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Clothes Laid Out and Waiting

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Go down the short hallway, past the bathroom, through the open door of the bedroom. Look behind the door. You see several things such as mostly unused crutches from my knee surgery, a clothes drying rack, two 3-drawer plastic storage units, and more. On top of a storage unit are a pair of pants, a shirt, and shoes. Unpretentious clothes. Charlene had efficiently laid them out so she could use them when she returned from her surgery. She is not coming back for them. Ever. This is being posted four weeks from the day she passed away. My beloved wife's clothes are waiting in vain for her return Most everyone has heard it said that we are not guaranteed tomorrow. In her case, she did not finish "today," the day of her surgery, when she was stricken. In the midst of my bitter tears, I know that she was a child of the living God. When the angel came to escort her to Jesus, Charlene must have been thrilled to be free of a life that had so much physical an...
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Using Scripture to Interpret Scripture

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...

If We Had Only Been Ready

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...

Atheists Speaking Highly of Christianity

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...

Christians, Manipulation, and Avoiding Danger

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...

Scary Monsters and the Christian

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...

When Carnivory Began

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 ...

Why Compromising on Long Ages Matters

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...

Creation and the Identity of Jesus

If you ask around about the identity of Jesus, you will get a variety of answers. Some history deniers try to pretend he never existed, there are "atheist Christians" who use that title because they like some of the things he said, plus vague or even biblical answers. While it may be interesting to get opinions from coworkers or someone at the deli, it is best to go to the sources. The Bible has sections written by eyewitnesses. Church history by people who were not far removed from the events is often useful. Man kneeling and reading the Bible, Unsplash /  Ben White Jesus is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. He was given and received worship, such as in John 20:28 when "doubting" Thomas exclaimed, "My Lord and my God!" (Note that Thomas didn't believe the Resurrection testimony of the others and wanted to touch the wounds himself. He made the above exclamation when Jesus appeared to him, but nowhere does it mention that he followed throug...

Evil Reduced by the Creation Worldview

The way someone views the world includes ethics and morality, origins, expectations for the future, and more are contained in their worldviews. Christians who have a biblical worldview believe that it is true from the first verse and are supposed to live accordingly. A materialistic worldview (all that matters is matter, no God exists) does not have a consistent standard of morality . Fish-to-fool evolution is actually a religion to people with these beliefs, so if they cheat and steal, they are being consistent with their worldview. Man thinking by a lake at sunset, Pixabay /  StockSnap Materialists cannot be consistent in their beliefs, because they use logic (which is not material), and use logic in science — but science would be impossible without God ! An evolutionary worldview is prominent in leftist ideologies, past and present. Adherence to a biblical worldview (beginning in Genesis) reduces the evil that is brought by materialism. To read the article that inspired this pos...

Rewriting the Creation Message Affects the Gospel

People may think that evolution is a subject for biologists to discuss and creation is for science-denying theologians and religious fanatics, but those are false characterizations. Origins permeates many areas of our lives. Worldviews determine how we process information. Evolution is materialistic. That is, it is based on the belief that all that exists is matter and there is no God or spirits. It uses gradual, trial-and-error processes over long periods of time. Death is the hero because creatures die so "better" ones can live. The Bible describes the creation of everything in six days — without evolution. Bear Ghat Kill erodes drive, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen When professing Christians try to combine creation and evolution through things like Theistic Evolution, they do violence to the gospel message. In addition, they are saying that they do not believe the Bible, that it does not mean what it says! Why should an unbeliever trust the Bible about salvation through fa...