Cowboy Bob Sorensen

Many people around the world celebrate Christmas, whether born-again believers, cultural Christians, or others who simply want to participate. Secularism has raised dust clouds that obscure the true meaning, with movies and television shows emphasizing the "spirit" of Christmas without the Spirit. Some groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses shun Christmas. While they may accurately point out the commercialism, they also complain about Jesus as a baby. Well, that is  how the man Jesus entered his creation. But they certainly dislike expository preaching and Christian hymns that have true theology. Christmas crib, Freeimages / GERAS One objection to celebrating Christmas is that most people get the details wrong. Things have been tacked on by tradition and misunderstanding Scripture. Yes, there is some of that . In addition, some people become sanctimonious in their refusal to celebrate, saying that the Bible does not command us to celebrate Christmas or Easter. While we are no

Writing about sciency things can be both fascinating and exasperating. The fascinating part is for those of us who like science, but the exasperating part is doing updates. New discoveries are a part of science, especially regarding origins. Darwin's disciples are continually attempting to rewrite history to accommodate observed evidence and still preserve their narrative of atheistic naturalism. Excitement over a supposed four-legged snake fossil slithered back ( which I posted about earlier ) and disputes continue. Tetrapodophis amplectus , Wikimedia Commons / Ghedoghedo  ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) This whole thing was sensationalized from the get-go to promote fish-to-fool evolution and millions of years. Indeed, some important facts about the fossil were not even discussed. It "sheds light" on evolution. Secularists think it would be (insert mouth click here like Cousin Eddie) really nice, but they still have nothing upon which to base that claim. Mayhaps if they realized that

We are told that the peer review process in the secular science industry is a method of providing truth and accuracy, and ensuring correct procedures were followed in submitted papers. That sounds like a mighty good idea, but peer-reviewed papers are often bad,  downright fraudulent, or hoaxes . Homosexual activists passed a peer-reviewed paper in  Science  magazine, but that should not have happened. It was fake science research, and  Science  was embarrassed by the fraudulent tactics. The secular science industry did not seem to learn from this. Assembled with images from Open Clipart After the Science  humiliation and the "We're so sorry if we've caused you any pain, Uncle Albert, and boy, does this hurt the credibility of science itself in the public eye" schtick, the disastrous Obergefell decision by the US Supreme Court struck. (That is one reason I believe we're under divine Judgment .) After that ruling, the militant Gaystapo cut loose with harassing peopl

It has been common knowledge for decades that drugs affect the mind, and the 1960s drug use explosion helped establish cannabis as a household word. Stoners would proudly display the sweet leaf emblem of their false god. Even though marijuana use has been legalized in many states for medicinal purposes, results are dubious at best. Smoking a joint can actually worsen medical conditions. It has been known for years that cannabis users get paranoid and lethargic, but things are actually much worse. Original image from Pexels / Kindel Media , modified, plus a modified Wicca symbol from Open Clipart It is interesting that φαρμακεία ( pharmakeia ), the Greek word that is the root of pharmacy , is about witchcraft and sorceries in the New Testament. Drugs were prominent in occult arts, and witches managed to get hallucinogenic materials from certain plants. This is part of the idea that witches flew on brooms, as many hallucinated the experience. I reckon there's a similar attitude of r

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  The title is a bit outdated, referring to a piece of women's clothing worn under a dress. They are less common now because of new styles. A woman would be embarrassed to be told, "Your slip is showing". Since I like word play, this is going to add another meaning: Freudian slip. Someone has a slip of the tongue, a so-called Freudian slip (parapraxis), and some people act like psychology experts. The misstatement becomes a "Gotcha!" moment because inner truth was revealed. Original image: Pixabay /  ArtTower Although many people think that Ziggy Freud, the putative father of psychoanalysis, is still revered among psychologists, quite the opposite is true. Freud was a fraud and most experts in psychology do not take him seriously anymore. Some of his lingo is still with us, and a few things may have an iota of validity. We all have verbal slip-ups. They may be caused by fatigue, being preoccupied, distracted, or whatever. Sometimes they

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Edited 9-03-2021 When riding into town for supplies, it did not take long for me to catch on that the fastest way to have someone ready to slap leather is to start discussing SARS-CoV-2. The Rona. COVID-19. This child has long believed in having a passel of information available, but sometimes there is too much. Especially when part of it is false or misleading . Delving into social(ist) media, we see people outraged over mask mandates and the need for vaccinations. Indeed, there are demonstrations in many countries where people object to draconian rules. Modified from a public domain US FDA image (Usage does not imply endorsement of site contents) I'm going to say some things that many people know, but others may not. When I get to the material that gets you angry with me, I'd be much obliged if you'd read on to the end and think about what I'm saying . No, I am not going to tell anyone what to do. I also have questions and need answers. A sing

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Knowingly or through ignorance, people downplay the fact that God is the Creator. He is not just a little above us like a comic book superhero. Rather, he is far beyond our comprehension (Roman 9:20-22, Isaiah 29:16, Genesis 1:1). We are able to grasp some of his attributes through nature (Romans 1:20), and especially through his revelation in the Bible. An extremely difficult concept to understand is the Trinity. Most professing Christians are ignorant of what  and why  the believe, and are essentially heretics . Someone may ask you to show them the word  Trinity (or Tri-unity of God, Triune Godhead) in the Bible. It is not there. However, the doctrine is taught in Scripture . It is a difficult concept, and there are sayings like, "Whoever claims to understand the Trinity has lost his mind. Whoever denies the Trinity has lost his soul." We can get a handle on it and use analogies that don't completely work, but it it exceedingly important and ta

The familiar barber shop pole with its red, white, and blue stripes is easily recognizable as a place for a haircut and other services. As in other places, a man in the old West could stop in for a haircut and shave, and finish with some bay rum after shave. Many years ago, barbers also performed surgeries, hence the red and white stripes on the pole. Eventually, they only medically-related practices they performed were tooth extractions and the barbaric practice of bloodletting. Credit: Pexels / cottonbro On a side note, by ignoring Leviticus 17:11, bloodletting contributed to the demise of President George Washington. There were many factors in his illness, but since the life is in the blood , he may have survived it if they had left more of it in him. But we can't expect doctors (and barbers) in 1799 to know modern medicine — and people in medical science are still learning. Traditional barber shops have become a rarity. Today, barbers are men and women that often work in multi

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Television and movie producers have been criticized by their frequent "reboots" of existing material, and some people wonder if they are out of ideas. (Why reboot ? The established meaning is to reload an electronic device with the existing material.) Some try to keep to the spirit of the original, but others only have a superficial resemblance to what is being remade. In this case, MacGyver 2016. Tombstone image before modifications: Vukki The first name of the character in the original series, Angus, was kept a secret until the seventh season. May was well use it from the get-go in the new one since the secret is out. For quite a while, I expected Richard Dean Anderson to appear as Mac's father, but Anderson didn't like the new version and refused. Several character names from before were used in the reboot, but the characters were usually quite different. The Phoenix Foundation was also used as the organizations each Angus worked for. Speci

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Many countries, especially on the western side of the Atlantic, have decriminalized cannabis (weed, pot, doobies, grass, smoke, reefer, whatever) and legalized it for medical use. Many places have made recreational use legal as well. Even where illegal, enforcement of laws is often sporadic . And there was great rejoicing among pot smokers. In fact, here in not-all-that-far-upstate New York, cops don't care. Polly Pothead in the apartment next door was chugging away so much, the smoke could be seen not only in the hallway, but seeped into our own apartment. Police did nothing. That was before it was legal, but her usage is the same as before; smoking wacky tobaccy just wasn't important enough to enforce the law. Also, she's a terrible conversationalist. One article I found in my research mentioned that Mary Jane was originally illegal because it is harmful. (Oh, come on! Don't get a burr under your saddle. You know it's true. People who argue

This Easter has a deeper meaning for me. Thinking about the bodily Resurrection of Jesus, but it is also the anniversary of the birth of my late father. He, too, had that blessed hope. I will meet him, my mother, my oldest brother, and others in Heaven who have gone before. Credit: Flickr / Kristin Klein  ( CC BY 2.0 ) If anyone was looking for a longer post, yes, I've been busy: Answering Good Friday and Easter Questions  (putting to rest false claims of Easter and Good Friday paganism) The True Source of Life The Other Resurrections (especially that puzzling passage in Matthew 27:50-54) Moses and the Resurrection of Jesus?

This is a sequel to a sequel. Earlier, I wrote about anti-creationist tinhorn Paul Braterman and provided links to his deceptive diatribes. We can use his attacks as examples of bigotry and bad reasoning. April 1 is a good day for this (Psalm 14:1), I reckon. Derivative from the 1909 Rider-Waite tarot deck (public domain) The earlier article linked above also included links to other articles on the subject, including how Snopes is biased and unqualified, and they didn't bother to "fact check" Braterman's rant on their site. Bad Paulie put burrs under a passel of saddle blankets, didn't he? If you see him, ask why, if evolution were true, would there be a need to misrepresent creationists and to abandon reason. Here, we have a short article from the Institute for Creation Research that has some thoughts worth considering.  Paul Braterman, emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Glasgow, recently claimed online that creationism “meets all the criteria”

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen No need to be bothered by this five-syllable word because what it describes is interesting, and even useful. I wondered if there was a term for hearing sounds that do not exist where psychosis is not involved. Yes there is. Credit: Freeimages Before I get to the audio part,  pareidolia seems to be more widely known. This is where people think they see things that are not actually there, such as gazing at passing clouds and seeing a dinosaur chasing a car. Pareidolia happens a great deal in the "true ghost" videos where an evil face is seen in a mirror or against a dark background. I was able to see Charles Darwin's profile in a tree , people saw a woman on Mars , and so on. It is probably worth noting that when watching the scary video collections, the viewer is prepped by the verbal cues of the narrator, and by expecting to see something creepy. The audio version is apophenia ( brief definition and pronunciation here ), which is also called musica

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen This is part 2 of Conspiracy Theories, Creation, and Reason , but takes a different approach. We saw how a number of factors contribute to the act of purveying conspiracy theories, and how there are several reasons why people believe them. Then there is the alleged creation science conspiracy. Credit: Unsplash / Steve Johnson We have three articles to consider, two of which are from the same ministry. Naturally there will be some overlap, but they each offer material that comprise a larger picture. There was a time when if someone had a question about, say, that 2002 email saying the teddy bear icon in Windows was really a virus. They could check Snopes and find out that it was a hoax , and they could search for urban legends. Unfortunately, they became heavily involved in promoting leftist political views with "fact checking", and their credibility became questionable. Snopes even attacked the parody site Babylon Bee (one of whose slogans is " fa