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Showing posts with the label Theology

Believing Despite Evidence for an Old Earth?

While some areas of the Bible are subject to differing interpretations and even disputes, I reckon we can agree that our understanding is the problem; God is not a deceiver. While we walk by faith and not by sight, we are not conflicted by evidence. Credit: Pixnio / Maysam Yabandeh To quote the great theologian Chico Marx, "Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" Except in cases of obvious miracles, the Bible does not contain claims that are not contravened by observed scientific facts. Yet some people think the earth appears  to be old but through some kind of fideism , they believe the Bible anyway.  Yes, we need to cling to the inerrancy and authority of Scripture, but we don't need to rustle up a conflict where none exists. When someone says that the earth "looks old", what is their point of reference? The so-called scientific evidence for deep time is fraught with problems and is inferred — nobody knows  the age of a planet to use for comparison purpos

Internet Debates with Atheists are Seldom Useful

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Christians are supposed to be ready to give reasons for the hope that is in us, and many feel they are witnessing for the faith in various online forums. However, one has to discern when time is being wasted. Made at Pablo , quote source is here As I have stated several times in the past, the word  debate  is used very loosely. Nowadays it can mean a screaming match, a structured exchange of points and rebuttals, an exchange of comments in various online forums, and all sorts of things. Let's consider internet activity. Minerals-to-mocker evolution is a cornerstone of atheism and for other rejections of the authority of God's Word. Although what is presented as scientific evidence is based on faith, assumptions, redefining words, circular reasoning, and poor research, evolutionists prefer to defend it no matter how foolish it looks. That is because admitting that evidence supports the Bible is infandous. Readers of my other sites may recall that I have d

The Two Basic Worldviews

Not so long ago, we would hear people pontificating about two kinds of people, such as, "There are two kinds of people: those who believe the Bible, and those who do not".* It may come as a surprise to some people to learn that there are only two worldviews. Original image before modification: Freeimages / Kenn Kiser Most people have probably not made a study of their worldviews, but they are the basis of how we live our lives, our presuppositions, our epistemology , and so on. Atheists presuppose there is no God, so their misotheistic spectacles impact how they live their lives and interpret evidence. The same with Christians. There are variations within worldviews of course, such as biblical creationists who are Christians, or professing atheists who are not entirely unreasonable. Essentially, there are only two worldviews. Picture two people in a living room. A man puts on green-colored glasses, and a woman puts on red-colored glasses. Everything the man sees has a green t

Theistic Evolution and Bad Theology

It is difficult to drill down deep into the minds of theistic evolutionists (or their deceitful oxymoronic moniker " evolutionary creationists "). They claim to believe God's Word, but elevate atheistic interpretations of science philosophies into the superior position. This causes tremendous biblical problems. Credit: Freeimages / Ramasamy Chidambaram Why do they want to do this? I think it's to appear intellectual and not like one of those st00pid dumb Xtian fundie creationists that actually believe the Bible. They tell us that the Bible doesn't mean what it says, and even twist it to suit their evolutionary ends. (Indeed, TEs saddle up with atheists and ride for the Darwin brand, ridiculing biblical creationists together. Sure, that really convinces me that they have a high regard for Scripture.) In addition to tap-dancing around troublesome verses, TEs also have serious problems with having a consistent theology. I agree with others, they are more like Deists

Miracles and Natural Selection

To the naturalist, there is no room for God or miracles. The position of the Bible-believing Christian is quite different. If you study on it, everything is a miracle because our Creator us continually keeping the universe together; it would disintegrate. There are miracles above and beyond this, however. Credit: Pixabay /  A. Schüler Deists essentially believe that something started the whole shootin' match and then left us to our lonesome. (I reckon there's very little difference between them and theistic evolutionists because of their low regard for the authority of Scripture.) Naturalism is an attempt to replace God. Laws of nature were designed by God, and natural selection shows that living things were engineered for their environments, adapt, or do not survive. Then we have something else to consider: supernatural selection. What does it mean for something to be supernatural ?  We might think of the parting of the Red Sea, Jesus turning water into wine, the resur

Sentinels

Throughout history, sentinels have been posted to protect people and places. When someone approaches or a situation changes, they issue challenges or sound an alarm. Lighthouses have been called sentinels because of providing alerts through light and sometimes sound. We need sentinels in spiritual matters. Approaching the sentinel of the Big Sauble Lighthouse on Lake Michigan Even some animals have guard duty. Darwin's disciples disagree about why this happens because survival of the fittest essentially relies on selfishness. It is not a safe duty because the watcher can be the first one picked off by a predator and is further from safety. For that matter, evolutionists have their own kind of watchers, ready to warn the faithful that evil creationists are applying science, logic, reason, and theology against naturalism. Those of us who accept the realities of the Bible and biblical creation need to sound the alarm about false teachings. We also need to be willing and able

If the Days in Creation Week Varied in Length

People have trouble accepting the literal creation week of 24-hour days, mainly because they have been heavily influenced by secular science philosophies. Some have legitimate questions about the irreconcilable difference, others look for excuses to shoehorn creation into deep time. I took this picture of a nice flower bush while walking down the street Someone had an interesting question about whether or not the days in creation week were variable. Part of them were actual 24-hour days, but the first three may have been much, much longer. Context, people!  This idea would not work, causing more problems than it would appear to solve when considering other parts of the Bible and science. D.J. from the United States writes: I just listened to the creation video discussing the word day. I can understand the context argument if we add that God created the earth with age, much like the creation of Adam. But, you can’t simply add that day mean 24 hours given the fact that the su

God, the Church, and Government

While the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has prompted many people to learn many things about it, we have also seen how certain American government officials who have contempt for God have not only made restrictions on human rights in the US , but also around the world . Churches in the US are being forced to decide between God and Government. Made at PhotoFunia People may be surprised to know that God has ordained government to enforce laws and protect the people. If you study on it a mite, you'll realize that the "you can't legislate morality" canard is foolish, because most laws are based upon morality. When governments act according to their purposes, the church and the state get along fine. When the state rejects God wrongly exceeds and claims power, we have problems. Prayer in schools is outlawed, Christians are told to shut up and stay out of government (apparently government is only for secularists now), teaching that evolutionism is a religion and its sci

The Nephilim and the Sons of God

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

The Environment, Science, and the Dominion Mandate

There is a term use about a biblical principle that may seem scary to some people. It is called the dominion mandate. It may sound like one of those political doctrines for the abuse of power like the divine right of kings or eminent domain , but the dominion mandate is a term for our Creator's command to understand and care about the world he has given us. Credit: Unsplash / Dylan Sauerwein Shortly after God created Adam and Eve, he told them, essentially, "See this nice planet I gave you? Reproduce (critters are to do this also), fill the earth, and get it under control". He did not tell them to run rampant and trash the place so he could be like a modern parent and clean up after his spoiled offspring. No, we are responsible to our Creator for how we care for the world. To do that, we must also learn about and understand many things. It is interesting that Jesus indicated this aspect as well! It’s noteworthy that this was God’s first commandment to the man an

Drops in the Ocean?

A common way of insulting God is to attack his work (including dysteleology, the idea that things like the human eye were poorly created), and to attack created things. Attacking Christians and creationists is like catnip to atheists and anti-creationists, who deny that we are created in God's image. One mystical belief involves the water drop concept. Credit: Pexels /  Sourav Mishra Similar to the self-refuting Omega Point philosophy , this modified Eastern idea is that drops of water converge and lose their identities in the ocean. It came from Hinduism, which uses evolutionary concepts. However, we know from the Creator God's Written Word that he not only calls each star by name (Psalm 147:4), and he knows his people (John 10:28). Even drops of water have individual characteristics, and we are worth far more than drops; the Creator of the universe took the form of a man, was crucified, died, buried, and bodily arose. For you and for me. When skeptics criticize bibl

Hope at Christmas

Some of us get depressed at Christmas. Perhaps we are missing friends and family, or we could be thinking of those who have passed on. Maybe that very un-Jewish manger scene gets you down. There are other circumstances that can get us down. However, Christians can remember the hope that we have. Credit: Unsplash / Tim Mossholder Step up on the hill and get a bigger picture. We have all sinned (Rom. 3:23, Rom. 6:23) against the holy and righteous God, yet he has mercy on us. God the Son is the Creator (Col. 1:16, John 1:1-3), who humbled himself and took on human form (Phil 2:6-11) and died for us while we were yet sinners (Rom. 5:8). He bodily rose from the dead (Luke 24:6-7, Acts 2:32) and we are adopted as children of God (John 1:12-13, Rom. 8:15-17). Yes, we have our down times, worse for some than others. We need to lift our focus off ourselves and our circumstances and remember what God has told us. We do have hope. Not only at Christmas, but always. Even though some of

Christian Instruction Hindered by Evolutionism

A word that is common among Bible-believing teachers is edify. (This word has the same root as edifice .)These days, it generally means to instruct and build up people spiritually; a major part of The Question Evolution Project is to edify Christians, for example. Evolutionism hinders the edification of Christians. Credit: Pixabay / WikimediaImages Climb up on yonder hill for a bigger perspective. Modern science was built on biblical principles , but Christians ceded science over to secularists when Darwin and Lyell came on the scene. In a comparatively short time, it was unfashionable to believe the Bible and to understand it properly. People didn't want to look ignorant, so they tried to mix the Bible and current trends of atheistic science views. Bad idea. Today, people are confused and do not realize that they are damaging the core of the gospel message, and that compromising on the truth of creation is ridiculous because the evidence for recent creation is on the side

The Temptations of Jesus: It is Written

Christians who use their Bibles for more than just decorations and actually read them are familiar with the narratives concerning the temptations of Jesus by Satan. When tempted, Jesus replied with, "It is written". The Bible should be the foundation for our lives and conduct, and "It is written" should be second nature to us under many circumstances. Satan Tried To Tempt Jesus by James Tissot Jesus is an example to us. Even though he was God the Son, he knew Scripture. So did other people in the Bible. Someone may object that they were special and inspired by God, but we are to know the Bible which gives us life and guidance. When I was a child, I was told that Satan could not enter a room that contained a Bible, which doesn't hold up when we see apostate churches loaded up with them in the pew racks. Also, Satan was able to step up his game by quoting Scripture as well, but took verses out of context as well as misquoted — just like he did in Eden (Ge

Scriptural Truth can be Clearly Seen

As we have seen, major movements seldom happen at one specific moment in time. The Reformation is considered to have begun on October 31, 1517 , but some of the groundwork was established years before by people like John Wycliffe and William Tyndale. (Aspects of the Reformation continued after Luther's time.) A major focus of the Reformation was the clarity of Scripture. Credit: Freeimages / Jorge Avina The expensive word for this is perspicuity.  The Bible can be clearly understood regarding important doctrines even by us reg'lar folk, but it also contains a wealth of information to keep someone growing in faith and understanding for a lifetime. The Roman Catholic Church did not want the people to know what Scripture really  said, and it fought to keep the Word of God out of the hands of the people. (For that matter, look at how cults tell people that the Bible can be understood only through their sources and people should not read it for themselves. Some even have thei

The Global Flood and Extreme Prejudice

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

Christians and the Battle with Sin

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen There are a couple of messages from Phil Johnson that I am recommending, but before that, a bit of a lament. Many Christians are not serious about their spiritual lives. We may go to church on Sunday and listen to the sermon, maybe read the Bible once in a while, pray a bit, then forget about God most of the time. Others may get what can be called "tunnel vision" by focusing on favorite subjects. Those of us who are involved in apologetics need to learn theology as well as materials to defend the Bible, and biblical creationists have an even more specialized calling. We also must learn theology, but we can have our own tunnel vision. I try to avoid that by listening to sermons and such while doing data entry work. This gives some variety and is edifying in other areas. There have been some pleasant surprises where I might think, "Well, I'm low on material, may as well listen to this", and been impacted by the message. We must not f

Compartmentalizing Creation

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen When I began doing creation apologetics many centuries ago, I foolishly tried to divorce the Bible from scientific and logical evidence. My approach was only discussing theology when necessary, keeping scientific evidence for creation separate, arguing on neutral ground. Essentially, I was compartmentalizing . Floral compartments image credit: Unsplash / Michael Aleo One big problem with the idea of neutral ground is that it is contrary to Scripture . If you ride up to the top of the hill and get the bigger picture, you'll also see that discussions of origins are metaphysical in nature. Really, they involve theology.  Have you ever noticed that folks who want both sides presented in an unbiased view so people can "make up their own minds" seldom (if ever) accurately represent biblical creation science? They are biased toward materialism, therefore favoring atheistic interpretations of evidence. via GIPHY You want equal time, pilgrim?