Stormbringer's Thunder

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen For several years, I've been emphasizing how identifying logical fallacies can not only sharpen our own presentations, but help us spot deception coming from certain people. While I focus on evolution, creation science, and theology, it's easy to see how sneaky wording is used in other areas, especially those that are politically orient ed . It seems to be increasingly important t o have people to define their terms, and to nail down an understanding for a discussion, debate, or reporting. That is because there is a great deal of deliberate confusion going on, especially regarding connotations of loaded words. One of my favorite examples is "fundamentalist". That word is often used as a pejorative because of the connotations of a dour legalist , and the definitions are flexible; Calvinists, Lutherans, me, others can be considered fundamentalists because we believe in the fundamentals of the faith (we ll, duh) . Many of us don't cott

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen There are many instances of outright fraud on Facebook where people have been tricked into giving important information, making bad purchases, and so on. This is not about those third-party deceptions by sidewinders. No, this is about a different area. Modified from an image on Clker clip art In mid-November, the option was taken using Facebook's own "Promote Your Page" option to spotlight The Question Evolution Project . There were some good articles that needed exposure, and we've done these promotions before. The targeted areas were the United States, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Australia, India, and Indonesia (we do get visitors from non-English-speaking countries), and the promotion is toward people who have an interest in the topics we cover. When the Likes started pouring in, I realized that something was wrong. At this moment, we show about 5,225 Likes from people who use some form of English as their selected la

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Professing atheists riding the owlhoot trail are frequently claiming to be purveyors of "science" and "reason", but often displaying an inability to understand either. People with even a rudimentary understanding of logic can see their posturing for what it is. ( Even after having their fallacies pointed out , some t inhorns deny that there is anything wrong with their Mighty Atheist Intellects™ by denying having made the fallacies, or even trying to cover up by commit ting more . Some of us don't cotton to wasting our time on them .) One of their many fallacies atheists use is over-generalization, such as saying that the recent ISIS terrorist attacks on Paris are a reason to outlaw all religion . Oh, please. There are Christians who get into battles of trying to out-evidence the other side, but those of us who use presuppositional apologetics take a different approach. One reason atheists, agnostics, evolutionists, Deists, peop

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen (Edited 11-06-2015) I'm speaking in generalities. There are theistic evolutionists who are not actively trying to troll the Web and recruit Bible believers away from their faith. Also, there are yet a few professing atheists who really don't care what the rest of us believe, and want to go on about their business.  A foundation for the religion of atheism is evolution, which gives many professing atheists a "scientific" explanation for the origin and development of life. Naturally, atheists attack Christians because it's their nature to do so (John 8:44, Luke 6:22, 2 Timothy 3:12). But they hate creationists even more, because creation wrecks their evolutionary foundation. When it comes to biblical ("young Earth") creation, they ride in at full gallop with guns blazing, because evolution requires time — a lot of it — and biblical creation science shows not only the flaws in evolution, but gives evidence for a recent crea

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen In my younger days, I was excited about Halloween. Not just going door-to-door and getting candy from neighbors who were pressured into giving it out (although some liked doing it), but doing scary stuff and wanting people to be frightened by my lame costume. (Big scare, people are expecting diminutive people to show up in costumes on that day.) My mother made me take down the decorations I had up in my room. As I grew older, I put aside those things and realized that I hate fear, and am not a fan of Halloween. Isn't there enough death, fear and evil in the world without celebrating it? Yes, I realize that some people believe it's a way of coping with the fear of death and fear of the unknown. There were tasteless jokes made about the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and of the space shuttle  Challenger  disaster in 1986 that I regret ever hearing, and I was told those were coping mechanisms. I don't buy it. I don't get into horror

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Bill Nye, the tiresome leftist guy, seems to be the go-to spokesman for anything pseudo-science. "Science Guy?" He has a BS in mechanical engineering (the consensus is that engineers are not scientists) and worked as a mechanical engineer for Boeing, was rejected by NASA, got his "science guy" start in the " Almost Live " comedy show, went on to do a science show for kids (mainly run on the liberal PBS-TV), and so on. Is Bill Nye pondering how NASA could succeed without him? Image credit : NASA/GSFC/Bill Hrybyk By my cognating, he was just another unimportant celebrity that wandered away from the corral. But since it's cool for leftists to mock Christians (and especially creationists), Nye got attention by attacking biblical creationists in a video. Answers in Genesis responded with two reply videos, and when the attacks on AiG escalated, they issued a public challenge for Nye to debate one of their PhD scientists . The

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Since the US Supreme Court legalized homosexual "marriage" (no one can actually redefine marriage because God is the one who defined it ), religious persecution has been on the rise , as was predicted by Franklin Graham and others; say that homosexuality is a sin and not something to be celebrated , risk getting in trouble. The court has been wrong in the past (abortion, the Dred Scott decision , and others), and is wrong now. Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky, refused to issue marriage licenses that would violate her religious convictions . She went to jail , which was a violation of both the United States Constitution and the Kentucky Constitution . Indeed, the tinhorn activist judge who sent her to jail also required reeducation of students who opposed homosexuality . Naturally, the Gaystapo, unintelligent atheists , and other leftists are thrilled with all this, not caring about the implications that state and federal laws are being v

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Most of us know that employers in The Big Company monitor someone's social media activities. As is often the case, when someone expresses a personal view that is not politically correct, they can be screened out and barred from employment, and people have even lost their jobs for expressing themselves on social media . I disremember when I read this, but someone said that it was good and right for The Big Company to monitor someone's activities. Really? We may cry "censorship" or "freedom of speech", but those do not apply so much here. That is, try to fight it in court on "free speech" grounds, and you'll probably lose. Your speech is regulated while on the company clock, vocal or written, and what you write can be monitored even though it's on your own time, on your own media accounts. There are companies that don't really care what the typical employee does in his or her spare time  as long as they

At first, I didn't have any ideas for something to write for the 8th anniversary of Stormbringer's Thunder. A spam comment at The Question Evolution Project , some podcasts that I heard while working, and ideas came through my mind like stampeding cattle spooked by lightning. —Cowboy Bob Sorensen Have you ever watched the TV show Restaurant Impossible? Chef Robert Irvine revamps failing restaurants and gives the owners new hope for success. He often has to not only deal with bad management (and frequently, bad food), but attempts to fix relationships as well. Many of the restaurants succeed, but there are quite a few that still fail or get sold . When I watch the show, I get to pondering on how the agreements and plans are akin to New Year's resolutions. The root problem still remains. People get involved in "12 Steps" recovery programs that have a pretense at Christianity, but actually give a false gospel . We have bad feelings, so a shrink gives us medicat

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen This article is primarily about arrogant atheists, but there are also arrogant agnostics who side with them when maligning Christians. (Yes, I know that there are subdivisions of atheist and agnostic beliefs, but those strike me as arbitrary and inconsistent. The kind of agnostic that says, "I don't know if there is a God, but I'm open to the possibility" seems to be harder to find.) Some can't make up their minds if they're atheist or agnostic, flip-flopping between the two positions, but still delight in attacking Christians — especially biblical creationists. When you wander into territory on the Web controlled by atheists, you'll invariably find posts by tinhorns who think they're geniuses because they are raising things about the Bible that they consider contradictions (which have been answered time and again for centuries), items that they reckon to be unfair (based on taking things out of context and subjecting them t