The words “God is” occur 157 times in both the Old and New Testaments. It is a tremendous affirmation. So much is held dear in the words “God is.” We do not have to look too far to see just how important are the words “God is.” Negatively, if “God is not,” then there would be no Creation. If “God is not,” then we would have no Word of God. If “God is not,” then we would have no Son of God and Savior. If “God is not,” then the church has no reason to exist. If “God is not,” then we would be lost forever.
Read MoreThere can be little doubt that the truly "big" issue which faces the church now and for many years to come is that of skepticism. By "skepticism" I mean to include such diverse viewpoints as atheism, agnosticism, positivism, and all sorts of religions which reject the existence of the true God and the inspiration of the Bible. However, in this article emphasis will be on atheism in particular. I plan to divide this article into three main parts: (1) Part I — The Growth and Power of Atheism, (2) Part II — What Must We Do About It? and (3) A Conclusion.
Read MoreM. Louise Haskins (1908) captured the uncertainty of a new year in words that were quoted to the British Empire in the 1939 Christmas radio broadcast of King George VI. Haskins wrote:
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, “Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown,” and he replied, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way” (Bartlett 881).
When World War Two came to an end in Germany in the spring of 1945, a roundup of Nazi and German war criminals was begun. Finally, in the summer of 1946, many of these war criminals were put on trial at Nuremberg, Germany to account for their horrible crimes against humanity.
Read MoreATHEISM: THE TRUTH
THE TRUTH: An atheist cannot claim any objective standard of good and evil. To him, evil is anything he feels particularly sensitive about. He enjoys the power of moral judgment, and fancies himself the authority.
Read MoreIn her New York Times bestseller, Godless: The Church of Liberalism, conservative columnist, Ann Coulter, begins by citing the apostle Paul who wrote, “They exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator . . .” (1). In a later chapter on the fruits of evolution Coulter again references the first chapter of Romans and says:
Read MoreA mosaic is an artwork made by inlaying small pieces of glass, stone, or tiles in such a way that an image is formed. An examination of any single piece of the mosaic may reveal that it is quite ordinary in appearance or that it is a very beautiful piece in its own right. But in either case, common or beautiful, the single piece does not compare with the beauty of the full image once all the pieces are in place. God comes to man something like a set of mosaic pieces, leaving it to man to fit them together to form the image.
Read MoreAliens are ingrained in our cultural psyche. They abound in books, movies, radio, and a thousand theories about the extra-terrestrial, little green men, UFO sightings, abductions, Area 51, and Roswell.
Read MoreAs a school boy, a principal at Red Skelton's school had been listening to his class recite the Pledge of Allegiance all semester.
One day the principal asked the class if he could try to explain the meaning of each word. What follows is what was explained to Red as a young boy.
Read MoreIt is no secret that water is a vital component of life. The average human body is about 60-70% water (with the brain about 75% and the blood about 80% water). It plays a vital role in nearly every bodily function (digestion, metabolism, nutrient absorption, chemical reactions, etc.). Without water, the human being would not exist.
Read MoreNo nation can continue to exist without both acknowledgment and devotion to God. “Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). The Hebrew nation recognized God Almighty and observed great days of prayer and worship. Building on the religious understanding from the Bible, our Founding Fathers, from the beginning, set forth the role and importance of God and national days of prayer and thanksgiving. Such emphasis on God and prayer gives the nation’s culture a rich religious influence. Initially the citizens exalted God and observed these days with great solemnity and respect.
Read MoreImplications of the worldviews of Christian theism and antitheism are inferred from the first chapter of the New Testament Epistle to the Romans (Romans 1:18-32). A. T. Robertson wrote, “There people had already willfully deserted God. . . . The withdrawal of God’s restraint sent men deeper down. . . . [It is] the loss of God in the life of man” (330-31). They did not think it worthwhile (NIV), or did not see fit (NASV; ESV) to keep God in their minds. Vincent says, “They did not think God worth the knowing” (21). “[T]hey did not like to retain God in their knowledge” (v. 28, NKJV) means they “tested (Gk. dokimazo) God and made a decision about Him after a trial” (Rogers and Rogers 318). Lard says, “They preferred . . . to let the knowledge they had of [H]im perish from their minds. . . . They wished no farther acquaintance with [H]im” (62). This is the loss of God in human life that results from the loss of God in the belief system of the human mind.
Read MoreThe fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage of this army" (Federer 639). Those were the prophetic words of General George Washington, as he addressed his troops on July 20, 1776-—less than three weeks after the Declaration of Independence was signed. The General could not have known he was using a phrase that would, 226 years later, be declared un-American (i.e. unconstitutional) by a few highly placed but arrogant ingrates with an abysmal understanding and dearth of appreciation for the foundation on which the Republic rests.
Read MoreHistorians recognize that humans are constantly interested in the “perennial questions,” all of which have to do with man’s purpose on Earth and also his destiny. No questions loom larger than those having to do with (1) the existence of God, (2) the inspiration of the Scriptures, and (3) the Divine nature of Christ. These are indeed the big questions.
Read MoreI had rather believe all the fables in the legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind; and, therefore, God never wrought miracle to convince atheism, because [H]is ordinary works convince it.
Read MoreIn the prosecution of the Nuremburg trials, following World War II, the German Nazis were tried for the heinous crime of torturing and murdering six million Jewish men, women, and children. In his closing address, Robert H. Jackson, a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and one of the Nuremburg prosecutors, argued that the Nazis were being tried by a “higher law” which “transcends the provincial and transient” (Warren and Flew 41).
Read MoreOne reason for using a dictionary is to know the meaning of a word. The Reader's Digest features a section titled, "It Pays to Enrich Your Word Power." I highly recommend that you be concerned about the meaning of words because they relate to all facets of life. What influence do the words of others have on me? What influence do my words have on others? What influence do the words of God have on us? A Christian ought to know words used to describe the various aspects of God's nature.
Read MoreThe Bible says, “While the [E]arth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22, English Standard Version). In his 1856 four-volume set, Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons, Henry Duncan wrote: “The changes of the seasons display, in themselves, a remarkable and beneficient arrangement; and the adaptations . . . during these changes, afford ample materials for a beautiful and striking exhibition of the power, wisdom, and goodness of the Creator” (Winter iii).
Read MoreA recent publication in the journal, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Aug 11.) entitled; “Carbonaceous Meteorites Contain a Wide Range of Extraterrestrial Nucleobases,” has set off a firestorm of excitement among origin of life researchers and scientists looking to evolution for answers as to how living things came into existence. Why the excitement? NASA researchers at the Goddard Center for Astrobiology have analyzed a portion of 12 meteorites for carbon-based molecules.
Read MoreAlthough I do not agree with his endorsement of High Criticism’s approach to the Bible, the early 20th Century preacher and homiletics teacher in Yale Divinity School, Halford Luccock, was on target when he addressed the extravagant materialism and secularism of the early 1920s and the seemingly hopeless depression days of the 1930s. Luccock described “The Great Depression,” during which he was living and preach, in the following words
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