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That Place where Solomon Built the Temple

A common red flag occurs when someone claims to have special insight or revelation, that everyone else is wrong, should make people suspicious. How about how the Koran was mistranslated, and it is not 72 virgins as a reward, but 72 raisins ? That did not get much traction, did it? Indeed, many cults claim that their founders received a new revelation so they are the One True Church™. People have been "correcting" the Bible about the Genesis Flood and Creation to comport with atheistic views of science. Something similar has been going on regarding the location of Solomon's Temple. Model of Solomon's Temple, WikiComm / Thomas Newberry , Metropolitan Museum of Art ( CC0 1.0 ) While there is nothing wrong with challenging the consensus (biblical creationists have been doing that for decades), such confrontations need to be backed up with evidence (biblical creationists have been doing that for decades as well). People were satisfied with what the Bible said about the Te

The Meaning of Day in Genesis 1

Some time ago, I sat up pondering where the sun went after it set, and then it dawned on me. There are many Christians who are unwilling to believe that day  in Genesis 1 is a literal day. They try to scheme ways of obscuring the plain reading of the text. When I was young, I read the creation account and had no reason to think day was anything unusual. That is the way people have treated it for a very long time, with few exceptions. Sun obscured by tree, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen With the advent of belief in deep time in the past couple of hundred years, Christians compromised and tried to find ways to force long ages into the Bible. For them, does day still mean day? Allegories, mythologizing, compromising and other shenanigans do violence to the text. Opinions of secular science cannot tell us what Scripture means. Why do those Christians insist on this? Is it to look good to atheists as well as other Christian compromisers? Do they seek the approval of men over that of the Cr

Linking Noah, Moses, and Jesus

There are several literary terms that apply to the historical events in the Bible, such as foreshadowing. In stories (including movies), people are given hints as to what will happen later. There are also types  involving events and people (e.g., 1 Cor. 10:11, Rom. 5:14). It is interesting that in the Bible, historical events actually happened and people really lived who were paralleling what was to come. (Indeed, there are startling similarities between the sacrifices of Isaac and Jesus .) Strong links between Noah, Moses, and Jesus can be seen. Public domain images of Noah, Moses, and Jesus via Breadsite People who read their Bibles and pay attention to good teaching know that the Scripture has a large number of prophecies. Many have been fulfilled (especially surrounding the birth, death, and Resurrection of Jesus) and others are yet to be filled. Perhaps the parallels between Noah, Moses, and Jesus can be considered somewhat prophetic, since prophecy is not difficult for God. They

Retake the Rainbow

With the right combination of water in the air and the angle of light from the sun, a rainbow or double rainbow can be seen. People like to admire the beauty and often quip about gold at its end. Rainbows are popular in artwork and are frequently seen on toys for children. The first mention of a rainbow is in Genesis 9:8-17 where God established it as a covenant sign that the world would never again be completely flooded. God did not do an extra act of creation, but instead assigned special meaning to it. Rainbow at Niagara Falls, Unsplash / Jason Forrest Nowadays, the rainbow has been hijacked. It's bad enough that the word gay  has been changed to mean male homosexual (and those people do not display the original meaning), but the rainbow is a far more serious affront. It has been reworked to have a certain number of stripes that have meanings to the LGBTQ folks. Strange to take unhealthy pride in a sexual preference, and even to seek one's identity in it! This group is happ

The Bible does not Merely Contain the Word of God

When I was a small buckaroo, my father was a pastor in a liberal denomination. (As a general guideline, be wary of denominations with the word "united" in the name. They tend to have poor theology.) Being raised in the United Methodist Church, it was a challenge for me to attend a Christian school that was operated by Fundamentalists. There were so many things that I did not know about the Bible in my mid-teens despite being a pastor's kid. What was this stuff about the Bible being  the Word of God? Bible and pathway, Unsplash / Aaron Burden Churches with liberal theology compromise on many biblical teachings, and that seems to start by rejecting the infallibility of Scripture . It has errors but contains  the Word of God. So how do they know what to believe? Although my father rejected evolution, he seemed to accept deep time. Liberal theologians compromise on those details as well. When the Bible is a flawed guidebook, it can mean all sorts of things whenever convenient

Transgenderism and Genesis

There can be no denying that the idea of someone changing sexes has gone from a rare aberration into acceptance in recent years, and the rest of us are being coerced into being enthusiastic about it. We are called hateful and phobic for not accepting the the reality they are attempting to create and foist upon the world . Even more so for Christians and biblical creationists who believe what God's Word says about the created order. It is not  "hateful" for speaking the truth and trying to turn people from their flawed beliefs; they deny the Bible and science . Distorted woods, original image by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Amazingly, people try to put evolution into Genesis and pull out transgenderism! People who do this reject the Bible and denigrate those of us who believe it. They ignore creation science evidence (and some, albeit inadvertent, secular evidence) supporting how we all came from Adam and Eve. Evolutionists believe humanity had multiple first ancestors, and because

Think Like Jesus about Scripture

It should stand to reason that people who say they are Christians — followers of Jesus — should give give great value to his view of Scripture. Unfortunately, there is a great deal of biblical illiteracy among Christians. To be direct, many who bear that name are actually heretics . People sure are fond of their opinions. Post something on social(ist) media, you get a passel of "Well, I  think..." responses, and many of those are contradicted by the linked articles they refused to read. Opinionated biblically illiterate heretics are ripe for deception by cults. Bible open to Genesis, Pexels / Luis Quintero Many professing Christians are not committed to the inerrancy of Scripture, and often add in teachings, sayings, traditions, and opinions. We look to the Bible to learn about Jesus and salvation. We also read it to find out about living the Christian life and the return of Jesus. Why bother if it's full of errors or alleged contradictions ? This also a clear rejection o

Working with God to Create

Although the term New Age  is not as common as before, the concept remains. It was misnamed from the beginning because it is a repackaging of Hindu, Astrology, and other Eastern religious views. Essentially, it is religious buffet. For a while, calling something New Age was a marketing scheme. The music under that moniker could be jazz, electronic, nature sounds, and more — although it did not involve spirituality unless the listener added it. Books, board games, and more had New Age trappings. It should not surprise anyone that Christian elements were added and corrupted. Serpent meditating and glowing, made with AI image generator at Bing New Age stuff is not atheistic by nature, but it denies the authority of the Bible. Evolution is an ancient pagan religious idea that is seen in Eastern religions and New Age spirituality. Satan himself was the first evolutionist , rejecting God as Creator and believing that God also evolved just as he himself was doing. The first lie was back in Ge

Gambling on Creation with Christian Colleges

Someone said that he asked people who believe the falsehood that the US Constitution has a separation of church and state clause, "Do you want something that is taught in seminaries also taught in public schools?" They answered in the negative. He pointed out that this subject was evolution. One would expect that a college calling itself  Christian  would believe and teach what is contained in the Bible, and uphold biblical authority. Many have fallen away and teach vague religiosity, and usually shun biblical creation. Faro game at Orient Saloon ca. 1900 / National Archives , colorized at Palette It has been demonstrated that particles-to-professor evolution makes atheists out of people, or causes them compromise their faith so that it becomes almost unrecognizable — even resembling Deism. Parents who care will provide their children with strong teachings in creation and other areas of the faith, and make resources available. This includes biblically-strong sites and weblogs

Why There is no Compromise on Creation

It may seem fair and reasonable for mainstream evangelicals to ask biblical creationists to compromise on literal six-day creation. Indeed, sometimes we are seen as a niche group in an offshoot of the Fundamentalist movement. It is ironic that the Fundamentalists were not exactly biblical creationists . Again, belief in recent six-day creation is not required for salvation. Accepting theistic evolution (TE) is not a disqualifier, nor is acceptance of billions of years. Those beliefs do show, however, that people are not understanding or have a low view of Scripture. Silhouette of group at sunset, Pexels / Min An Some do not understand Scripture or the failings of secular science, and many do not believe Scripture. (I believe that knowledgeable TEs are actually Deists because they reject the inerrancy and authority of God's Word.) Joining in with a group hug and affirming the "Why can't we all just get along?" sentiment involves degrading the Bible. Evolution is not co