Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Religion of Peace Update #1 - Saudi Arabia advertised vacancies for eight executioners Tuesday after beheading nearly as many people since the start of the year as it did in the whole of 2014. The article didn't mention it but I think you have to bring your own sword... talk to HR, they'll know.

Religion of Peace Update #2 - Islamist terrorism is caused by Global Climate Change. It's got to be true, the Most Incompetent President In US History says it's true (please ignore the meteorological fact that the planet's temperature hasn't changed since the turn of the century)

I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church, and to be charitable their biblical education, at least in the 1960's & 1970's, was negligible at best. So I look at the ability to remember a multitude of bible verses by my brothers and sisters brought up in the bible with some envy. So when the Eternity Matters blog put up a post about the Scripture Typer bible memory system I was more than interested. Review coming!

Religion of Papism update: Mr. Pope has decided that running the monolithic RCC isn't enough, he's now decided to be the top power player in Global Politics prying his way into negotiations on every level. Maybe I'm being paranoid but things are starting to look clearer.

Authority of the Bible – A Strong Argument for Christianity

by Patrick Zukeran

There are many books today that claim to be the Word of God. The Koran, the Bhagavad Gita, The Book of Mormon, and other religious works all claim to be divinely inspired. The Bible claims to be the only book that is divinely inspired and that all other claims of inspiration from other works should be ruled out. Does the Bible confirm its exclusive claim to be the Word of God? The totality of evidences presents a strong case for the divine inspiration of the Bible.

The strongest argument for the divine inspiration of the Bible is the testimony of Jesus. Jesus claimed to be the divine Son of God and confirmed His claims through His sinless, miraculous life and resurrection. The events of His life have been recorded in the four Gospels, which have proven to be historically accurate and written by first century eyewitnesses.{1} Since Jesus is God incarnate, whatever He taught is true, and anything opposed to His teaching is false.
Jesus directly affirmed the authority of the Old Testament and indirectly affirmed the New Testament. In Luke 11:51, Jesus identified the prophets and the canon of the Old Testament. He names Abel as the first prophet from Genesis, and Zechariah the last prophet mentioned in 2 Chronicles, the last book in the Jewish Old Testament (which contains the same books we have today although placed in a different order). In Mark 7:8-9, Jesus refers to the Old Testament as the commands of God. In Matthew 5:17, Jesus states that the Law and the Prophets referring to the Old Testament is authoritative and imperishable. Throughout His ministry, Jesus made clear His teachings, corrections, and actions were consistent with the Old Testament. He also judged others teachings and traditions by the Old Testament. He thus demonstrated His affirmation of the Old Testament to be the Word of God.

Taking It One Yom At A Time

Yom

What is a Yom? Why is Yom splattered all over my scriptures? How do we determine what kind of Yom are we dealing with? When is a Yom not a Yom? And why is Yom a favorite weapon of creation deniers?

Yom is a Hebrew word, it's origin is an unused root word meaning "to be hot" as in the warmth of the daylight hours of the day. Biblical Hebrew has a limited vocabulary, containing fewer words as compared to most other languages. Contrast that with English which has the largest vocabulary. 

Because English has so many words, most words have one set meaning, words that have multiple meanings are often differentiated by spelling (such as which vs witch) which actually creates a homonym. However biblical Hebrew has so few words that many words often have more than one meaning and context would determine the meaning. 

Yom relates to the concept of time, and exactly what Yom means is determined by studying the context of its use with the other words around it using hermeneutics (Herman who?) Hermeneutics is the theory of text interpretation and can be used interchangeably with exegesis{Yeah, I threw this one in for Pastor Paratus too} and simply put it means to draw out the meaning of the text by studying the context of the text.

Depending on the context Yom can mean daytime, sunrise to sunset, a 24 hour day, sunset to sunset, a year, or a long span of time of either determined or undetermined length, Because Yom can mean all these different things, anti-creationists use Yom as a warclub to beat their unsubstantiated theories into our heads. But we have a defense! It's that Herman guy... Hermeneutics! 

It's a Matter of Authority

Ken Ham Speaking At Aurora Calvary Chapel

Science once told us that there were canals on Mars filled with water and made by martians.

Science once told us that bloodletting was good for what ails you... if you lived through it.

Science once told us that Astrology, the study of how the position of the planets and stars effected your life, was a legitimate science

Science once told us that the earth was hollow

Science once told us that Phrenology, the study of the size and shape of your head is directly related to your personality, was a legitimate science

Science once told us that what a pregnant female thinks will affect the personality of the baby.

If there is one fact that remains a fact when the harsh light of science is projected on it, it is the fact that every single scientific fact, theory, or hypothesis has been proven wrong. In some form or another. every discovery made has been updated, changed, modified, disproved, withdrawn, refuted, and revised. I don't mind science being wrong, because that's what science is all about, you make a guess, you get proven wrong, you start over. There is no "settled science" because the nature of science means to keep looking until you get it 100% right, which means you keep looking and keep revising and keep failing over and over and over.

Hey - that's the reality of science. It's not just throwing out unproven theories and demanding they be accepted because they sound good.

Unity of the Spirit

1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3)

Originally posted in  The Watchman's Bagpipes blog:

The tragedy is that men are trying to produce unity by telling us that it does not matter very much what we believe, that as long as we all come together and work together, and do not argue about doctrine, we shall all be one.  But the unity of the Spirit comes through understanding, not through discounting understanding and saying that the knowledge of doctrine does not matter. . . . 

Doctrine must come first.  The Holy Spirit's chief work is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.  So there is no value in our prayers if we do not believe in Him, in His unique deity, in His incarnation, virgin birth, miracles, atoning death, resurrection and ascension.  The Spirit glorifies Him, and we must therefore believe in Him and be "of one accord" in our doctrine.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Christian Unity: An Exposition of Ephesians 4:1-16, p.79, 80