ARTICLE ARCHIVES
Origin of the Bible: Part 1 – Uniquely Authentic
How did we get the Bible? How do we know that it is God’s Word, and what does that really mean anyway? If the Bible has been copied and translated so many times, can we have any confidence in modern translations? How do we know that the right books got included, and have any been left out? Doesn’t the Bible have contradictions and other errors? What about other books that claim to be from God? These are the questions that skeptics ask. Yet, many Christians do not have satisfying answers.
Research at the ICC
Last week, I had the privilege of attending the eighth International Conference on Creationism (ICC). This conference is a “meeting of the minds” in which several hundred creation scientists, Bible scholars, and other creation advocates can present and critique their research in various fields, including biology, geology, astronomy, physics, archeology, and biblical studies.
One Race
Racism continues to be a problem in the world today. Prejudice or discrimination due to skin color or other ethnic characteristics is a violation of biblical law. Yet the problem persists, and unfortunately is even found within the church. As is often the case, the solution to this problem is found in Genesis.
Is “Young Earth” Unbiblical?
Our critic this week is David, who is so adamantly against biblical creation that he recommended protesting one of my speaking engagements. Interestingly, David professes to be a Christian and yet strongly opposes our defense of biblical creation. I found his comments to be highly ironic as he is basically criticizing Christians for teaching what the Bible says.
The Ice Age
Was there an ice age? In most public schools, students are taught that there have been at least five major ice ages in Earth’s multi-billion-year history. The last one is claimed to have started 2.58 million years ago, and then retreated about 10,000 years ago. Obviously, this timescale is incompatible with biblical history. Nonetheless, there is scientific evidence for one ice age that occurred within the biblical timescale. The real ice age occurred shortly after the global flood and lasted a few hundred years.
The Secret Formula for Reaching the World with the Gospel
Is it possible that the church has not been as effective as it could be because we have ignored an important biblical truth? Is there a secret formula to reaching the lost? I suggest there is. And it’s been right there in the text of Scripture all along.
Genesis and the Gospel
Christians rightly recognize the Gospel as an essential Christian doctrine. This vital principle has its roots in the literal history of Genesis. Unfortunately, some professing Christians mishandle Genesis. They interpret its message in an unnatural way to accommodate secular beliefs about origins such as “millions of years” or particles-to-people evolution. These compromised views reduce the Gospel to incoherent nonsense.
The Importance of Genesis
Why defend Genesis when so many people don’t even believe in Jesus? Why not concentrate on defending the big issues, like the Gospel and the deity of Christ? Considering all the problems we have in society, should we really be focused on apologetics, rather than trying to change our culture? It takes time and effort to learn to defend biblical creation. Wouldn’t that time be better spent defending the important Christian doctrines, and fighting abortion, “gay marriage”, racism, and other social ills?
Information Theory – Part 2
In part 1, we saw that information can be defined as an encoded, symbolic message entailing an expected action and intended purpose. And we looked at several examples and how they fulfill each of the four requirements. We here examine the laws of nature that pertain to the origin and transmission of information.
Information Theory – Part 1
Modern science has confirmed biblical creation and challenged Darwinian evolution in many ways. One of the most powerful yet simple lines of evidence is in the field of information theory. This branch of science deals with the origin and transmission of information and is absolutely devastating to evolution. When we study information theory, we will find that particles-to-people evolution cannot occur because it would actually violate a law of nature.
The Failure of Unbiblical Worldviews to Justify Laws of Logic
We saw previously that the Bible can make sense of laws of logic and their properties, and that the three laws of thought are rooted in the nature of God. However, non-biblical worldviews cannot make sense of laws of logic or their properties.
The Biblical Basis for the Laws of Logic
Laws of logic are the rules of correct reasoning. They reflect the way God thinks and the way we must think if we are to think correctly. Laws of logic are also called “rules of inference.” Correct reasoning can never violate a law of logic. There are many laws of logic. But three are considered the most basic or primary.
The Problem of Religious Language
Christians have a tendency to use certain “religious” terms that are either directly from Scripture, or which are used as shorthand to describe a biblical principle (such as the ‘Trinity’). There is nothing wrong with this. However, it can be a problem in communicating with unbelievers.
Science and the Age of the Universe
The Bible teaches that God created the entire universe in 6-days, a few thousand years ago. However, most secular scientists today believe that the universe popped into existence in a big bang, 13.8 billion years ago, and that it took billions of years for the cosmos to evolve to its current state. Have the secularists finally shown God’s Word to be wrong?
Refuting the Critics: Astronomy and Biblical Interpretation
Today’s conversation is a continuation of the previous one. Recall, Rubin had complained that the article was mistaken and that the conclusion that the Bible teaches a spherical Earth that hangs in space, etc. was based on “translation tricks.” Here is the rest of our conversation.