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Showing posts with the label Answers In Genesis

Humanity Making Itself the Creator

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Naturalistic views run rampant in Western society, pushing the Creator further and further away. We look to ourselves for salvation. This can be delving into our minds with philosophies and New Age pagan religions, or it can mean looking to other people to give our lives meaning. The secular science industry supports politicians who promote leftist views, celebrities think those are just really swell so they give their support to them. People who use emotions instead of their intellects follow along like sheep. Image by Cowboy Bob Sorensen, modified with FotoSketcher Many people have bumper-sticker mentalities. That is, they are motivated by short sayings on memes and bumper stickers, but are unwilling or unable to apply critical thinking skills to issues. "White people are oppressors of darker-skinned people," "A man trapped in a woman's body," "Stop global climate change or we'll all die" and others sound good to some folks. What's really hap

Crying Tears — a Blessing?

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Tears are actually very important, always present in healthy eyes. There is a system to drain them off. They help keep eyeballs clean when dust or something intrudes. When tears are brought on by emotions, creationists and evolutionists have very different speculations. Some animals mourn the loss of a mate or one of their group (crows recognize faces and may seek vengeance), but they do not shed tears like humans. Emotional crying is unique and quite puzzling. Cowboy Bob Sorensen, tough guy crying, mirror selfie modified at PhotoFunia Yes, I mentioned speculation on both our parts. Similarly, blushing is a problem for evolutionists, but it may have a specific purpose given by our Creator. When we have tears of sorrow, a sympathetic person may say, "That's right. Let it all out." Well, it's not like draining a reservoir; tears replenish. However, "let it out" is psychologically and medically valid! They run down our face (as shown in my left eye, above) whe

Isaiah and the Virgin Birth Prophecy

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It may come as a shock to some folks, but biblical prophets did not necessarily  foretell future events. They spoke the words of God and admonished wayward people. However, some prophesied noteworthy events — such as Isaiah and the virgin birth of Jesus. Atheists cannot handle prophecy and try to denigrate it by saying people who came later got creative and fabricated the foretelling. (They assert but never provide evidence.) Isaiah 7:14 reads, ". . .the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son. . ." Disputes exist if she is a virgin or only a young woman. Isaiah , Ernest Meissonier, 1838 There are several problems with this passage. If the girl was just a young woman, the prophecy is no big deal. Also, the word translated as young woman or virgin can legitimately be translated either way. Context is important, as are historical events. We learn, to the dismay of misotheists, that it was indeed a virgin that conceived according to prophecy. Isaiah is a beloved book of the

Animals and Communication

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Interesting and even surprising studies have been made about how animals communicate with one another, and some of their interchanges are surprisingly detailed. Inter-species connection seems rare and very limited; blue jays sounding the alarm in the woods, for instance. The 1956 children's novel  The Hundred and One Dalmatians has a rather extensive canine conversation network with messages relayed through barking. Despite their intelligence, they never developed a system to communicate with humans. Interestingly, there are videos of animals seeking out humans and making known their needs for help. Barking corgi, Flickr / xan latta ( CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 ) Animals can make themselves understood to each other to some extent, but a bonobo and a chimpanzee will never discuss the physics of coconut spinning. The Creator gave many animals the ability to communicate for their survival. There are studies of communication between animals and humans. Notice that it has to be initiated by peop

The Human Brain is Amazing and Baffling

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So many thing that have been studied, possibly even considered to have been fully understood, became disunderstood later on. Some models of the atom were proposed in seemingly rapid succession, Schrödinger's quantum model being the current favorite. Genetics was begun by Gregor Mendel (peas be upon him) and continues to be developed — and challenging to scientists. Both of these testify to the genius of the Creator. Something else that when scientists are understanding it, theories become frustrated is: The human brain. X-ray-style image of skull and brain, Freeimages / Miranda Knox In A. Conan Doyle's "The Blue Carbuncle," Sherlock Holmes stated the myth that people with larger skulls are more intelligent . People who are analytical use the left side of their brains more, and intuitive people use the right side. But that notion is disputed, and sometimes the brain rewires itself. There are people who live their lives not knowing that significant portions of their bra

Hunting and the Providence of God

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First of all, let me state the obvious: In any sport, hobby, profession, or anything else, there are pinheads. Hunting has been tainted by those who are careless with weapons, break laws, and do other foolish things. Yet there are men and women who hunt responsibly and with skill. Believers in descent with modifications evolution believe that the urge to hunt nowadays is a holdover from our stupid ancestors who had to hunt. What if I told you that such an idea is hooey? Hunting, Pixabay / jackmac34 (Jacqueline Macou) The above words come from someone who has never hunted and detests the idea of killing for the sake of trophies. Those jaspers do it for pride, often leaving the meat to rot. I wonder how that kind of killing fits into the idea of hunting being an urge of our inner primitive caveman? Here is something that was a bit startling to me, and it may be for you as well, but consider that hunting is a means God gave us to survive in this fallen world. After Adam sinned, death cam

Unreliable Dating of Human Fossils

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First, a bit of something that grinds my gears. Many articles and videos (including the one featured below) are titled in the form of a question, and some folks seem compelled to reply without dealing with the material. News flash: Writers are not asking for opinions, they are answering the question in the title. You savvy? There are people who want to know if the dating methods used on human fossils can be trusted, and what kinds of problems such vast numbers of years present for the Bible. Those used on human fossils have problems. Homo naledi skeletal specimens, Wiki Comm / Lee Roger Berger research team ( CC BY 4.0 ) I reckon it's easy to get the idea that the dates assigned to fossils of humans, apes, and alleged humans are correct. After all, these are knowledgeable people who speak with authority and tell us the dating methods used. They can even go into the details of the processes if we ask nicely. But not only are there problems with the processes, all dating methods re

Darwinist Haushofer Influenced Holocaust Views

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People seldom develop concepts on their own. They get inspirations and influences from a variety of people. If one ponders how they arrived at their religious or political beliefs, several influencers will probably come to mind. Adolf Hitler had a great deal of help with his evils . He has sparked research by historians, psychologists, and others who want to learn how he gained power, and able to commit so many atrocities for several years. Hitler wrote Mein Kampf , but many of his thoughts were under the inspiration of Karl Haushofer. Karl Haushofer, circa 1920 (colorized at Img2Go , further modified) There were evolutionary views before Darwin, and Haushofer was among those who welcomed Darwin's ideas. It is interesting that the idea of Lebensraum (struggle for living space) was asserted to be the duty and even the moral right of the superior race to take land away from the inferior races. Haushofer was all for it. — but did anyone ask, "How do you know?" What determin

Bolas Used by Spiders?

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Sebastian the latrine digger at the Darwin Ranch (up yonder by Deception Pass) had cleaned himself up nicely and rode into town on payday. I happened across him at an eatery, and we had a nice lunch together. Conversation meandered, and he displayed a great deal of knowledge about cowboy life. He told me that the heyday of Texas-to-Kansas cattle drives ended long ago, but the need for horse-mounted livestock herders exists in many parts of the world — even in present times. We talked about how South American vaqueros and gauchos educated American cowboys, and I wondered why bolas never caught on here — but the bolas spider has that skill perfected. Bolas spider, Flickr / Judy Gallagher ( CC BY 2.0 ) To be blunt, these tiny spiders are ugly, making it a mite difficult to appreciate their interesting talent. A gaucho could twirl a bola (a cord with two or three balls or rocks for weight) and fling it at an animal, entangling its legs and bringing it down. Night-hunting bola spiders pref

Biblical Chronology Integrated with Historical Witnesses

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Christians know that the Bible is the written Word of God, and many unbelievers admit that it is historically accurate. However, people have struggled with correlating the chronologies with historical events. There are several reasons for discrepancies. Biblical creationists like the dates of James Ussher, but a few consider them almost sacred text. He did have some flaws in his methodology, and in the years since, new knowledge has come to light. Also, other historical records are sometimes inaccurate or use different dating methods. Clocks, Pixabay / Gerd Altmann ( geralt ) It was learned that different anchor dates  were used in texts. Those were not always used consistently and sometimes changed altogether, so adjustments had to be made. There are two major schools of thought on chronologies that are discussed in the paper linked below. Although it is rather long and detailed, people like me are able to get something useful out of the material, and not study the numerous charts. Th

Paganism is Increasing

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It is interesting that atheists and other unbelievers will ridicule Christians for believing in what they call "fairy tales" such as creation and the Genesis Flood. This is a modern, enlightened age. But they give believers in paganism a pass. Just before my wife's memorial service, a woman came up to me and gave me a stone and a quartz crystal. She said they have special properties. New Age, pagan, and other occult practices are accepted, not mocked, and are increasing today. Indeed, they have been gaining popularity for quite some time. Pagan robe and mask, Unsplash / Rob Griffin It is my contention that many people want to feel that they are better than others, having the inside track, belong to the One True Church, read the real Bible , support the correct political movement, pick the winning sports team — we become idolators. Atheists pretend to be smarter than theists. Evolution is saturated with paganism, such as pantheism. The atheopath who calls himself Aron Ra

Genocide in Cambodia Motivated by Darwinism

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Social Darwinism is the logical extension of evolutionary thinking, making his biological ideas into a worldview. It has been documented on creationist sites that many totalitarian dictators put survival of the fittest and other principles into practice. Eugenics (eliminating those thought unfit for breeding) was taken to its logical conclusion by these dictators. One of the atheists who is responsible for murdering millions was known as Pol Pot, and it was indicated that his policies were more vicious than even those of Hitler. The Darwin connection is largely ignored by popular history sites. Pol Pot during meeting with Nicolae Ceaușescu, WikiComm / Romanian Communism Online Photo Collection (modified) Pol Pot was an atheist, communist, and evolutionist. He was especially devoted to the communist writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Joseph Stalin, and Mao was also a tremendous influence to Pot. In addition, he was a tremendous racist. The Khmer people of Cambodia were numerous, but

Pondering the Evil of Wasps

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A spell back, we used the expensive word anthropomorphize , which basically means to assign human traits to animals and other things . It is also a very common thing to do. Charles Darwin saw evil in the insect world and wondered how a loving God can allow this. Others have wondered about similar things. Evil is actually rebellion against God and his Word, and critters are doing what they know without considering morality. In discussing biology, however, their predatory behavior is often called  natural evil . Wasp on grape, Pixnio / Bicanski We tend to think of the big wasps that sting just about anything, but smaller species escape our attention because they cannot sting us. Wasps often go after each other. After all, they want to survive and reproduce. Their methods are often brutal and even disgusting to us. The source of this behavior is not found in natural science, but theology — go back to Genesis. Who hasn’t had a picnic ruined by angry, stinging wasps coming out of nowhere, o

Human Gene Editing Needs Biblical Standards

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People have been modifying parts of their world for millennia, and that includes livestock as well as plants. Since selective breeding is slow, scientists started working on  genetically modified organisms  (GMOs). Those are safe , but people are afraid of them anyway. Move forward to people wanting to improve themselves. One way is to have an implant, prosthesis, or some other benefit from science and technology. This can be taken to extremes in transhumanism . Human gene editing (HGE) has similar ethical problems as forming improvements through technology. CRISPR genome editing, National Institutes of Health (Usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) Secular scientists are prone to ignoring ethics, and they have demonstrated that in HGE. They have a fundamentally-flawed worldview based on materialism (no God, therefore no ultimate moral standard, belief in evolution just material exists). Sure, some can be good, moral people — relatively speaking. But only biblical values c

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

Ethical Difficulties in Organ Harvesting

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This post is about some uncomfortable subjects, and I need to bring in something exceptionally painful to myself. Many people are organ donors. For me, it is marked on my driver's license. My wife Charlene was uncomfortable with it and refused, but I do not care if I go into eternity hollowed out. Ethics and morality play a big part in this. No, it is not wrong to be a donor! The problems are when organ harvesters may ignore the policies against abuse, or even hasten the process. Indeed, a few people who have been declared brain dead have recovered . MRI brain images, Pexels / Anna Shvets For some people, this part is a repeat of previous information, so I'll keep the background narrative short. When my wife was recovering from a routine surgery, I received a phone call just before midnight. She had a "cardiac event." Actually, it was a heart attack and stroke. The MRI showed massive brain damage and there was no hope of recovery. But she was not technically brain dea

Evolutionary Ancestors and Just-So Stories

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People may tend to think that evolution describes the origin of man from apelike ancestors, and that part does get a great deal of attention, but there is more to it. When biblical creationists use expressions like  molecules-to-man evolution , it is not an exaggeration. Sciences and evolution use a prairie schooner-full of abbreviations, one of which is LUCA: last universal common ancestor. This was not some critter, but even further back in the realm of imagination. Remember biology classes? It led to prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and then more acronyms. Lily pads in pond at Forsyth Park, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen The prokaryotes supposedly evolved and gave rise to (lingo for "evolution stuff happened") LUCA, which brought out archaea (cells without a nucleus). Last ancestors of one thing, first ancestors of another — fundamentalist evolutionists will throw links to these stories at creationists and claim victory for "science." But there is no sign of evidence,

Chewing is Something Darwin Cannot Swallow

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A few days ago I hurt my leg, and Stevia Dolce, the baker from the Darwin Ranch came all the way down from Deception Pass to bring me some croissants and things. Those galoots have their origins stories all twisted, but they sure do eat well. Stevia had been having doubts about evolution, but instead of risking her job by asking questions that challenge their worldview, she saves her questions for other creationists and me. So I told her I would sit there masticating while she talked. Golden retriever chewing, Pexels / Barnabas Davoti Stevia stopped speaking and stared at me. I gave a short laugh and said it's the expensive word for chewing. It doesn't seem to be used outside medical, academic, and scientific circles. She mock-pouted, saying, "I came here with a list of things to talk about, now we got us a new one." It all came about because of an article I had just read. Here's a bonus that's not in the article: Digestion begins with chewing, and saliva has

Cheetahs and the Created Cat Kind

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Believers in descent with modifications evolution are fond of the taxonomy system that they hijacked from  Carl Linnaeus (a creationist .) Talking about the biblical created kinds  gets evolutionists on the prod. While the study of kinds is a work in progress among creationists, creationists are making progress. As a point of reference, a kind is close to the family level in conventional taxonomy. Some of the criteria for including something in a kind often apply to species, such as whether or not different critters can interbreed and hybridize: lions and tigers, dobermans and coyotes, and many others. Cheetah, Flickr / Tambako The Jaguar ( CC BY-ND 2.0 ) Most of the big cats can hybridize, but there are a few exceptions. Some folks think that cheetahs may not even be felines! Okay, they don't hybridize. That's not the only criterion. There are also a couple of common myths about cheetahs (never mind that cheetahs never prosper) that people believe and think they are not  fe

Information in a Single Hair

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Something that prompted me to watch television shows on forensic science in crime scene investigations was learning that origins science is forensic in nature. Biblical creationists, Intelligent Design enthusiasts, and evolutionists attempt to use forensic science to determine events in the past. In detective shows based in modern times, technicians are glad to find strands of hair (even better if the root is intact). The hair contains DNA and other information. However, the hair itself is distinct from animal fur, which is readily apparent under a microscope. Human hair under a microscope, Flickr / BobMacInnes ( CC BY 2.0 ) Our hair is different than that of the beasts, old son. While misotheists and other evolutionists like to insist that humans are animals (which can be true from a classification standpoint ), we are much more than that. There are many biological distinctions which reflect the fact that we are distinctly created by God. Hairs are one of the most common biological p