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Showing posts with the label Apologetics

The Origins Controversy and Religious Motivation

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Evolution News and Science Today  is run by the Discovery Institute, the leading proponents of Intelligent Design. Despite what propagandists for universal common descent evolution claim, ID is not  creation science in disguise. An article on that site, " Are Proponents of ID Religiously Motivated, and Does It Matter? " inspired this one. The author, Dr. Jonathan McLatchie, made some excellent points in his response to a critic, especially noting that logical fallacies were utilized — which is typical of advocates of evolutionism. Image by Cowboy Bob Sorensen, modified with FotoSketcher Dr. McLatchie pointed out that when the critic of ID claimed that they were religiously motivated, it was a genetic fallacy (also, it poisons the well) . What is too often ignored is the fact that secularists are religiously motivated themselves, as many have religions without deities. This screenshot from X (formerly Twitter) shows a religious attitude toward Dragon Ba

Biblical Knowledge and Creation Science

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At one time, Christians were the main people doing science. (It was called natural philosophy  until the name was changed to science .) Christians and creationists were right at home here. Science operates by laws, and those were given by the Creator. They provide consistency. See how that works out? Eventually, Christians yielded to materialists. Much of that was through compromise on the authority of the Bible. Secular scientists reject the Bible in favor of naturalism. Both kinds of scientists have worldviews based on their presuppositions. Universe and Bible, Pixabay / Alex Myers and Maicon Fonseca Zanco What follows is going to be difficult for some people to accept, even creationists. Bible-believing Christians actually have an advantage in doing science. Indeed, Psalm 119:130 tells us that God's Word brings understanding. Not only does the biblical worldview rule out time, chance, errors as explanations for observed data, but Christians also have a basis for logic and scie

Trusting the New Testament Manuscripts

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The word apologetics  comes from the Greek word Î±̓πολογία ( apologia ), which essentially means to make a reasoned defense or argument. (In this regard, an apology does not mean saying one is sorry.) We discuss the Bible internally and also use outside references. There are apologists for many things. Biblical apologists strive to show that the Bible is true. Otherwise, it is simply an item of curiosity for stuffy intellectual types having parlor discussions with brandy and cigars. Our faith would be worthless, Question Evolution Day would have no relevance, we would be worthy of ridicule. Section of P-45 Greek papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Luke, via Wikimedia Commons That is not the case. The Bible has been shown to be an important historical reference, and it is the Word of God, changing lives and bringing salvation. Interestingly, some of the technology that backfires on evolutionists  has been used to examine extremely delicate biblical manuscripts that could not even be o

Those Enigmatic Philistines

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When reading history in the Bible and seeing the word Philistines , one might want to heave a sigh and mutter about troublemakers. The most famous passages about them are probably with David and Goliath (who was probably a mercenary), Samson beating up on them, and when Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant. They are mentioned numerous times throughout the Old Testament. More often than not, they were indeed troublemakers. They cause problems today for Bible scholars and historians who want to know who they were in the first place. Pottery Votive Gift to Philistine Shrine, 9th Century BC, Flickr / Gary Todd (Public Domain) Philistines lived in several areas, and seem to have come from Crete. The Bible seems to conflict with other historical accounts and archaeology. However, there are several things that need to be considered, including that the name itself seems to have been used loosely — and retroactively. The Philistines are a problematic people group in the Bible. Scholars arg

A Dinosaur Studies Reformation

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While a passel of people are celebrating fear, death, and evil on Halloween, many Christians take note of October 31 as Reformation Day . That is when German priest used the social media of his day, nailing 95 theses to the Wittenberg door. Most movements and revolutions do not happen overnight, and a kind of dinosaur reformation is happening in paleontology right now. I have said that evolutionists are working for creationists , since they are well-heeled but we can analyze their claims — including those about dinosaurs and such. Dinosaur nailing scroll to wooden door made with Bing AI The secular science industry has been making pronouncements in its authority that do not comport with science and logic, using dinosaurs as evolutionary propaganda. Biblical creationists and others look at their assertions, compare them with evidence, and frequently find them lacking. In addition, there is new research that is mighty difficult for secularists to ignore or suppress — even in their own ra

That Papyrus with Sayings of Jesus

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A papyrus was made of plant fibers and a popular way of writing documents, taking notes, and so on in ancient times. This was a budget writing method, and there were more durable (and expensive) materials. They can last a long time in the right conditions. Oxyrhynchus was a city in Egypt that had a passel of papyri (including biblical writings) in garbage dumps. There are many reasons biblical material could be there, such as mistakes, copies may have been upgraded to better material — or the owners realized they were not valid. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 3522  (I can't legally use 5575), Wikimedia Commons / public domain There are many manuscripts and fragments, and they keep scholars quite busy. The Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 5575 has sayings that are attributed  to Jesus as well as short quotes from real Gospels. Surprisingly, even this spurious piece has value, helping researchers date other materials and so forth. Also, it helps reveal the how seriously people took the biblical manuscript c

Mitigating Evolution Indoctrination in Schools

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It is a fact that young people will be indoctrinated in particles-to-professor evolution in schools, whether public or Christian. Indeed, some homeschool curricula are not to be trusted. Some parents may want to shield students from evolution. Bad idea, because they will learn it one way or another — and possibly wonder why their parents are afraid of "the truth." Evolution is not just a biological theory. Instead, many people (especially in science organizations or academia) have evolution as a worldview, guiding their thoughts and actions, then preaching fallacious principles. University lecture, Pixabay / Nikolay Georgiev It may seem like drama, but it is a fact that professors use evolution as a "scientific" way of destroying the faith of students. Well-documented is the fact that students lose their Christian beliefs. Why is that? One simple reason is that parents are unable to answer questions, and just wave them off. They know that creation is true, but their

Why James Tour Lost the Origins Debate to Dave Farina

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Something that keeps getting slipped over the transom in my study is news about Dr. James Tour. He is a professor of several things including chemistry at Rice University, and friendly with the Discovery Institute, an Intelligent Design organization. He makes Darwin sad by refuting claims of materialists on the origin of life. No, I refuse to accept the claims of Darwin's acolytes on social(ist) media and elsewhere that the OoL has nothing to do with evolution, as that has been handily refuted many times over. Background image by Cowboy Bob Sorensen , photos from James Tour's YouTube post, then modified* Dave Farina considers himself an educator on science topic and has made good use of the popularity of YouTube. His channel is Professor Dave Explains . (People call themselves whatever they want, but in science and academia, claiming titles like doctor or professor is akin to stolen valor in the military .) Like other atheists, he presupposes a materiali

Young Earth Evolution, Todd Wood, and Me

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen This is an article I would rather not write, but my experiences and thoughts may be useful to others. Maybe I will get insight from them. A spell back, I was confused by Dr. Todd Wood who appeared in the creation science film Is Genesis History . Well, it was afterward that I was confused. He seemed to be advocating for baryons-to-biochemist evolution . After a bit of investigation, I wrote an article discussing both my confusion and also a video he made that seemed to settle things. Todd Wood with Del Tackett, Is Genesis History screenshot, modified with FotoSketcher Although I am a nobody, I was hoping that he would respond to the article. That didn't happen. After a while, I stopped paying attention to Dr. Wood's activities. Then some articles from Answers in Genesis got my attention. They were doing a series on young-earth evolution , which is something new to me. The idea seems contradictory, because evolution demands deep time and a denial of th

Doubt Creation, so Doubt the Resurrection?

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Apologists have often encountered people who claim to have lost, or are losing, their faith. One problem is that they are willing to accept the authority of skeptics, so they do not do their homework. This child has seen many instances when someone will claim that they could not get answers to their questions, but they are complaining online , where answers are available — if they sincerely want them. People who are not grounded in the faith should not spend time interacting with or reading material by scoffers. Resurrection, Empty tomb  RGBStock / Alex Bruda Skeptics today are scoffers, unwilling to accept answers, or even consider than answers exist. They corrupt those who are weak in the faith and drag them down. Atheists are good at posturing and ridicule. Those who are weak in the faith may be afraid that if they get misotheists on the prod, they will say mean things to or about them. What they experience is nothing in comparison with what Jesus went through. That's worth thin

Doubts on the Authorship of 2 Peter

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Admittedly, this post is a departure from the usual fare of this weblog. It is because Christians need to know about not only evidence that supports the authenticity of the Bible (such as historical records and archaeology), but dealing with attacks on it as well. Taking a critical view of many things is helpful, but when this approach is coupled with a scoffing attitude, almost nothing can penetrate such a mindset. A person like this presumes the worst about possible evidence against the Bible. Apostle Peter statue, Pixabay / Dog Warrior , edited at removebg , then cropped The Second Epistle of Peter was met with suspicion because it did not read like his previous epistle. Liberal scholars who tend to disbelieve the authority and authenticity of the Bible brought several assumptions to the table. Peter was lacking the intelligence that is exhibited in the second epistle, they claimed. There are several explanations to remove both of these doubts. People have different writing styles f

Octopus Evolution Stories Raise Questions

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It is interesting to watch how believers in universal common descent promote their speculations (often with the secular science industry's media sensationalizing). Then creationists and the Intelligent Design camp show the flaws in the science and logic of secularists. Hopefully, regular readers have learned how to spot fake science news. This can be done without owning science degrees. Evolutionists make their pronouncements and attempt to bamboozle us, but we can see when they are talking non-science and are full of hooey. Consider the evolution of a certain type of octopus. Octopus image from Hippopx One aspect of presuppositional apologetics is that biblical creationists presuppose that the Bible is true, and we examine other worldviews to see if they are internally consistent. Misotheists frequently misrepresent and ridicule this apologetic, and they deny something very obvious: They are hardcore presuppositionalists themselves, presupposing evolution and naturalism. With this

Design Denial is a Science Stopper

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen From the standpoint of producing evidence for what they teach, biblical creationists can be baffled by the resistance displayed by anti-creationists. Some tinhorns claim that we never produce evidence — making such insipid claims on posts such as " Overview of Geologic Evidence of the Flood !" Material exposing evolutionary fraud and bad science is ignored or waved away. In literally thousands of books, articles, videos and such, Creationists and Intelligent design proponents have discussed how evidence for design is abundant. Instead of intelligently discussing interpretations of evidence, atheists and evolutionists go beyond insults and attempt to dehumanize us . Red-bellied woodpecker, Unsplash / Joshua J. Cotten When misotheists attempt to dehumanize us, it shuts down rational discourse. It also indicates fear on their part. Can't be letting evidence for design get wide circulation, nosiree! That's bad medicine for atheism. Further, what doe

Clear Evidence for God — No Excuse

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One of the most common complaints by professing atheists is that there is insufficient evidence for God. They have disingenuously redefined atheism from one who believes there is no God or gods  into lacking belief . Many will not give a direct answer as to what would constitute evidence for God, or even whether or not he would be able to make himself known. Many want God to meet their arbitrary subjective standards. The Creator of the universe is not a performing seal, old son. Webb telescope galaxies, NASA , ESA, CSA, and STScI (usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) Those of us who believe that the Bible means what it says know that despite their protestations, God has indeed made himself known. A standard argument by theists is to say that unbelievers just need to look around, his design is clearly evident. Do not  fall into the "prove it to me" trap because they are getting you to admit that you don't believe what God's Word says. Somehow, tinhorns li

Why They Reject the Truths of Design and Creation

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Over at Evolution News, an Intelligent Design site run by the Discovery Institute, there was a fund-raising article. Nothing wrong with that since neither they nor biblical creation science organizations receive government funding — unlike the secular science industry. The author, Dr. John G. West, raised some points worth discussing in " The Biggest Obstacle to Accepting Intelligent Design ". Regular readers know that I have serious reservations about the "big tent" ID movement, but they often do good work showing flaws in minerals-to-microbiologist evolution. Both ID and creationists use intelligent design arguments about living things and specified complexities. Engineer at work, Pexels / RF._.studio Dr. West says the biggest obstacle for people to accept Intelligent design is: Not hearing the evidence in the first place . I reckon there's some truth to that. A spell back I was telling someone that I promote creation science, and the o

The Number of Israelites in the Exodus

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As mentioned before, unbelievers try to undermine the historicity of the Bible in their efforts to negate it. Genesis is maligned by atheists with their materialistic paradigm (there is no God and miracles are impossible). Unbelievers take that kind of approach to other parts of the Bible as well. You probably know the account of how the Israelites left Egypt, and Exodus 12:37 mentions 600,000 men, plus their families . Laypeople tend to forget that the Bible and other ancient texts do not conform to modern approaches regarding minute details and strict sequences of events. Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh / Benjamin West There is something that I want to say here. Thoughtful Christians and creationists do not simply appeal to miracles as a matter of course. When the text indicates a miracle occurred, yes. But to use it as a reflexive explanation, no. That is not the manner of serious researchers and scholars. To first seek a natural explanation before using one that is supernatural is

The Magical Mystery of Eye Evolution

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When a creationist of even a little stature writes or posts something refuting a major dogma of evolution, and it must follow, as night the day, a misotheist is compelled to argue. Here is an example of same nonsense, different day. Several weeks ago, I shared the post, " Genetics and the Coffin of Darwinism ." A misotheist shared it on his Fakebook Page for the purpose of ridicule, and attempted to refute the very recent scientific material  with a propaganda piece from 2010 ! (He constantly refuses to read creationist material. Based on my observations, I lack belief that people like this would understand scientific material from either side, even if they did read it. They might even see citations from evolutionists who admit they don't know certain things.) Encounters like this frequently happen regarding the evolution of the eye. Staring fox up close, Unsplash / Erik Mclean Regarding the way fundamentalist Darwinists throw links at creationists to refute us, there is

The Book of Daniel was not a Forgery

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What comes to mind when the prophet Daniel is mentioned? Perhaps some of the accounts many of us learned as children, such as his account of his friends in the fiery furnace, eating veggies, or his own experience in the den of lions. How about Belshazzar's blasphemous feast on his last night as a ruler, which prompted the expression, "The writing on the wall?" Then there are those prophecies... The Bible has come under attack for centuries for various reasons, especially its historical reliability. Materialists act from their presuppositions that there is no God and are no miracles. There can be no prophesy, nosiree! The book of Daniel is rejected by them and liberal "Christian scholars" for similar reasons. Belshazzar's Feast , Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1635 Why is it that people profess to be Christians, but try to tear down the foundations of their faith and destroy the faith of others? A simple way to reject the contents of Daniel's book is to