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Science, Religion, and Pantheism

Anti-Christians have said that there is a war between science and religion, but these types of people are not exactly skilled at deep thinking. Science and religion are on good terms but secularists pretend that they are at odds. Logic, science, and more have been (and still are) used by Christians to advance science. We see origins, a historical science , at odds with biblical Christianity. It is not because one side has better facts. Instead, it is a question of people interpreting facts according to their worldviews. One side honors God the Creator and Redeemer, the other side is essentially pagan. Skye, Unsplash / Robert Lukeman Paganism is not a single religion, and has many facets. A pagan can be a witch in a coven, a New Age crystal enthusiast, or someone who has a vague "spirituality." I reckon many people are pagans and don't even realize it. Professing atheists claim that they do not have a religion because they do not worship a deity. Such a claim helps reveal

Determinism and You

People have long believed in forms of determinism , where behaviors and even events are the result of environmental causes, genetics, conditioning, and so on. This also extends to belief in fate, karma, and God (some religious views make God our puppeteer). So much for free will, huh? I have a vague memory of watching Steve Irwin on television where he came across a dead animal, looked at the camera, and said reverently, "It's nature's way!" In addition to the fallacy of reification, he was affirming an aspect of determinism. Original image: Wikimedia Commons / Tage Olsin ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ), modified at PhotoFunia I'm going to lose friends and followers over this, but I have to be truthful. Like Steve Irwin in that show, some Calvinists solemnly declare after something bad happens, "God is sovereign." We know and believe that, but a little humility is in order: there is no single Christian system that fully understands every aspect of the Bible. It's

Satan Does Not Care about Losing a Misotheist

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Every once in a while, people come across a report that someone has left atheism and become a theist. One famous example is Antony Flew, who was raised in a liberal denomination and decided he was an atheist in his teenage years. Later, he decided that the evidence proves there is a God . He apparently never came to a saving faith. Simply believing that God exists is nowhere near enough. Credits: Satan Calling Up his Legions / William Blake, 1804, modified at PhotoFunia Unfortunately, several reports have Christians rejoicing more than they should over former atheists that have joined heterodox religious groups, false religions, and even cults. Back when Adam, the federal head of humanity sinned, Satan took control of this world (Rom. 5:19, John 8:44, 2 Cor. 4:4). All have sinned (Rom. 3:23), and we are deserving of Hell (Rom. 6:23). Just believing that God exists is not enough. Even the demons know God exists, and they have more sense that the typical atheist

The Category of Evolved Religion

While categorizing and labeling can be helpful points of reference, it can also be very misleading. Misotheists often say that they hate "religion", but commit the hasty generalization fallacy to justify their own rebellion against God. Categorizing in this manner is disingenuous and harmful. Background image: Pixabay / Ro Ma , modified with Clker Clipart If you slip on your wading boots and trudge through the slough of an atheist social media location, you are likely to find fringe religious people (usually professing to be Christians) singled out to confirm their biases that everything in the "religion" category is bad; the exception is not the rule. Ironically, they have apoplectic fits when it is pointed out that atheism itself is a religion , and evolutionism is like it . Each religion is different. I'll allow that many have some things in common, but categorizing based on superficialities and exceptions is foolish. Also, there are people who claim to be me

A False Claim about the Evolution of Christianity

Since materialists believe that everything evolved, that also means religion itself evolved as well. A Darwinist believes that societies conjured up gods via natural selection when their population levels reached a million people, and these gods were ill-tempered. Background image courtesy of  Why?Outreach There are far too many fallacies in this foolish speculation to count. (One reason biblical creationists emphasize logic and critical thinking to so that people can learn to catch atheists and evolutionists in their bad reasoning and falsehoods.) There stories reek of desperation. Such a notion is also self-refuting, such as how love, compassion, forgiveness, and other good things are overlooked. A typical theory on the ‘evolution of religion’ commits multiple logical blunders, not the least of which is ignoring evidence. What’s wrong with this line of reasoning? ‘The Greeks reached a certain population size. At that population size, the idea of Zeus arose. Zeus was a v

Understanding Your Audience

In matters of sharing our faith in accordance with Jesus' command (Matt. 28:18-20, Acts 1:8), we need to take a thoughtful approach. First of all, we must remember that we are not the ones who are doing the saving with our own brilliant arguments, that's the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:1-5). That's why people come to Christ through simple one-on-one evangelism from an excited new convert who is unskilled in theology and philosophy. Modified from an image on Pixabay by geralt People have pointed to Peter's sermon in Acts 2:14-41 as a model for evangelism, but that message was given to monotheistic Jews. For people who have different religions such as paganism, atheism, evolutionism, Mohammedanism, Hinduism, cults that claim to be Christian, and others, a different approach is needed. A good working knowledge of their worldview is very important to establish communication. People who engage in serious debates take the time to learn where the other is coming

Wimpy Jesus and Sanctimonious Christians

Thanks to Pete Fiske for giving material that helped with this article — and he doesn't even know it. by Cowboy Bob Sorensen This has been weighing on me for quite some time. Recent articles and comments finally give me the impetus to actually write it. And since I'm a cowboy at heart , I'm going to do some straight shooting. Modified from an unknown source Too many religious people have the idea that Christians have to be "nice" all the time. I have been rebuked for speaking out for the truth, rebuking blaspheming atheists and so forth. "If you're not nice, you'll drive them away and they'll never seek the truth!" (A while back, someone announced that he was going to have a debate with a particularly obstreperous atheist. He was told something along the lines of, "Be careful, we don't want him offended and then he'll be lost".) There are two problems with that idea that come to mind. First, we do not do the sav