Stormbringer's Thunder

One of the most difficult aspects of the Bible for scoffers to ignore is fulfilled prophecies, of which there are many in the Bible. Those regarding the birth of Jesus are found in several Old Testament books, all the way back to the protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15. (Even his death on a cross was prophesied in Psalm 22:12-18, long before the Romans even existed.) It is impossible for Jesus to have fulfilled prophecies by accident , and many were usually not known until after his Resurrection. Prophet Isaiah by Fra Bartolomeo, 1516 In Isaiah 7:14, for example, we read that Jesus would be born of a virgin. Micah 5:2 tells us of his birthplace. Old Testament scribes knew the prophecies, which helps belie the claim of scoffers that they were written down afterward to make Jesus look good. (If you study on it, that's ludicrous even on the surface to claim that a holy God who hates lying would condone such a practice.) Many prophecies were fulfilled at the birth of Jesus. There are als...

We have seen how mainstream science is catering to leftist agendas (see " More Leftist Malarkey in the Secular Science Industry "), and although attention to anthropogenic (manmade) global warming had faded for a spell, secularists are polishing up that meadow muffin with the help of secular science. It is not in the least surprising that Joe "Quockerwodger" Biden used tendentious leftist pronouncements about climate change to politicize the December 10-11 tornado in Kentucky and Tennessee . NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens I received an email from someone who makes crusading for climate change his reason for being, and he echoed leftist propaganda (then I deleted the rant). Climate alarmists do not believe God is in control (most do not seem to think that he even exists), and their fundamentally flawed worldview is based on molecules-to-meteorologist evolution and deep time . Both aspects of secularism use similar approaches to bad science . Since Bi...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  A common occurrence when dealing with professing (Rom. 1:20) atheists is a demand to "prove that God exists", usually with some kind of empirical evidence. (This is the logical fallacy of the category error, because God is spirit, John 4:24.) On more than one occasion, other Christians and I have had such demands followed with question-begging epithets . It may come as a shock, but evidence is for believers , not scoffers.  Assembled with graphics from Clker clipart In the famous debate between Drs. Greg Bahnsen and Gordon Stein, the latter said that he would be persuaded if a miracle happened in his presence. Stein suggested that if the podium rose up five feet, hung there, then dropped down, he would have to conclude something supernatural had happened. Bahnsen was having none of that : People are not made theists by miracles. People must change their world views; their hearts must be changed. They need to be converted. That what it takes, and that’s...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Hopefully, my experiences both before and after the crash may prove helpful to some folks. Here is what happened. In July 2020, I decided to replace my Windows 7 computer. That underrated eMachine was a workhorse, and I asked a lot by simultaneously running programs that were heavy on resources, and I ran some at the same time. It was showing its age, so I was proactive and replaced it with an Acer Aspire TC-885-UA92 Desktop. Pixabay / Gerd Altmann Not a bad price, and it had a DVD ROM. Yes, some of us still need those things. Don't be a tech snob. Gave it a bit more RAM, and I was off to the races. Important Computer Precautions Yeah, some race. I had to learn how to use Windows 10. Fortunately, I have experience with computers, including Windows all the way back to Win95 (not much with Vista, and I utterly detested Win8 on my wife's laptop). Since I already have a Microsoft account and know some of the basics of operating systems, getting online was n...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  It seems that every day has been designated as a national or world day for an observance, whether to "raise awareness", celebrate, or something prosaic. October 10 is World Mental Health Day. Fine, I reckon it is a good idea to point out that millions of people have mental health issues. Many are simply things we just learn to deal with, others are debilitating and need counseling as well as medication. Several times, this child has admitted to dealing with depression. Everyone probably has it to some degree on occasion, and other times it is a lifelong struggle due to chemical imbalances in the brain. My hypertension medications contribute to it. People in the Bible were troubled with depression. My photo of the Hudson River, the Rondout Lighthouse is very small on the left side Some of those problems were short-term based on circumstances, others seemed to be lifelong. David wrote some psalms showing his depression over events and his own sins, and E...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  A bane of social media, especially for those who present information, is that too many people are self-appointed experts on whatever topic is presented; they have opinions are are not afraid to express them. Christians and creationists deal with atheists who spout off with prejudicial conjecture , which often means, " I know nothing about the subject but I must cast aspersions anyway ." It happens on other subjects as well. We also have to deal with uninformed conjecture . Mostly made at PhotoFunia Expressing an opinion on a subject folks know little or nothing about is common. Watch some of those interviews of people in the street ( like the one included here ) and you'll see that even though many know nothing, they seem to feel compelled to say something anyway. I try to avoid using questions in titles of my own material, that's just asking for it. For example, I recently posted, " Is Jesus the Creator? " Atheopaths laugh at those t...

There are people who appeal to science as an authority on what they want to hear. The secular science industry has   become increasingly leftist in recent years  (which probably frustrates scientists who want to do actual science without dealing with political agendas). It is still a scientific fact there are only two sexes. Basic biology is not changed  have so-called gender reassignment surgery. Despite a few abnormalities that actually prove the rule,  you cannot change the sex God gave you . Credit: Unsplash /  Jose Chomali When I was doing medical data entry, claim forms had check boxes for male and female. That's it. Nor was there anyplace to note how someone felt that day. It's not just the obvious physical differences, but body chemistry as well. Some medications and treatments for men may react quite differently for women. There are individuals who develop psychological issues lumped as “gender dysphoria” for various reasons, often due to faulty relatio...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen In the thrilling days of internet yesteryear, people were using emoticons to express reactions with face-like symbols. This platform automatically turns the text version into a picture so I am unable to make one of the old styles, but you know: Those things with a combination of a colon, dash, right parenthesis to make a smiley face. They evolved into graphic emojis, and people do not need to turn their heads to see them. Credit: Unsplash / Lidya Nada Now the things are ubiquitous on social media, and even show up in more serious online posts and articles. (In my opinion, they should be avoided or at least used sparingly, depending on the article, subject matter, and so on.) Smartphones make them exceptionally easy to use. Text messages are an entirely different animal, so it's obviously up to the individual in that regard. Using desktop browsers, I have an option insert them 😸 as well as other special characters. Also, this dreadful Blogger platform has a s...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Back in the 1960s, there was a fad with a ball made of synthetic rubber that would bounce back very efficiently. Throw it in the living room, it bounces a lot, maybe breaks your mother's favorite lamp, makes the cat hide behind the couch, scuffs the walls, and so on. My articles on browsers and security have been bouncing around. The first one is here , then a few more, and something a bit tangential is over at " How to Conduct Insufficient Research ". Now I bounced over to this weblog again. Credit: Pexels /  energepic.com We hear so much about internet security nowadays, and reports seem conflicting and incomplete. Some of them touted certain lesser-known browsers as the safest, while others specifically condemned them. The big players I discussed in previous articles had varying reviews, and sometimes that is from people doing tests of a clinical nature. They were pretty much deemed reliable. From what I gather, on browsers were out-of-the-box a...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  For many years, Firefox was my main browser. It has several features that I were very useful to me. After my bad breakup with it , I ended up using a fork known as Waterfox. It has been pretty good, but is not my default browser and more like a utility that I use on occasion. Something I like in FFX and forks is the download indicators. Those in Chromium-based browsers irritate me. Except... Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos / Stuart Miles As stated before, I have the perspective of a Windows 10 user, so this article is unhelpful for users with mobile devices. While I use a smartphone, it's a derringer compared to my .44-40 desktop. When I do research and obtain information, I want the downloads on the big gun, not on the little thing where they are inconvenient to obtain. Many people like to hate Microsoft. I'll allow that they rush things to market before thorough testing (one reason I don't hurry to download new software releases right away), love money t...

As many Christian apologists know, all believers must sanctify Christ as Lord and be ready to give a reasoned defense for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15). Misotheists and other anti-creationists claim to love science and reason, but many are weak in these areas. Left: Christ Resurrected / Herbert Gustave Schmalz, 1890 Right: Prayer of Moses after the Israelites go through the Red Sea / Ivan Kramskoy, 1861 God's Word tells us that those who claim that God does not exist are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness and are without excuse (Rom. 1:18-23). In addition, the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God (1 Cor. 1:20-25), and we have the Holy Spirit living in us, so we can see through God's leading and the Bible how worldly wisdom is at odds with true wisdom. With these truths in mind, Christians should easily be able to see why it is improper and unbiblical to argue from an evidence-only position that puts God on trial. This is can also be clearly seen when  argu...

 by Cowboy Bob Sorensen While many propagandists use heavy-handed tactics such as concentration and repetition, harassment, appeal to ridicule, and so on, others are conniving sidewinders. In " Pop-culture Evolutionism ", Paul Price discussed how evolutionism is spread through popular culture. In a similar way, this is happening with sexuality. Credit: Pexels /  Marcos Flores Non-Christians easily follow trends in the world, but it's mighty difficult for Christians to resist floating downstream as well. Television, movies, music, performing artists, news media, sports stars, and others influence our way of thinking. People have been duped into thinking that the number of LGBTQ+ people is much larger than it really is, party because of how they are  presented on television . My wife and I watch  The Good Doctor , a program about an autistic surgeon and his struggles with the medical community. (An episode  inspired me to write an article .) It is made quite well ...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  This article will be linked in another about how misotheists and evolutionists try to put Christians and creationists on the defensive, but is a stand-alone example of how logical thinking is useful in daily life. Really. It's not just for apologetics, science, and academia. While social media is a hotbed of irrationality, I challenged someone to see what would happen. It paid off. San Francisco at night image credit: Unsplash / Trevor Wilson The HBO documentary Allen v Farrow  was trending on Twitter. (I don't have or want HBO.) While I liked a few of Woody Allen's movies and a couple of his books long ago, I really have no interest in the subject. Justice may be done and the truth may come out now, but there is no doubt that when he stands before the Creator in judgment, there will be righteous judgment with no appeal. I noticed a comment by Paul Haynes . (I learned later that he is a co-producer of another HBO documentary that I did not watch ca...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Here is the final article in the trilogy. The first part was an introduction , then the privacy and other things were discussed in the second part . Now it is time to examine a few extensions (also called add-ons) that this cowboy has found helpful for productivity and security. Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos /  dfrsce It doesn't take an architect to add extensions since other people did the construction. Finding them is not much of a challenge, but loading good ones requires discretion. They can easily be added onto the browser's structure. Sometimes, too easily. Once again, I must point out that I am writing about my experiences using a Windows 10 desktop computer. Do my experiences and learning qualify me as a "power user"? Some Extensions can be Harmful Yeah, get the caution out there before discussing what I am using. I was unable to learn how many extensions are available for Firefox, but there are quite a few . Most people use browser extensio...