Biblical Creation and Evangelism

Years ago, the forerunner of this weblog was called A Soldier for Jesus . There was a drawing of Jesus on it. Someone accused me of being an idolater because of it. Also, I joined a Christian-based humor group on Fakebook  that prohibited posting images of Jesus because some people got upset. Probably that idolatry thing again. Where do they get such ideas? Eisegesis from the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:4-6 and other places. I am going to be blunt here. People who sanctimoniously accuse others of being idolaters because they use images of Jesus (or God the Father, such as  Michelangelo  and  William Blake ) have no basis for their pride. They are showing ignorance of scriptural context. It's not a difficult theological context, either, because they are not even reading the rest of the verse. Jesus Pictures ( source here ) as Gallery Exhibit, PhotoFunia (cropped) Pictures can be used as a way of praising God and giving him glory, and possibly a means of focusing in...

Both misotheists and liberal scholars who profess to be Christians saddle up and ride together, attacking the Genesis narrative. (As I have said before, if Christians receive support and applause from enemies of God, that should prompt self-examination about their faith .) In this case, the hard sky. These tinhorns figure that the ancient Hebrews had a view of the universe similar to their pagan neighbors, and it was apparent in the Bible. A many things are implicit in this accusation. It can also be considered  poisoning the well . Early Hebrew Conception of the Universe (misrepresentation, modified), WikiComm / Tom-L ( CC BY 4.0 ) Obviously, materialists reject the inerrancy and authority of the Bible, but so do many liberal Christians. One "error" is the sky vault dome shell thing. If the Hebrews had hairbrained views of cosmology, why should we believe Genesis when it says "windows of heaven?" For that matter, the Lexham English Bible refers to a solid dome . B...

No, this is not one of those posts about singing feelgood songs and chanting, or "binding" demons hiding under every bush. Stay away from that stuff. This is about a fact that I bring up here every once in a while since this weblog began in 2011. (Originally, it was "A Soldier for Jesus.") We are in a spiritual war. We do not have to go looking for trouble, it comes for us. Satan wants Christians eliminated or at least neutralized. Those who want no part of the spiritual warfare that we are in every day  are actually doing service for the enemy. Whoever is not for  Jesus is against  him. Soldiers, Pixabay / Defence-Imagery "But Cowboy Bob, if I speak up, atheists and others will say mean things and hurt my feelings!" Cowboy up, little buckaroo, and decide whose side you're on (Luke 9:62). Jesus died on a cross for your sins and rose again on the third day, and a Christian is no longer an enemy of God but adopted as one of his children, indwelt with the...

Something very important and practical in many areas of life that biblical creationists encourage people to do is use discernment and critical thinking. We cannot accept someone's say-so because we like them, they profess to be authorities, are creationists, are Christians, or other reasons. While the leadership in the secular science industry has an atheistic agenda, what about Christians and creationists? There are indeed wolves among us (such as theistic evolutionists who identify as "evolutionary creationists"), sometimes mistakes are made. We have to watch for deceit as well as errors. Feathered dinosaur, Flickr / Aaron Gustafson ( CC BY-SA 2.0 ), modified at PhotoFunny In many instances, trust has to be earned. Do you trust me? If so, why? It could be that you like my writing style, accept my Statement of Faith , agree with much of the content, approve of linked sources, or whatever. Perhaps you apply those criteria other authors. But you must still use discernment...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Many of us with some life experience look back on television, movies, and so on, seeing how moral values were more prevalent in the past. We object to the blatant immorality in modern programming and certain agendas being forced on us. Some of us watch very few modern shows. This is all relative, however. I will use The Andy Griffith Show  for an example. Some Christian values were present, and going to church was mentioned, but there was very little content that had any mention of biblical teachings. Many times, Sheriff Taylor and friends would lie to others. He lied to his son Opie, helped Otis the town drunk deceive his relatives to seem respectable, and more. We cannot expect biblical truth from secular entertainment — and never could. One problem with lying is that it shows disrespect for the other person and takes away his or her ability to choose. Also, in The Andy Griffith Show  (and many others), they lied for what seemed to be a greater g...

The other day, I was woolgathering about a job I had. We could call the company president by his first name. He was walking by and I called out to him. He stopped and turned toward me, ready to listen. Something similar happened with a person of importance just the other day, too. They condescended to give time and attention to a nobody. Scoffers will challenge Christians, asking that since the universe is so huge, why would God bother with us down here? For centuries, humans have been learning about the vastness of the universe. While scoffers make the big universe a challenge, believers also wonder — for different reasons. Webb’s 1st Deep Field, NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI , modified at PhotoFunia (usage does imply endorsement of contents by anyone anywhere One view involves presuppositions of atheistic naturalism. I'll allow that the universe is incomprehensibly large, so scoffers cannot accept that if the Creator exists, we're in a special place. Contrary to this is the biblical...

Pigeons and doves are in the  Columbidae family, and there really is no scientific difference between them. The way the names are used, such as calling the smaller bird a dove and the larger one a pigeon, seem to be tradition or preference. My wife and I see and hear mourning doves, and it is easy to tell that they are kinfolk to pigeons. Many people consider pigeons nuisance birds, especially in big cities. Putting aside the annoyance, we can appreciate their patterns and markings. (We detest grackles, but I admit that their iridescence is impressive .) Consider the turtle dove. Turtle Dove, Flickr / Andy Morffew  ( CC BY 2.0 ) People in the Western Hemisphere have heard of them, but they live in Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. (It's a bit of a trade-off, I suppose, because mourning doves reside in North America.) Because of lockdowns and such, bird watching has recently increased. Unfortunately, the turtle dove is endangered. There are some things we can learn from them....

There are some people who call themselves "Red Letter Christians" because they think that only the words of Jesus in red letters are important. So much for spiritual growth! Such a view is not only silly, but self-refuting simply because Jesus referred to other parts of Scripture. A slightly more reasonable but still erroneous idea is that the Old Testament was fulfilled and we are living under the New Testament (Covenant), so it is not needed. As with the Red Letter view, this one shows ignorance and biblical illiteracy — a problem that too many professing Christians have in some form. Genesis 2:24-25, Pexels / Brett Jordan Related to all this is how some people mythologize and allegorize the first eleven chapters of Genesis. This is often done by people who want to believe in long ages and various compromising positions. If they would actually read the Bible without liberal spectacles to color their perceptions, they might see that these areas are treated as history through...

Dinosaurs and the Bible are subjects frequently cussed and discussed regarding biblical creation science views, but because of secular propaganda, they are usually rejected out of hand by many people. Declarations of how dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years are in all sorts of media. These include science documentaries, children's programming, news reports, science journals (as expected), advertisements and more. Christians are often swayed by evolutionary material and dismiss what God's Word says without thinking. Dinosaur image from RGBstock /  Adrian van Leen Of course, a scoffer might say, "Hey, there was no death in the beginning. What if an Ultrasaurus didn't watch where it was going and stomped on Adam? Haw, haw, haw!" If someone like that is going to use our presuppositions to register a complaint, they should be consistent and use what the Bible actually teaches. Some rational thought would also be helpful. Even so, an honest inquirer may won...

Much of our knowledge about the first woman seems to come from tradition, with a little Genesis mixed in. The Bible does not tell us much about Eve, but we can deduce some things from Scripture. We can also learn a bit from science. Things we may have assumed turn out to be incorrect in the light of further examination. Some may not matter at all (such as my unsupportable opinion that both Adam and Eve were both exceptionally attractive). Most of these opinions and traditions are not worth fighting over. Poster of Eve in frame, from James Tissot (ca. 1902), modified at PhotoFunia Tradition has it that the forbidden fruit was an apple, but that has nothing to do with the Bible. Also, she gave it to Adam, who was with her (Gen. 3:6). Was he entertained? When people create artwork, they do so from their own perspectives and cultures. Famous European paintings portray Adam and Eve as white people, so those undoubtedly influenced our opinions years later. But the first parents were not whi...