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The Gospel and Noah's Ark

People who have little understanding of the Bible or have a low view of the authority of Scripture tend to wave off the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Regular readers have seen how a rejection of creation leads to errors all the way to Revelation, and the same thing happens when denying the Genesis Flood. What about the claim that the Flood was only local? That may seem to be a nice compromise with those who believe in long ages, but that's the opposite of the truth. Credit: Freeimages / Christian Carollo I have pointed out one simple problem with people using the loco local Flood scenario. Peter discussed the global Flood (2 Peter 2:5, 3:6) and compared it to the coming Judgement by fire (2 Peter 3:7). So, if the Genesis Flood was only local, will the Judgement by fire also be just a local event? Not hardly! More than that, the Ark is a type of Christ. When limiting the Flood, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is also being limited. About 1,656 years after the crea

Unmasking the "Holy Ghost" Movie

This post could be subtitled, "Why Unbelievers Hate Christians, Part 4", and is another that will probably cost me some friends. Don't that just take the rag off the bush, standing up for truth and getting professing Christians into a lather? It happened before, and it'll happen again because I seek to please God, not men, which makes me think of Galatians 1:10. Did you know that most Americans who call themselves Christians are actually functional heretics ? While this kind of news is very sad, it is also not surprising. In my experience, especially online, there are many people who profess to be Christians but have a very low view of Scripture, and very little working knowledge of it. Yet, they claim to believe it. When people fall in to deception, disregard for scriptural authority as well as biblical illiteracy are key factors.  I run across all sorts of people while administering The Question Evolution Project . I'll see some who claim to be Christians

The Christian and Greek Mythology

Many people are fascinated by ancient Greek mythology, which can be seen by the numerous volumes about the subject and various works of fantasy fiction that make their way onto the big screen. Although it appears that few if any people still believe in what were called gods and goddesses of Greece, that culture is still represented in today's Western world. Artemis (Roman: Diane) credit: Wikimedia Commons / Marie-Lan Nguyen Some jaspers say that the Bible is just mythology, like the Greeks, Romans, and others had. I wonder if they've ever read the mythologies and seriously read the Bible. When I was younger, I thought maybe they were just representatives of principles, but no, people did worship them. Those tinhorns in mythology were capricious, petty, deceitful, cannibalistic, and just plain unpleasant in many ways. Powerful forces of nature were attributed to them, as were other facts of daily life. We get diluted mythology stories, but if you get into mythology that is

Yes, Genesis is History

Something I keep stressing is that the Bible is God's Word, and true from the very first verse. There are people who, for various reasons, want to compromise and say that the Bible is true, but not the early chapters of Genesis — those have to be interpreted in light of the ever-changing whims of man-made science philosophies. Can't be believing in creation, can we? Yes, yes we can. Sunset over clouds on Lake Superior, credit: Freeimages / Archbob Why would they compromise? If you study on it, there are several possible reasons. One is that they are ashamed of God. Another is because they are more interested in what other people think of them rather than what God thinks. Many learn bad theology from liberal teachers. I reckon the most likely reason is that they have not really thought things through (which may stem from not being grounded in the Word). Capitulating on the opening chapters of Genesis leads to theological horse trading throughout the Bible, and undermines

People after the Genesis Flood

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 the Cu

The Non-Bible Answer Man

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Dr. Walter Martin was the original "Bible Answer Man" after he founded an organization called the Christian Research Institute (CRI). He was a noted authority on cults and religions, having written books on the subjects, had a radio ministry, was a guest on various programs, and more [ 1 ]. After his untimely death in 1989 at age 60, the leadership of CRI was given to Hank Hanegraaff. Dr. Martin's teachings were very helpful in the development of my own theology as well as my growing interest in apologetics. The family of Dr. Martin has serious difficulties with Hanegraaff's demeanor, methods, lack of formal theological training, and in other areas [ 2 ]. They are not the only ones, either [ 3 ]. In addition, he has not been friendly to biblical creation science, preferring the "Framework Hypothesis" [ 4 ]. It seems that someone taking over such a position from Dr. Martin should have formal theological training and have less contro

Authority, Personality, Familiarity

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Seems to be human nature to defer to someone in authority. Well, let me modify that: someone that seems to have  authority. The scene of a traffic accident, a stranger stops, gives instructions, directs traffic, and takes charge overall until the police and EMTs arrive. (There is something that is called presence, where someone has authority and personality.) He or she may not have had any formal status, but people deferred to the air of authority. Atheists listen to Clinton Richard Dawkins, even though he is a lousy philosopher, and evolutionists believe his ridiculous claim that the human eye was "poorly designed" . Unfortunately, Christians are often persuaded by people with what they perceive as authority. Evangelist D.L. Moody, from J. Wilbur Chapman , 1900 As an illustration, allow me a personal anecdote. I was raised in the Untied Methodist Church (misspelling intentional), my father was a pastor. In an adult Sunday School class, I was a

Creation and Crucifixion

A day called Good Friday is observed to some extent by most professing Christians around the world. Unbelievers ignore or even hate this day because there is no camouflaging it; no candy rabbits, baskets with shredded plastic grass, egg hunts , ham dinners or any other trappings like people do with Easter. The crucifixion of Jesus is plainly on display for all to see. Credit: Pixabay / congerdesign The bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead followed on a Sunday. He defeated death to reconcile those who believe with God the Father, and enemies of God don't rightly cotton to hearing about that none too much. They also dislike being reminded that Jesus is the Creator (John 1:1-4, Colossians 1:16), and that both the crucifixion and resurrection were prophesied centuries before those events happened. Further, the first prophesy about redemption after sin was in Genesis 3:15. For those who belong to God through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9, John 1:12, Revelation 21:3

Order of Creation Events Irreconcilable with Evolution

One of the main problems that many professing Christians have is ignorance of the Bible that they claim to believe, and this gets them into trouble. Such Christians get recruited into cults, follow false teachers, and are willing to compromise with evolutionism. Credit: Pixabay Mzlle Some are willing to say that God used evolution for creation, but do not see the theological problems this causes. A frequent way that liberal religious folks force evolution into Scripture is to say that the days of creation match up with evolution Not hardly! This shows not only ignorance of a basic reading of the Bible, but ignorance of the story of evolution as well. The two cannot be reconciled, pilgrim. A straightforward reading of the Bible indicates that God created in six 24-hour days a little over 6,000 years ago. This is the way the church has understood it for most of the church’s history, and the way Hebrew scholars have always understood it. However, with the rise of long-age claims

Adam and the Gospel

Previously, we examined how professing Christians disparage Jesus , and that many of those are theistic evolutionists. Another way to undermine the gospel message is to say that Adam was just an illustration and not a real man. We hear that kind of thing and worse (such as the old "book of fairy tales" nonsense) from atheistic sidewinders, but people who actually believe the Bible should be  above dismissing Adam. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Johann Wenzel Peter If you study on it, you'll see that the Bible is written as history. Specific names, dates, events, and so on are provided. Mythology does not have such detail. The primary reason for Christians to reject a historical Adam (as well as special creation) is to force-fit evolutionary views into Scripture. These foolish folks cause themselves a heap of serious problems when they do this, such as needing to explain why a fictitious character is referred to as a real man in Luke's genealogy of Jesus (Lu

Professing Christians Disparage Jesus

Almost from the beginning of Jesus' incarnation as a man, there have been strange heresies about him. Owlhoots have been trying to find ways to denigrate him and make him less that who he was when he walked the earth, and nowadays, such heresies are no longer restricted to Gnostics, atheists, and other cults; the false teachings have infected mainstream churches. Credit: Pixabay / Hans_Hofer C.S. Lewis referred to unbelievers' remarks about Jesus being a "great moral teacher" as " patronizing nonsense ", but some professing Christians are at that same level. Even though his own words, Old Testament prophesies, New Testament writers, the church fathers, and so on have made it clear that Jesus is God the Son who humbled himself and took on human form, seems that people don't cotton to paying attention. Strange when they claim to believe the Bible, but then say that Jesus made mistakes. Quite often, you can find these false claims about him from beli

Is the Inerrancy of the Bible Important?

Some folks have a modicum of respect for the Bible even if they do not actually believe it. To call it the "good book" and pick out various words of wisdom is to miss the important fact that the Bible makes serious claims about itself: it is the inerrant written Word of God. What does that mean? When investigating the statements of faith from various churches and ministries, there are some phrases about the Bible that seem a mite baffling. Expressions like verbal plenary  and inspiration  stand out. The first one is expensive talk for the whole of Scripture, every word, is given by God. Inspiration is a horse of a different color, because we use that word to mean several different things. Some folks say that the Bible was "inspired" the way an essayist or even a skilled fiction writers is inspired. In the Bible, it is the Greek word Î¸ÎµÎ¿́πνευστος,  theopneustos (pronounced thay-ah-noo-stahs) that many versions translate as inspired, but is more correctly rendered

Ancient Chinese Artifact May Portray Genesis

China has one of the oldest cultures on Earth, so perhaps we should not be surprised to find traces of the Bible, even in this now-Communist land. Older Chinese pictographs have been demonstrated to show some elements of Genesis, and an ancient artifact from Sanxingdui may have some correlation to Genesis as well. Adam and Eve by Raphael The identification of artifacts can be difficult, but the interpretation can be a mighty tricky thing. A bronze tree in Sanxingdui may have significant correlation with the Genesis Flood and the dispersal of nations at Babel. You might rightly wonder why, so I'll give you a couple of spoilers from the article linked below: this big tree made of bronze has a passel of details linking it to Genesis, but it is dated to about the time Moses was penning the Pentateuch. They weren't exactly telegraphing each other. So... In 1986, workers from a brickyard near Guanghan, China, were digging for clay in the countryside when they discovered