Cowboy Bob Sorensen

Using science, psychology, and years of refinement, investigators have developed some rather impressive systems at determining the truth of "Who did it" and "How it happened". This can apply to horrendous criminal cases, reasoning to a conclusion, and other applications. Credit: RGBStock / Robert Linder Circumstantial evidence can only get you so far. Forensic (historical) science involves determining past events with evidence that exists in the present, so it gets mighty difficult when a significant amount of time passes. Eyewitness accounts are extremely important, and when hitched to a team with circumstantial and forensic materials, you are likely to reach a logical conclusion. People who have watched courtroom dramas (on the screen or in person) may have encountered attorneys putting some hard questions to witnesses. This is to establish credibility or discredit the witnesses. In police matters, never let witnesses sit together . Separate them. Why? So

The way I've always understood it, a gift is something that is freely given. If you work to receive something, it is not a gift, but earned like wages or something. Children in many parts of the world are told about a being known by many names, including Father Christmas, Sinterklaas, Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus (see the pattern on the last three names?), and others. Credit: RGBStock / LUSI Way back yonder, Nicholas was a godly man who was also a giver of gifts. Legends built up, and today we have a recluse who lives at the North Pole, flying around the world with in a sleigh drawn by reindeer and giving gifts to all the good little girls and boys. Probably defies the laws of physics, as this internet legend indicates . Like many others, I believed in Santa Claus, but as I grew older, I realized that the storyline was impossible. The myth was shattered when I walked past my parents' bedroom, the door was wide open and a big box of unwrapped gifts was in the middle of

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Heard a message by Dr. Charles Stanley about rejection. I don't cotton to stuff about building up your self-esteem since those are usually humanistic platitudes, and there's not a great deal of truth there. While most of us deal with some form of it every day, rejection can cut to a person's core. Worse, people will use rejection to manipulate people. Depending on the impact of the rejection (a child by parents, former spouses or romantic interests, a powerful boss, and so on), scars can last a lifetime, and people try to earn some kind of acceptance in the aftermath. Some are so programmed for defeat, they set themselves up for failure and say, "See? I'm no good". What do I have to offer? What makes me successful? Not a hatful. A poorly-paying job that cheats me out of my wages, no books published, no riches or fame, reasonably bright but not a genius. Certain atheists and evolutionists hate me with a passion because of my activ

There are many denominations, doctrines, dogmas, opinions, notions, and more under the broad heading of Christianity. Some believe that baptism by sprinkling is okay, others insist on full immersion (and a few hold to the false doctrine of baptismal regeneration ). Do we baptise infants or only adults? There are some heterodox beliefs that are mixed in as well. Credit: Cadetgray / Wikimedia Commons ( CC BY-SA 3.0 ) There are people who claim that creation is an unimportant side issue, but that is not the case. While belief in biblical creation is not a requirement for salvation, it is important because all major Christian doctrines have their foundations in Genesis . The apostle Paul referred to creation and Genesis many times. Of interest here is when he referred to Adam and to Jesus as "the last Adam" (1 Cor. 15:22, 45). Nevertheless, Paul went to the most important point of all: the Crucifixion and bodily Resurrection of Jesus. They are of first importance, the

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Something that puts a burr under my saddle is when people who have limited knowledge of what the Bible actually teaches will try to use it against Christians. Early on, I had a picture of Jesus that appeared on each post on a certain weblog. Someone was on the prod because I said something against one of his pet heterodox doctrines, so he threw down on me in the comments and added that because I had that picture, it was a graven image and I was an idolator. That'll be the day! We expect that kind of nonsense from atheopaths, but it's distressing when it comes from professing Christians who are ignorant of the Bible that they claim to believe. These are the same jaspers who falsely claim that Jeremiah 10:1-5 (written hundreds of years before Christ) means we cannot have Christmas trees in our homes. (Hint: try reading Scripture for understanding, pilgrim.) If images of Jesus are idols, it would mean that many art masterpieces throug

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen The late Greg Lake, most notably of the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer had a "Christmas" song that wasn't. The lyrics were written by Peter Sinfield. There are conflicting accounts and misconceptions about "I Believe in Father Christmas", that it is a Christmas song, it was never intended to be such ("...about a loss of innocence and childhood belief"), Vietnam war protest, it's an atheist song, it's not atheist but rather "humanist" (as if there's a difference), and so on. I'll allow that it has excellent music and thought-provoking lyrics. Sinfield wrote lyrics for ELP and King Crimson, and Lake wrote many lyrics himself, including all of those on ELP's Tarkus album . One of these was " The Only Way (Hymn) ", a mocking anti-theistic and anti-Christian song , including the lyrics, "Don't need the word now that you've heard. Don't be

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen If I made a personal rule not to listen to or read material from people who are smarter than me, I wouldn't have much to do. Instead, I saddle up and ride the harder trail, trying to learn some things from people I can't hold a candle to in the area of intelligence. When disagreeing with someone, a good exercise is to be able to show why you are doing so, even if it only benefits yourself. Sometimes, other people may respect that you gave reasons for your contrary view, because it shows that you're thinking. Image credit: Morguefile /  Kenn W. Kiser This has to do with a topic that is sometimes controversial among Christians. In the October 26, 2016 episode of The Briefing  podcast , Dr. Albert Mohler was discussing the issue of cremation. He was agreeing with the Roman Catholic Church that cremation is not acceptable for professing Christians. One of the reasons is that pagans do it, cremation is not in the Bible, and also, Christians tradit

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen No, this isn't a form of Pascal's Wager . I just got to speculating one day. Eschatology is not my strong point. I'll hear arguments from Amillennialists and Preterists (not the hyperpreterist heretics, though) that make some good points. However, I believe that the Premillennialist pre-tribulation rapture position is the strongest. Unfortunately, there are professing Christian sanctimonious tinhorns in various camps who take the "Premillennialism is a heresy that must be refuted " view. Not interested. Some even use the appeal to motive  fallacy of "Pretribs just want to escape, so they want to sit around doing nothing while they wait for Jesus to come and take them away". I don't cotton to the opposite happening, either. That's no way for Christians to act! Have rational discussions, if you please. " The Last Judgement " by Viktor Vasnetsov, 1904 Seems like through the ages, people have been saying t

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen In " Is Racism in Our DNA? ", I gave a resounding no to that question. Implicit is the idea that there ain't nothing in our DNA but our DNA; no spiritual values and so on. I don't reckon any goodness we have can be physically inherited in any way. We see and hear about unspeakable evil among men, but there are also people who do heroic efforts to save others, even strangers. Sometimes these acts cost them their lives. People who have been exposed to God and seen his goodness have rejected him and gone about their own way. After Eve's deception and Adam's agreement in taking the fruit (Gen. 3:6), their firstborn son murdered their second son (Gen. 4:8). It's safe to assume that they knew about the Garden of Eden, and how Adam and Eve walked with God for a short time (Gen. 3:8), and how their parents were disinvited from it (Gen. 3:24-25). They probably knew right where Eden was. I can imagine them looking at the angel guarding

The last thing I need is another Weblog, but there are several reasons for making this one. It will be a landing space for people who want to know about the various places that I write posts and articles (" Piltdown Superman " is my most active). The list of pages at the top are where I'm currently active, and I will be adding a few more, including my Christian testimony, maybe a "best of", as well as some others. This is www.cowboybobsorensen.com , and www.robertsorensen.net redirects here. No, I don't think I look like Rembrandt's scholar . A rather lengthy testimony will be posted at a later date, but I'll tell you a little about myself. Some people put me on their enemies lists, since I am a Bible-believing Christian, biblical ("young earth") creationist, use Scripture and science to refute evolution, have a presuppositional apologetics streak (there is no "leave the Bible out of this and use neutral ground" in me), and