilities must have lingered through the ages. In fact, Pliny and others have given some interesting historical accounts of people with not only strength, but mental agility, memory, endurance, vision, and more. It has been over 6,000 years since God created Adam and Eve. Because of th...