Doctrinal Matters

courtesy of freeimages.com Foxnews.com recently posted an article entitled, Kraken rises:New fossil evidence of ‘sea monster’ .  Written by Stephanie Pappas and published on November 1, 2013, the article reports on a debate between two scientists concerning the existence of a giant squid (kraken) large enough to kill an ichthyosaur.  What I want to do in referencing this debate is to draw attention to some statements made by both scientists, who are most probably evolutionists.  Their own statements point out some logical flaws of the belief in macro evolution. The proponent of the kraken theory is Mark McMenamin, a paleontologist who found what he describes as the fossilized beak from a giant squid near an unusual arrangement of the fossilized bones of an ichthyosaur.  McMenamin suggests that the ichthyosaur’s bones are arranged in a pattern that indicates intentional placement by an intelligent being.  McMenamin thinks that a kraken arranged the bon...

courtesy of freeimages.com What's the point?  Is there any more meaningful reason for my existence beyond simply walking the earth for a few years?  I live and I die.  Is that all that there is to my life?  These are the big questions that people have grappled with throughout every generation.  How one answers these questions depends upon his worldview. What is meant by worldview ?  The term refers to the way we view our world around us.  Everyone has a worldview of some sort.  Some view the world as being influenced by spirit beings (spiritism), others view it as being under the control of an eternal, holy, righteous, omnipotent, omniscient, transcendent God (biblical).  Still, others see the world through the eyes of naturalism. Naturalism is the worldview that says that matter is all that there is, there is no God or spiritual realm that influences our world and our lives. How does naturalism answer life's biggest questions: questi...

courtesy of freeimages.com Now that a new year has started, I thought it would be fun to look back at my posts from January 2014.  It happens that my posts from last January are some of the most often viewed posts on my blog. They are (in order of most viewed): The Lord's Supper and Eating Unworthily  -an attempt to explain 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 Thoughts on Our Adoption   - a reflection on our adoption after 1 year Do Not Judge?  -an attempt to explain Matthew 7:1 A Personal Testimony  -my salvation testimony.

courtesy of freeimages.com We had a rare moment with our son who was added to our family almost two years ago at the age of 8.  He sat at the restaurant table with me and my wife.  We were “eating out” to celebrate his birthday.  He wanted pancakes so we sat in the only restaurant in town that sold them.  He ordered the mini pancakes.  The pancakes were tiny.  When he said, “I will probably want more because this won’t fill me up” I knew better.  He is hardly ever hungry and almost never asks for more of anything.  Sure enough, when he had finished those few half dollar sized pancakes he didn’t want any more.  That probably is a result of lack of food in his early years.  He spent his first 8 years of life in an institution in Eastern Europe.  Because of his background he has some difficulty forming attachments.  As we ate, my wife began asking him about feelings, i.e. “Can you think of one time when you were happy?...

courtesy of freeimages.com A recent Fox news article ( read article here ) reported that physicist Stephen Hawking is worried about the development of artificial intelligence, or AI for short. [1]   Hawking is apparently worried that if advances in AI continue the human race could one day become extinct.  He is quoted as saying, "The development of full artificial intelligence (AI) could spell the end of the human race."    The article also quotes Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors.  Musk is said to have told an audience at MIT that we need to be "very careful" with artificial intelligence.  Fox reports that Musk "called for national and international oversight of the field". The idea of machines becoming more advanced than humans is great science fiction.  It is fun and somewhat scary to contemplate the ramifications of machines being able to think for themselves.  But will AI be the end of mankind?  Not if you believe Bib...

photo courtesy of freeimages.com In this post I would like to critique an article found on reasons.org, the online presence of the progressive creationist group Reasons to Believe (RTB).  RTB was founded by Hugh Ross, an outspoken advocate of progressive creationism; the idea that God progressively created over billions of years.  The article is entitled Biblical Evidence for an Old Earth: Old Earth, Biblical Evidence   [1] and can be accessed here .  The format of this post is as follows: First I present the RTB article's words in red , then I respond in black directly beneath the quote. When the Bible speaks to an issue it is the supreme authority. Thus, what the Bible has to say about the age of the Earth carries great significance. I appreciate the opening statement in this article.  The Bible is the absolute authority on every issue.  Unfortunately, Hugh Ross and his ministry, Reasons to Believe (RTB), don’t always practice ...

courtesy of www.freeimages.com Peter Enns is an author and seminary professor.  He believes in theistic evolution, i.e. that God used the process of evolution to "create" life on Earth.  Because he believes in human evolution, he is sure that the Apostle Paul got it wrong about Adam being the first human.  I have provided the transcript of the video below along with my comments. Video Transcription Dr. Enns' words are in red and my comments are in black . One approach that is helpful to me is that I think Paul certainly assumed that Adam was a person and the progenitor of the human race. I would expect nothing less from Paul, being a first century man. And again, God speaks in ways and uses categories that are available to human beings at that time.   I  don't expect Paul to have had a conversation with Francis Collins about the Genome Project and how common descent is essentially assured scientifically. I don't expect him to under...