Biblical Creation and Evangelism

Among the many parables that Jesus told, one was about the mustard seed. He said that it was the "smallest" seed in Matthew 13:32, which atheists and anti-creationists attack by saying that there are other seeds which are smaller, which means to them that Jesus did not know what he was talking about. Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net / jk1991 We expect atheists to find excuses to claim that Jesus is not God, but it is disheartening when owlhoots who claim to be Christian will also claim that he was mistaken in an effort to justify theistic evolution . No, he is the Creator, and knows what he is doing (Col. 1:16, John 1-1-3). As is the case in many instances of confusion and alleged Bible contradictions, context is vitally important. Here, we can look at not only the immediate context, but the greater context. Jesus was not giving a botany lesson, pilgrim. The parable was an illustration about the kingdom of Heaven. He would have used figures of speech. In fact, I referre

There are Christians who believe the Bible, but they are not too keen on digging deeper. This is very unfortunate because it contains words of life and doctrine so we can avoid being led astray. Certain areas of discussion do not interest everyone, which is to be expected. However, questions of origins and the age of the universe are far more important than they think. Background image from Freeimages / Flavio Takemoto with a cross from Clker clipart We have examined how theistic evolution is in opposition to biblical creation and sound doctrine, but some folks are willing to accept what "science says" about the age of the earth and the origin of the universe. I saw one post from a Christian who said that "science caught up with the Bible" with cosmic evolution from the Big Bang. That'll be the day! For one thing, the Big Bang is constantly changing when rescuing devices are added when its flaws are found.  Further, the Bible has always been right

There are people who believe that the constellations contain the gospel message, and it was there before the Bible was completed. Then, it became unnecessary. This is according to a woman named Frances Rolleston, whose work was published in 1865 and influenced many people. Unfortunately, he work was full of serious errors. Map of the Northern Sky with representations of the constellations / Albrecht Durer, 1515 Her books was published posthumously as a collection of notes. (I wonder if some of those were notes to herself to conduct further research, but when I do that I usually have a "look up" or "check on" phrase.) The concept of the gospel in the stars relies on spurious research and taking verses out of context. Like atheists and evolutionists, Rolleston seemed to use the scientific principle of Making Things Up™. She also took verses out of context to make this presentation. Sincere people and even good pastors have believed this false story. While it

It is a sad fact that many professing Christians do not have a solid understanding of what the Bible teaches. This tempts them to abandon good teaching so they can ride the Owlhoot Trail of false doctrines. Related to this is the opinion that origins and recent creation are irrelevant. While they are not essentials for salvation, recent creation and origins are extremely important to the gospel message. Image source: RGBStock/ rizeli53 Atheists, old earth proponents, theistic evolutionists, compromisers, and other enemies of the Word of God exploit this ignorance. They come along with sciencey pronouncements and Scripture twisting, plus a heapin' helpin' of hostility and ridicule toward those of us who believe that God means what he says (including name-calling and labels such as " YECism "). People are timorous when it comes to standing for biblical truth, and when you mix in ignorance with intimidation, folks put the blinders on and join the crowd. Incident

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Edited 3-09-2019 As Christians, we have to stand up for the faith against Satan's schemes and false arguments against God's Word (Jude 1:3). We have a great deal to do in accurately presenting the truth to unbelievers, pulling down fortresses raised up against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:3-5), refuting old earth and evolutionary falsehoods, and more. We don't need to be commencing cat fights with each other. Credit: Pixabay/ maturika This has gone back practically to the beginning, where believers seemed to want to be better than others (1 Cor. 1:12-23, Luke 9:46). The Bible has a passel of things to say about pride, old son. I think that pride is one reason folks are swapping lead in the internet style, shooting at people who do not do things or believe the way other people think they should. Don't be disunderstanding me. When people are publicly teaching false doctrine, they need to be called out. What bothers me is when these hiss

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

Addendum added 2-17-2019 For Question Evolution Day , we are going to examine something that atheists and other anti-creationists loathe, and something of which many professing Christians are unaware. Some people claim that evolution is science, but this shows the paucity of their understanding of the nature of science. Simply put, evolution is not only opposed to actual science, but science is impossible in an atheistic worldview. via GIPHY To be consistent, evolution is random, but its proponents want to perform science. If evolution were true, science would be impossible because the laws of logic, consistency of nature, and other things could not be consistent. Someone may object that they rely on their senses, but that is circular reasoning because they cannot know their senses are actually working; it could all be an illusion, false memories and all. Scientific predictions could not be made. The Bible is true, God is the Creator, and he upholds all things. An athei

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen In the lead-up to Question Evolution Day , I posted and promoted " Taking a Stand for Biblical Creation ", which garnered a prairie schooner-full of comments. Normally, that Fazebook Page is not intended for debate, but I let them go for a spell. Nobody that I saw gave any comments about the content of the article that was featured. Credit: Openclipart Naturally, we had atheopaths and other anti-creationists show up to tell us how st00pid we are because atheism, because evolution. Obstreperous trolls get banned, but some seemed to want actual discussion. At first. I have to mention that it become very difficult to keep track of the comments and respond to them, and we have to track them down when informed, "Horatio Hornblower replied to your comment..." (This is especially difficult when I'm checking during breaks at the workplace, but not much better at home on the big computer.) I tried, though. Unfortunately, the notification

There are people who seem to think that being under the authority of another person implies inferiority, but that is not necessarily the case. In the workplace, we need to submit to our superiors but that does not mean they are better people than us. In a biblical context, submission to the authority of God actually brings us self worth and security. Credit: Unsplash / Ben White People are interested in their own opinions and how they feel about something, and these things change frequently. This is often coupled with rebellion against God where people choose which parts of Scripture they want to believe. It seems counter-intuitive to to the natural mind, but being under authority gives us stability. For the Christian, submission to God's Word is vital to our spiritual lives. There is submission in the Trinity, but no inferiority is implies. Likewise, wives are to submit to their husbands, while husbands are to love their wives sacrificially like Christ loves the church. Wh

Bible believers know that God made every kind of critter. Some of those we think are ugly or creepy (they probably have unflattering thoughts about us as well), or even downright scary, take some people a bit of time to appreciate. (My wife isn't fond of when I talk about fascinating traits in reptiles.) Some creatures we think of as monsters . Credit: RGBstock /  Adrian van Leen It's a fair question to ask why God would make monsters. He has his plans, and many things we consider to be monsters are not dangerous after all, while other cute and pretty things can be deadly. In the beginning, there was no predation; T Rex  may have been a fierce melon eater! Aside from movies and television shows showing scary monsters, actual monsters are a matter of perception. There is another kind of monster to consider: that taniwha on the inside of us, prompting us to sin, be imprisoned by our fears, and more. We have that sin nature, you see, the product of living in a fallen wor

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Most people admit to belief in some sort of God, which is consistent with what the Bible teaches (Romans 1:1-22, Ecclesiastes 3:11). Most do not know the true God in a personal way. Some have had the gospel message clearly explained to them, but they have rejected it or traded the truth for false religions and philosophies. Used car lot, Lancaster, Ohio, 1938 photo by Ben Shahn / US Library of Congress / Public Domain Some people think that they are Christians because they attend(ed) church and participated in rituals. Perhaps they get a twinge of sentiment around Christmas and Easter which inspires them to give an intellectual assent to Jesus. Unfortunately, many of these professing (or "former") Christians demonstrate little or no knowledge of biblical Christianity. Easy Believism Some folks want to make evangelism simple and pleasant. They come up with "ask Jesus into your heart", "God has a wonderful plan for your life&

There are many biblical scholars that I have heard and read (including Dr. James R. White, who can translate an ancient manuscript from the Greek on the spot). They never mentioned the Law (or Principle) of First Mention, so I was surprised to learn that this concept is a problem for hermeneutics and proper interpretation. The Bible , George Harvey, 1845 I was also startled to learn that some educated biblical creationists actually use this Law of First Mention. Essentially, it means that the meaning of a word is determined by where it first appears in the Bible. That may appear sensible at first, but there are some things to consider.  First of all, an argument for First Mention may appear more believable if people were reading from the original languages instead of translations. Another problem with the concept would be that the books of the Bible are not laid out chronologically — Job is considered to be the oldest book, Mark is considered to be the earliest Gospel, and John