Cowboy Bob Sorensen

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 Question Evolution Day has several purposes, not the least of which is to prompt people to take a stand for freedoms, including speech, intellectual, and academic . Further, we hope to encourage people to examine what they've been taught about minerals-to-microbiologist evolution. They are likely to see that evolutionary dogma is saturated with opinions stated as scientific facts and just-so stories, but very little actual evidence. Image furnished by Why?Outreach incorporating some graphics by R. Bennett Darwin's Cheerleaders™ often use propaganda tricks with word definitions, especially conflating evolution with science (such as saying that biblical creationists "hate science" because we deny common ancestor evolution). The reality is that many creationist scientists are fully credentialed, appreciating science and working in their fields. Another conflation is conflating any sort of change with Darwin's concepts and calling i

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen We keep hearing about a "legacy" in these parts, especially when a president is ending, or has ended, a term in office. I don't rightly recollect hearing the word used until recent years, maybe with President Bill Clinton. What is a legacy? The first definition that Merriam-Webster gives involves bequeathed money or property, but that's clearly not what's being discussed. The second definition is: "something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past". That's where we want to be. Image credit: Morguefile / genieslot Nobody is going to become wealthy from my financial legacy.  In the bigger scheme of things, a legacy would be something substantial that was left behind, hopefully to benefit subsequent generations. That's the key to this article. Perhaps when someone's name is mentioned, it brings to mind that certain beneficial something. Unfortunately, people have left legaci

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 Way back yonder, in days of old when nights were cold, I wanted to be a science fiction writer, and took courses on writing. These included college nonfiction writing, and a required course on speechifying (even in 1980, I was speaking out against falsehoods in evolution). One simple thing that stuck with me was to write as if your audience was about 13 years old. (I think one of the creationist sites I read has a general style guide, when not doing hardcore science, to write as if the readers were precocious teenagers.) This seemed like a good approach when attempting to inform people. Then I'd go to my next class and wade through a textbook that was "written at a college sophomore level". Seemed like a contradiction to me. Unfortunately, the classes on writing do not work in this medium. Online articles have different criteria because people have not only demands on their time, but often have short attention spans. Part of the problem with s