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Showing posts with the label Salvation

Thanksgiving and the Non-Evolution of Gratitude

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Getting ready to write this post about gratitude and Thanksgiving Day, I slopped coffee on the carpet while walking to the computer. In this frame of mind, I am grateful to have a place to live in where I am spilling coffee, and even the stuff itself. This is my second painful Thanksgiving after my wife died after about twenty-four years together, but there are people who care about me and want to share their holiday with me. Also, some folks have very little but still have a gratitude attitude and do what they can to celebrate . Give thanks, Unsplash /  Adam Winger It is indeed unfortunate that there are people who use our inner sense of gratitude for manipulation. That is, someone can do a favor and use it for leverage to demand one in return. (It's quite different when the give and take is known from the get-go, that's like business or politics.) Some people wonder where this inner sense of gratitude came from. Many biblical creationists know that we are created to have grat...

Resurrection Sunday 2024

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With tears in my eyes, I know that my beloved wife is having her first Easter observance in Heaven; this is my first one without her after so many years together. Despite the pain, those of us in Christ do not grieve like those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). Our hope is not based on wishful thinking, but on the certainty of new life because Jesus was bodily raised from the dead (Matt. 28:5-8). Once again, I speak of the grand reunion with those who have gone before. The Resurrection Day , Jesus with Mary Magdalene, possibly by Heinrich Hoffman (public domain) Those who do not have Jesus as the Lord of their lives do not have that hope, that certainty, of salvation and of Heaven. Some cherish their sins on Earth too much and would rather have an eternity in Hell. That's right, I said it!  Others are resisting the call, but all of us are sinners (Rom. 3:23) and have earned death, but the gift of God is life with him (Rom. 6:23). You, too, can have hope and be adopted as a child of...

When those Worlds Collide

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Once again, I had an inspiration from an unlikely source when my mind wandered off all by its lonesome. I have no idea why I was on the rabbit trail, but I was looking up When Worlds Collide . The book by that name was written by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer in 1933. Bookstores have it, and used copies can be had. Try your library. A movie based on the book was made in 1951, and that can also be found. Pixabay /  Neypomuk-Studios The genre of science fiction has a dilemma: Keep the science in it, or skip reality to garner more sales. Some manage to balance storytelling with science and speculative science, but willing suspension of disbelief is still necessary. Not as much as comic book superhero stuff, though. Sometimes people want to shut off reason so they can have fun, or mayhaps guys want to look at Scarlett Johannsson. Discourteous Celestial Objects In the book version of When Worlds Collide , two rogue planets are going to make life on Ear...

Life Itself is a Great Mystery

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In the comedy Short Circuit, robot Number Five was struck by lightning and became alive. He had a personality and was able to think. When he accidentally killed a bug, he had trouble understanding that the bug could not be made alive again. The Nativity by Jacques Stella, 1639 If you study on it, life is actually difficult to define. Naturalists define it in a chemical manner with cells processing, physiological activity happening, and all those rather mechanical procedures. All the ingredients of Number Five's dead bug were still there, but life had ceased. For that matter, Number Five was not alive (despite his protestations) according to naturalistic definitions. Materialists cannot explain the origin of consciousness , but they still search for the physical location of the soul and free will . When misotheists complain that something is evil or wrong (such as claiming that by refuting Darwinism, creationists are "lying" about evolution), they are inconsistent. Ath...

Giving Thanks to our Creator

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Although this is Thanksgiving Day in these here United States, this article is not only for today, nor is it just for Americans. People get overwrought about their concerns (some of them are mighty small if you get the right perspective), and we tend to shilly-shally about thanking God for the things we do have. Credit: Unsplash / Priscilla Du Preez Some of us commence to feasting with our friends and kinfolk, watch the Big Game, doze off (blaming it on the nonexistent " turkey coma "), have a few laughs, and saddle up for home. I hope y'all thanked your hosts for the victuals and hospitality. Did you say a prayer of thanks earlier? Just curious. Some people get their Thanksgiving meal at the homeless shelter. No, I'm not feeling bad about the good things I have, and neither should you. Just giving a bit of perspective. There's something called grace. "She passed away thirty years ago, Cowboy Bob!" No, I'm not t...

Terrorism and Evolution

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Evolutionary thinking and social Darwinism have given us such joys as justification for abortion , radical environmentalism , forced eugenics , the "junk" DNA fiasco , a basis for communism , excuses for racism , and more. Now taking the naturalistic view to a new low, ISIS terrorists are players in the evolution game. Sidewinder scientists are using concepts of natural selection and evolution and applying them to Mohammedan terrorism. Ideology is omitted, as is religion, human nature, free will, and other factors. It's just a matter of environment. They are not created human souls in need of prayer, repentance, and salvation in Jesus Christ (how many evolutionists believe that?), but players in a game. Indeed, terrorists are almost made to sound like victims! This may be the winning candidate for worst Darwinian just-so story of the decade. You have to hand it to evolutionists; at least they are consistent. If everything evolves, then everything evolves. Makes...

Friendly Threatening Gestures

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Have you ever had the experience where you reckoned someone as hostile, or even an enemy, and it turned out that the person actually had your best interests at heart? Of course, people may not cotton to being coddling, so they speak their minds or simply take direct action — especially when something is important. 1873 Winchester rifle / Image credit: Ricce / Wikimedia Commons / CC by 3.0 Here's an excerpt from Owen Wister's 1902 classic, The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains: But all the while I was wondering about the Virginian: eating with him, sleeping with him (only not so sound as he did), and riding beside him often for many hours. Experiments in conversation I did make -- and failed. One day particularly while, after a sudden storm of hail had chilled the earth numb and white like winter in fifteen minutes, we sat drying and warming ourselves by a fire that we built, I touched upon that theme of equality on which I knew him to hold...

Christmas and Creationists

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Yes, I know that there are many misconceptions about Christmas. Jesus was probably not born on or about December 25. Isn't that reason enough for Christians to ignore celebrating ? Not hardly!  Also, the "three wise men" were unlikely to have shown up at the manger. Instead, it may have been quite a while later. And three? The Bible doesn't say, but it names three gifts. I won't discard them from the creche scene, though. "No room at the inn" implies that the hotels were booked. The "inn" is more accurately rendered "guest quarters" ( the International Standard Version has it right ), or "lodging place" ( Young's Literal Translation and the Holman Christian Standard Bible ). Still, I cowboy up and ride along. I'm not going to fight with people about traditions, or even if Christians are wrong for celebrating Christmas. Here's a corral-load of links with historical information and ...