Biblical Creation and Evangelism

For centuries, people speculated about where water comes from and where it goes. Sure, we have rainfall, and sometimes plenty of it, but that does not account for most of it. Some of the ancient Greeks thought there could be a huge underwater lake that supplied the water into the ground. It was not until 1674 that a more accurate understanding of the hydrologic cycle was determined. Credit: RGBStock / MARMIT Interestingly, bits and pieces of the water cycle are described in the Bible in reference to our Creator's work. While the writers were not attempting to write a scientific treatise, their comments were still accurate. That's what happens when the Bible refers to scientific matters, it's always right. After all, Matthew Maury read about the "paths of the seas", which lead him to  important work in oceanography . Perhaps if folks put the verses about the water cycle together, we may have known more details about it sooner.  Every living organism relies...

Something that inspires awe and faith in Christians, but consternation and excuse-making in professing atheists, is biblical prophecy. In simplest terms, a prophet is someone sent by God to proclaim his message. (There are quite a few qualifiers, however.) People think a prophet primarily foretells the future, but that is only a part of his job. Credit: Freeimages / John Harris Pe There are far too many self-appointed "prophets" who contradict Scripture. God made it clear that Scripture is God breathed , and a prophet must be right every time. These modern sidewinders are not only presumptuous in announcing, "God said to me...", but are often vague, and have a terrible record for accuracy. If they tried their shenanigans in ancient Israel, they wouldn't live long (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). God himself prophesied directly about the coming Redeemer in Genesis 3:15. I'll allow that prophesy is a difficult subject, since some were far in the future, such ...

For a mighty long time, the book of Genesis was understood to be history, not allegory or anything else. Josephus, the respected Jewish historian, also recognized the straightforward reading of Genesis . One in a while, some owlhoot would try to change the literal days of Genesis into something else In the days of the Reformers, some folks tried to make the days much quicker, but most accepted literal creation days .  Later, professing Christians compromised on the meaning of the days of Genesis in order to accommodate atheistic interpretations of "science", and commenced to shoving millions of years into the text. They also began rejecting creation in favor of evolutionism, and the faith of many was shipwrecked. I suspicion that religious folks didn't want to look stupid to the burgeoning secular science promoters, and were fearful of ridicule. Did they, and do people today, want to please men, or God?  There are various attempts to marry up Genesis and atheistic ...

It should be obvious that people who identify as Christians must rely on the Bible as their final authority in spiritual matters. Unfortunately, many people elevate man-made traditions, false authority, teachings from teachers they admire, and even their own opinions above God's Word. Credit: Pixabay / StockSnap Many translations translate a word in 2 Timothy 3:16 as inspired , which causes some confusion because people say William Shakespeare, John MacArthur, J.S. Bach, and other writers are inspired. The word in the Bible is θεόπνευστος and is more correctly translated as God-breathed. God gave us his inerrant Word for instruction in righteousness, doctrine, daily living, and other matter essential to Christian life. It is true from the very first verse. Bible-believing Christians who read it on a regular basis and receive sound biblical teachings are less likely to fall under the influence of owlhoots who are bringing false doctrine. The doctrine of Sola Scriptura was a...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen On this distinctly American holiday where people traditionally celebrate family, friends, and what we have, we need to remember the greater blessings. Many of us have things we take for granted. We have electronic devices that are "essential" to us that didn't even exist ten years ago, and we panic when they're not working. A bit of perspective, people! I can turn on the faucet and get clean water that we put through an attached filter to make it even better, but there are those who have to scrounge for muddy water to drink and hope it doesn't kill them. Even if we're not living in splendor, we need to be thankful for what we have, you savvy? The Thankful Poor ,  Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1894 A thankful spirit is important in the Christian life, and we should focus on giving thanks to God who gave us life, and eternal life. He doesn't have to bless us in so many ways, but he does it out of his love for us — even mockers and bl...

Some professing Christians are unaware that the Bible means what it says, all the way back to Genesis. Old Earth believers often claim that biblical creationists are being divisive by insisting on actual solar days of creation instead of treating Genesis as allegorical, mythological, or needing deep time interpretation. Such views are false. In fact, the interlopers are those who add millions of years to Scripture! Image of Flavius Josephus obtained from Wikimedia Commons The church fathers almost universally viewed creation as a recent event, and most accepted literal days of creation. Likewise, the Reformers believed in recent creation . If those sources are insufficient for some owlhoots, how about going way back to a respected Jewish Historian, Flavius Josephus?  Many people who compromise on the plain meaning of Genesis claim that the literal interpretation is a modern invention. Instead, they claim that most commentators in the past took a long-age view. On the cont...

Sometimes it seems that people are intimidated by the word logic. Perhaps they have images of professors making diagrams that resemble algebraic equations and discussing the laws of logic, and that us reg'lar folk cannot relate. While the academic image is real and fine for those who want to study the fine points of logic, you and I use logic on a daily basis. Credit: Pixabay / PIRO4D The auto mechanic who discovers why your vehicle stalls out at a certain point, the baker following a recipe, computer programmers, playing chess and similar games, doing a jigsaw puzzle — these all require the use of logic. When attempting to solve problems or learn the truth, we attempt to gain as much information as we need and then use our reasoning skills to reach answers. We usually do this without thinking about thinking. Logic is actually a part of the mind of God. We are made in his image, and he has given us some knowledge as well as senses and skills to acquire more knowledge so w...

We read in Genesis 1:26 that we are created in God's image. That phrase can be a mite confusing, and one angry atheist used it as a "proof" that the Bible is true because we are physical beings, or some such. A photograph or a painting is also an image of something. If I held up a picture and said, "This is my daughter", a rational person would not conclude that she is flat and fits in a wallet. Also, that image would not negate the existence of the real person. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ESA / CXC / STScI (Usage does not imply endorsement of site contents.) The rest of verse 26 says that we're created in God's likeness. That adds a bit of depth, too. He's the creator of the universe, gave us life, is our Redeemer — image and likeness? Kind of hard to lasso the concept, I know. Let's dig a little deeper. This passage shows that man reflects God in some way and represents him.1 The image of God distinguishes mankind from the rest of c...

Despite the claims of some old-earth compromisers like Hugh Ross, the church fathers believed , for the most part, in a young earth. For that matter, the Genesis Flood, recent creation, and similar matters were largely undisputed and a defense of the position was generally considered unnecessary. The concept of deep time is the new gelding in the theological stable. Credit: Pixabay / strecosa What about the Reformers? You know, that Protestant Reformation that is considered to have begun back yonder about 500 years ago? Yeah, those guys. Remember, a movement does not usually happen in a moment; there is groundwork and developments until the thing commences to happen. We know that Martin Luther took Genesis seriously , but we may wonder about the other Reformers during that period of years. It's a reasonable question, since liberal theologians and many professing Christians today believe the old earth view — especially since Christians ceded both science and theology to secula...

Back on October 22, 1844, followers of William Miller (Millerites) expected Jesus to return. This was called the "Great Disappointment" for obvious reasons. People kept going with it, modifying views and such, eventually spawning outfits like the Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses . I guess you could say they evolved from a common ancestor. Those of us who have a few decades under our belts have experienced several "end of the world" prophesied events. Nothing happened. In 2016, some of us endured the "Super Shemitah" and blood moons business — and it was a business for people like Jim Bakker and others. But, as usual, those sidewinders kept on a-selling to their gullible followers. At this writing, the latest big thing was supposed to have happened on September 23, 2017. People were interpreting the signs in the heavens, earthquakes, storms, wars and rumors of wars, and so on as indications that the time of Christ's return...