Biblical Creation and Evangelism

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  On Christmas Eve 2024, I attended the evening church service. Scriptures read, songssung, sermon preached. The conclusion brought everything home to the attenders, as on the way in, we were given small candles with clear plastic cups as shields. The lights were dimmed and the pastor took his flame from the Advent candle. He then lit the candles of other people. It did not take long before the sanctuary had many glows, then we sang "Silent Night." But there was almost a problem. Candle at Christmas Eve service (cropped), Unsplash / Zac Cain Having a view from the balcony, I saw that someone below was having a problem. Her light was dimming and there would be no flame in just a few seconds. She was given help from the person next to her, and I saw an illustration of something that should be  a major part of every Christian's life. Centuries ago, I heard a sermon that exhorted Christians to be "need meters." Aside from the silly mental image...

The Bible makes it very clear that nobody can earn salvation, it is a gift of God. Otherwise, we would have to constantly strive to meet an unknown standard, never knowing when we have attained it — or how to keep it. Faith plus add-ons like baptism, praying to saints, following man-made rules of conduct, being a member of the "right" church — these are usually stumbling blocks. However, baptism is not a requirement for salvation, but an outward expression of obedience to Christ. But salvation and repentance are often used together in Scripture, which can be confusing. Young Man at Prayer , Hans Memling (1475) Unfortunately, there are some people who claim that if one believes in evolution, he is not saved. That cannot be supported by Scripture. However, believing in evolution raises questions about that person's understanding of and commitment to the Word of God, and understanding of actual science. The Bible uses repentance and salvation together quite often. To repent...

Several times, whether in weblogs on on social(ist) media, reviews of spurious books and things have been presented that are useful in addition to what is being reviewed. In cases like the one featured below, the book is irrelevant and the rest of the article takes on theistic evolution (TE). As I have stated several times, I think most TEs profess to be Christians but are actually Deists. They show disdain for the Bible. A sanitized version of evolution is presented and its flaws are omitted. For some reason they want an atheistic philosophy to supercede Scriptural authority. Jesus statue facepalm, Pixabay /  Hans_Hofer A Timeline of Origins—Toward Better Integration of the Bible and Science by Michael Russell is something I don't want to waste my time with thanks to the review. Interestingly, Russell uses the Genesis Flood as the way God brought Noah from the other  world to this one. So, integrating the Bible and science means fiction presented as — what? Theology? Apparen...

A few months ago, I posted " Inner Knowledge of the Creator " on another site. Professing atheists often claim to "lack belief" that God exists because there is supposedly no evidence. Christians who play their game and let them judge the Creator of the universe to see if he is worthy of their  worship offer evidences. Those are rejected. Leaving the Word of God out of such a discussion is wrong — in fact, it is sinful. Not only is the evidence for God abundant (Rom. 1:18-23), they have an inner knowledge. Onteora Lake, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen Everyone has what is called general revelation , knowledge about God available to everyone. We are also given special revelation . This is the written Word of God, which obviously goes deeper and shows us the way of salvation. The Bible is the final authority, not the opinions of scoffer and other nay-sayerks. It has been discussed here and elsewhere that to interpret Scripture (as well as refuting scoffers, compromiser...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  A big red flag for many Christians is when someone says, "God gave me a message for you." Not hardly! I do not think I am being hypocritical going down from that a notch and saying, "God gave me an inspiration for an article," however. Just after the church service, I got a scam text message. Some scammers are very sophisticated, even using artificial intelligence to record someone's voice and then call a friend or relative. (Also, never  answer the phone with "yes".) I have enough knowledge to laugh at this one. Aside from not having such an account, I've had other scam text messages that even had the name of the company wrong. Let's just pretend for a moment that you get an alarming text or email from a company you have an account with. Never click or tap on a link. Instead, call the company from a number on file, or go to their site without clicking a link the probably scammer provided. Deal with genuine customer serv...

Before we get into the main topic, I need to point out something. People tend to say that someone is honest or intelligent because that person is not antagonistic toward their point of view. Dr. Todd Wood has confused people about his stance on evolution , saying it has "gobs of evidence." Atheists said he is "honest" — implying the rest of us are not. Frankie the Rock (I mean, François de La Rochefoucauld) said, "We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us." Try admiring the intelligence of an opponent sometime. Be honest. Crowd of people, Pixabay / Keith Johnston (modified) Sometimes professing atheists will say good things about the Bible, Christianity, Christians, and so on. They are honestly expressing views that obstreperous atheists would find repugnant. C. Richard Dawkins made a rather startling statement that a Designer is a scientific hypothesis , yet remains an atheist. Also, he said that Christianity is " a bulwark ag...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  This article is a departure from the usual material, and it has some practical information for your own physical protection. The first part is for Christians and second part can be helpful to pretty much anyone. Professing Christians can be shamefully selfish, excessively "nice" because of emotions, or somewhere in between. Yes, we are to do good to other people and be a blessing in their lives. Our Creator gave us minds and expects us to use them, and this is helpful when we are being manipulated into doing good deeds. Parking lot, Unsplash / Vitor Paladini The manipulation can come from many sources, including other Christians, religious teachers, and others. It can come from Satan because he may encourage us to feel guilty about not doing enough good deeds. (The Holy Spirit can give us urges, I'm not talking about that. We should know the difference.) Also, our own pride: Dig me, I done a good thing, I did! Instead, we need to focus on growing i...

It was almost time for bed, and I was laying out what I would need for the next day. Of a sudden, there was a rapping at my door. I opened it cautiously, then flung it wide as Stormie Waters and her fiancé Roland Meadows hurried inside. They looked downright frightened. "We saw something. Some... thing  outside!" Stormie exclaimed. "Like nothing I've seen before. It gave me the willies!" Roland added. These two are not prone to flights of fancy and I was very interested. Stump in the sun with growth, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen (modified) They commenced to telling me about a large figure in the road ahead of them, and their horses were skittish. It seemed to turn and look at them with red eyes, then spread bat-like wings and flew away. Having heard similar tales and read historical reports, I shivered despite myself. People sure do like spooky stuff, don't they? This is being posted one week away from Halloween, a celebration of fear and death. And it se...

To hear believers in universal common descent tell it, animals killing and eating each other has always been around. T. rex  would see another dinosaur and they would fight. Lions constantly on the prowl, killing whenever possible. But nobody knows the dispositions of dinosaurs and lions only kill when it is necessary. Biblical creationists presuppose that the Bible is true and authoritative. They say that just after creation week, everything got along and had a vegetarian diet. Animals began putting other animals on their menus at some point. Lion eating, Pexels / jiju joy There is some disagreement among Christians and biblical creationists about when carnivory entered the picture. Some think it did not exist until after God gave humanity permission to eat meat after the Flood, others say carnivory started at the Fall of man. While Scripture is the final authority, science is useful here to help clarify things. What follows is the position of CMI, but I think it is common to the ...

Once again, I was woolgathering while riding. Out Folly Road, past Stinking Lake (not as bad as it sounds), and I decided to head on back. Of a sudden, I noticed a horse under a tree. Heading closer, I saw Lisa Myworries, the Winkie Guards supervisor at the Darwin Ranch sitting there. She beckoned me over and said she needed to talk. Although the Darwin Ranch up yonder by Deception Pass is infested with atheists, she believed in God. Recent creation in six days bothered her. Lisa wondered why biblical creationists have a problem with long ages. The idea of the early chapters of Genesis actually being allegorical or symbolizing long ages is understandable when coming from new Christians, sincerely-questioning unbelievers, and people who have not really thought about the ramifications before. When professing Christians who claim to believe the Bible try to force millions of years into Scripture and compromise with secular concepts, that's a very different matter. Lisa and I had a nic...