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Taming the Monsters we Face

The season of fear. Although people watch horror movies throughout the year, many put a great deal of effort and money into celebrating images of evil and death on Halloween. Long ago, this child was into it. Now I dislike it, and I reckon part of the reason is that I hate fear. Have you ever watched a movie about werewolves, demons, or other monsters of darkness and then glanced around your home with unease? We know they are imaginary, but we still get the heebie-jeebies after watching a show. Pixabay /  Lothar Dieterich When people prepare for the "zombie apocalypse", I think most consider it as fun, but it seems that some really believe it's possible. (Are they really unaware that the zombie mythos is based on movies, and that it has little resemblance to zombie folklore based on Haitian voodoo?) The Centers for Disease Control used the fad to promote the more serious subject of disaster preparedness . Nothing to fear here, Horace. Speaking of mythologies, there are se

Canceling Women?

In U.S. Supreme Court hearings, Kaiju — I mean, Ketanji — Brown Jackson claimed to be unable to answer "What is a woman" because she is not a biologist. Well, I am not a biologist, medical doctor, or whatever, and I know a woman when I encounter one. But it is becoming more difficult nowadays. While atheists and evolutionists like to call those of us who deny and refute fish-to-fool evolution as "science deniers", those who say that people can have their genders changed are science deniers. They cannot transform chromosomes, skeletal structure, and many other features. Woman on dock, Unsplash / Drew Colins Self-styled "progressives" are blurring the lines, and greedy doctors are going along with them. Such things were unthinkable just a few years ago, and someone who had bodily mutilation surgery and was given hormones in an effort to change sexes made normal people uncomfortable. There was never any need to define man and woman . The world is sliding down

The Problem with God Begins at Creation

Many people claim they have a problem with God, or that God has a problem, because they think he is wicked or incapable. They are making their case from a limited perspective. We are human and God is infinite; the created cannot fully understand the Creator. In addition, people are in rebellion against him. Misotheists pretend God does not exist, then absurdly ridicule Christians who say that there is plenty of evidence for him (Romans 1:18-23). Read or listen more and they are condemning God to justify themselves (Job 40:8). The most common complain is evil in the world. Question mark and big door, Unsplash / Jac Alexandru Of course, things God considers evil are often accepted by these people. They are working from personal preferences and arbitrary standards. There's a prairie schooner-full of speculation, guesswork, uninformed opinions, prejudicial conjecture and all that good stuff used to contemplate and "explain" God. Very disrespectful. How about his point of view

The Spiritual Realm, UFOs, and Dark Matter?

When people say that something is spiritual, the connotation is of wispy and ghostlike things, or simply the unseen. Since we are spiritual beings that live in bodies, that concept is not quite right. There is also the spiritual realm  that theologians and others have discussed for many years. Where is that? Despite being materialists, secularists know that there is more to people than just being meat machines. They have tried to find the soul and the origin of consciousness , but were doomed to failure from the get-go because of their presuppositions. UFO at night via PxHere People are beginning to realize what some Christians have been saying for a long time: UFOs (well, now the term is Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) are of a spiritual, not physical, nature. Spirit beings such as angels and demons can pop into our realm from the one in which they live and show themselves — or be active and unseen. Some of us contend that UFOs and space aliens are demonic. It has been suggested that

Awe is Unique to Humans

For Bible-believing Christians, there are times when we become keenly aware of the blessings of God and a sense of awe overtakes us. We can respond in praise and thanksgiving for what we have, and for the majesty of creation. If you study on it, we could even thank God for the laws of nature that allow us to appreciate things. (In my view, the universe has been damaged by the Fall of Man and the Flood, but God made it so that even after all that, we perceive amazing beauty.) Romans 8:20-21 tells us that all creation has been subjected to futility. Unsplash / Joshua Earle Psalmists poetically say that all creation praises God and sings. Such language is probably based on the coming release from futility after the return of Jesus at the consummation of all things at the end. Animals generally don't express a sense of awe. Our alleged evolutionary cousins just go about their ape business. No, awe is unique to humans and helps us relate to our Father. Materialists may have a sense of a

Science, Religion, and Pantheism

Anti-Christians have said that there is a war between science and religion, but these types of people are not exactly skilled at deep thinking. Science and religion are on good terms but secularists pretend that they are at odds. Logic, science, and more have been (and still are) used by Christians to advance science. We see origins, a historical science , at odds with biblical Christianity. It is not because one side has better facts. Instead, it is a question of people interpreting facts according to their worldviews. One side honors God the Creator and Redeemer, the other side is essentially pagan. Skye, Unsplash / Robert Lukeman Paganism is not a single religion, and has many facets. A pagan can be a witch in a coven, a New Age crystal enthusiast, or someone who has a vague "spirituality." I reckon many people are pagans and don't even realize it. Professing atheists claim that they do not have a religion because they do not worship a deity. Such a claim helps reveal

The Foundation of Creation

A fairly common remark that biblical creationists hear is something like, "Creation, evolution, the age of the earth — all those things are side issues. We need to focus on preaching the gospel." I had one of these a spell back, only this one was amazingly sanctimonious. Unfortunately, because so many people misrepresent us, we need to frequently point out that believing in a young earth and rejecting evolution are not salvific (required for salvation) issues. This does not mean that they are unimportant or even irrelevant! Creation Tiles, Unsplash / Alex Shute One simple reason to refute evolution as well as affirm creation and the young earth is that those things have been stumbling blocks to many people. Also, it should make an impression on Christians how the church fathers as well as the way people in the Bible viewed the importance of creation. Irenaeus (c. 130–202 AD), a significant leader in the early Christian Church, wrote Against Heresies to counter wrong ideas in

Jesus Pictures and — Idolatry?

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 worship. I hav

Refuting the Solid Dome Sky Idea

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

Training for Spiritual Warfare

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