Apologetics mini-niblet #1

I want to hand out little tidbits of apologetics knowledge to give everyone out there a little morsel to defend the faith with, or for those who don’t believe, a little food for thought.

If Darwin and the evolutionists were right, then the fossil record for the species of the earth would bear out in a tree, with a big trunk way back in time symbolizing our single-cell ancestor, and then tree branches giving way to each of the major phyla of animals.  Unfortunately for Richard Dawkins and the Atheism Crew, the fossil record looks like a bar code:  every major animal phyla appeared almost instantaneously in the Cambrian period of earth’s history.  If you want to know more, check out the Cambrian Explosion for more information.

Are ye Abel? Or, maybe Cain?

Relationship with God would be easier if He just did it on our terms.  Cain felt the same way.  When you read his story in the Bible, it’s easy to look at him as evil, decide that you are a far better person, and then go from there feeling far refreshed about your life.  And happy that you aren’t wearing a loincloth, either.

If only it were that simple.  What was the sin that first led Cain to the murder of Abel?  Not giving to God in the manner God had prescribed.  Abel brought to God His firstborn of the flock, the choicest lamb, and sacrificed it to the LORD.  Cain brought some of his vegetables that he grew.  The Bible doesn’t make them sound special or anything, so it probably wasn’t special.  All of that added up to God not accepting Cain’s sacrifice, which led to anger, jealousy, and eventually murder.

Cain was not willing to give his best to God, or even his obedience.  His desire was relationship on his own terms.  God wants relationship on His terms, because He knows what is best for us and is ever willing to extend His good graces to us, provided that we are willing to accept His terms of relationship.  The next time you have a chance to make an offering to God, make it your choicest, fattest offering, and give with a gracious heart, knowing well that God rewards those who seek His fellowship by giving them what they sought.

Whodunnit? Adam? Me? You?

I like blaming Adam for everything.  It makes life easier.  I would be perfect and sinless and eternal, if only it weren’t for Adam.  Thanks, G-G-G-G-G-G-Great Grandfather.  Ahhhh, if only it were so simple.

The fact of the matter is, if I were standing in Eden naked as a jaybird, I would have done the same boneheaded thing.  I would have eaten that forbidden fruit just as quickly as he did, and I know this because I see in my own life just how many times I do what God said not to.  I yell at my kids, I’m greedy, I’m a pig, I’m, I’m, yeah, I run out of things because they are so numerous.  Suddenly, I realize that I probably would not have even gotten as far as Adam.

The point of the story isn’t that Adam screwed it up for all of us.  The point is that humans are by nature capable of both great good and great evil, like directly disobeying the word of God.  The point also is that God is infinite in His grace and compassion, because while the first Adam sentenced us all to death, the second Adam, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, has brought us into eternal life.  The focus is less on the fact that Adam was a failure than that God is the perfect Hero for us all.

In the Beginning…

I am attempting this year to stay faithful in a quest to read the entire Bible in one year. I have, over the course of my life, read the entire Bible, but never in a precise manner. At any rate, today I was reading Genesis, when it made me think about a lot of things.

I understand the mental block for those who feel that Genesis is a fictional account of how things began. It all seems a bit far-fetched, doesn’t it? Literary critics have tried to destroy the creation account over and over again, and a never-ending parade of Darwinists like Richard Dawkins, Chris Hitchens, and the late Stephen Jay Gould literally fall over themselves to find new ways to refute the creation.

For those who would think that the Theory of Evolution is the grand explanation of life, I would ask this: How do you reconcile the fact that most scientific evidence does NOT support macroevolution?  I know that scientists who believe evolution is the answer have a constant stream of plausible explanations for the holes in the evidence for evolution, but eventually they are going to be left with no more excuses.  What then?

Belief in the Word of God as inerrant and inspired is difficult to grasp at first for the new believer, especially the new believer that is steeped in postmodernism.  However, when you look at how far evolutionists have to stretch reason in order to make the theory plausible, does it really take any more faith to be a creationist than an evolutionist?