Stormbringer's Thunder

Way back in 1066 AD, William the First took a notion to extend his power from Normandy and conquer England. People who have been invaded are not too fond of the idea. Bill knew this, and acted quickly to keep control, so he built a passel of strongholds. These castles could be built rather quickly with available wood. (Later, castles would be made of stone.) The wide area that was protected which was known as the bailey . The nearby hill, existing or manufactured, had the top leveled off for the greater stronghold, the motte . This is where the keep , often a tower, was built. Windsor Castle with motte and bailey, Flickr / Mike McBey ( CC BY 2.0 ) The basic idea of a motte and bailey was successful , since attackers would have to get through the outer defenses first, then they would have to fight the greater defenses going uphill. When the attack was thwarted or abandoned, the people would leave the motte and return to bailey life. This layout has been applied to a particularly deviou

Those of us who have been riding the Apologetics Trail for some amount of time know that professing atheists (Rom. 1:18-23) on the internet are, for the most part, weak thinkers. While some may have a modicum of skill at philosophy, most make serious logical and philosophical errors. For example, demanding scientific proof that God exists is a category error , because God is not a material object. We also see ridiculous professing Christians used as examples to say that all religion is evil, which is a hasty generalization . (You can see more of the common informal logical fallacies that misotheists use on the logic lessons page .) Worse, though, is that atheists are forced to believe antiscience because of their worldview. Darwin antiscience, modified from a Pixnio image Examples of why molecules-to-misotheist evolution is unscientific are in many places, including Piltdown Superman  and this weblog. Evolution is foundational to their belief system. (Yeah, I know, they "lack bel

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Something flew under my radar that I would have missed except for a post from WHYOutreach . So anyway, while there are some folks who imagine occult symbolism and conspiracies everywhere they turn (such as the CERN collider causing the end of the world ), this imagery is blatantly obvious. People who know their Bibles and biblical history are aware of the demon known as Baal. How do you pronounce it? On Stargate SG-1  and other places, it's pronounced ball , like bouncy. Some say bail , like what you do when the boat is filling with water (I use this one). Others insert a gap, Ba'al, making it buh-ALL . However it is pronounced, it is a generic way of saying lord. Then it became a proper name. Since I can't find a legal image, here's the Palmyra Temple of Baal-Shamin, WikiComm / Dosseman  ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) So who was this sidewinder, anyhow? Basically a fertility deity for Canaan and Phoenicia — better yet, read " Who was Baal? " Differ

Expressions resembling "Never let a crisis go to waste" have been attributed to Niccolo Machiavelli, Winston Churchill, and Rahm Emanuel. Nowadays it appears to be a motto, especially for leftists attempting to increase political power. I suspect that there is a second part: "If there is no worthwhile crisis, manufacture one or take an existing problem and magnify it." Leftists and their obedient sheeple have been finding and causing crises for years. For a while, global warming had been on the back burner (heh!), but it was brought back with a vengeance, even using brainwashed children to manipulate emotions in the public. Global Warming, Pixabay / Pete Linforth As we have seen, the secular science industry will saddle up and ride with any leftist saddle tramp that comes to DC town. They have a worldview based on atheistic naturalism, so they reject the Creator (and his promises to sustain the earth) out of hand. In addition, the secular science industry has shown

Addendum added 2 July 2022. We have seen many times in the past where the secular science industry has supported leftist causes, and now it is increasing. This is indeed unfortunate for the scientist who wants to do science stuff. Many of us can relate, having to earn a living trying to do what is best for the patient or customer. Indeed, if a prospective employer reads this and rejects me, their company is not worth my talent. Abortion is a sacred sacrament to leftists. Although fake science gave abortion a veneer of deniability with, "The fetus is not human yet, it is just going through past evolutionary stages", people know full well that the fetus is an unborn human baby. Fetus means  baby. They want to kill it anyway. In  Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization , the United State Supreme Court overturned the terrible legislation of Roe v. Wade  from 1973. Abortion has been an important aspect of the Democrat Party for many years, so they and other leftists are incen

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen My calendar reminder tells me that today is the anniversary of this, my first weblog. I think it was a contact in a newsgroup who encouraged me to do one. As expected, many things have changed and I have learned a great deal. When I started, I had no idea what to say, so I did a getting to know me thing. The subjects were about whatever struck my fancy, and Stormbringer's Thunder was written in a conversational style. This still covers a variety of subjects, but I focus on logic, refutations of atheism, and internet things such as browser security . Quick fun facts about the Edge browser. It has Immersive Reader to make a page more, well, readable. In that is a Read Aloud function (Natasha is my favorite voice). It also does a read aloud thing even if the site is not conducive to Immersive Reader. Like other browsers, Edge will open up PDFs. Here's what was fun for me: Using the Reader View by Yokris extension , a user can annotate and mark up a web pa

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Edited 23 Mat 2922 Free speech is something that is cherished by many people in the Western world, but it is being suppressed drastically. Most of the mainstream media are so left-wing, they fly in circles; news reports infested with opinions. The secular science industry promotes leftist views, and is anti-science in many ways . Biblical creationists uphold the authority of the Word of God, beginning in Genesis. Biblical truth undermines socialism and many other political evils, so no wonder creation scientists are suppressed when they present evidence against evolution. Something very important that many of us teach is the importance of definitions. Surveillance, Pixabay /  Jürgen Jester (modified with FotoSketcher ) Darwin's acolytes tell us that evolution is a "fact" and that it has been observed. This often comes with conflating variations  and speciation  (among other things) with evolution , where they are intending to dry gulch people int

For many professing Christians in several denominations, Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week. As a child in the United Methodist Church, we were given palm tree fronds to place at the front of the church. There are variations where Holy Week ends on Saturday, others count Easter Sunday. Credit: Pixabay / Gerd Altmann Some sects continue liturgical celebrations after Easter. Bible-believing Christians know the truths from Scripture that Jesus rose from the dead and is at the right hand of God the Father (Rom. 8:34), so our observance is continual. Naturalists deny miracles, including the recent creation in six days, the Resurrection, Jesus and Peter walking on water, and other things, so they attempt to evosplain them away according to their fundamentally flawed presuppositions. (Liberal theologians and secularists can be seen at this time of year on secular documentaries denying the truth.) Some say that religion evolved (see " The Non-Evolution of Religion "), but that

If there is anyone left who thinks that scientists are impartial and motivated by facts, they need to drop those illusions quick-like. Scientists have the same qualities and fallacies as the rest of us, but are committed to a worldview of atheistic materialism — with atoms-to-aerobiologist evolution at the forefront. At many points in history, the "intellectual class" would exert influence on governments for elitist rule. After all, they were educated and "smarter" than the commoners. This is happening today, and it is escalating. Adapted from an 1883 image by Kate Greenaway Elitists desire power, and it has been glaringly evident in recent years, especially in the formerly United States. Political leftists are famous for spreading their propaganda. This includes the usual techniques of concentration and repetition, the big lie, arbitrary assertions, excluding inconvenient facts and other fallacies . "Follow the science" is shouted from the rooftops, but t

In these formerly United States, January 23 is the 38th observance of Sanctity of Human Life Sunday . We are bombarded with claims about "reproductive rights for women", "my body, my choice", and others. The baby has half of the DNA from each parent, which is another problem with such arguments. In many cases, this is a political power grab by people who have had their consciences seared. Abortion is the ending of a human life, but many do not care and are even proud of murder. In very few cases is ending a pregnancy medically necessary. Ultrasound picture from Pexels by Melike Benli By the way, they have the rights to use contraceptives or even abstinence. What women who demand their "rights" are not told are the enduring consequences of having an abortion. Leftists and others who support abortion on demand use several arguments that can easily be refuted , and they also present the viperine falsehood that it is "religious" people who are forci

Instead of dealing with issues and confrontations with reason, people dodge them by playing the victim card. They often claim to be offended. This manipulation ploy works on many people, especially Christians and Conservatives, who do not want to be seen as aggressors. It is one thing to tell the truth in an offensive manner (which can potentially negate a message), but the truth itself is offensive to people who are in the wrong. Especially the gospel message itself.  Modified from an image made by Why?Outreach While Christians and creationists are to present our message graciously, there are times when we must stand firm. Some Christians clutch their pearls when firm responses given to atheists and evolutionists. They give what I think of as the milk-and-cookies-group-hug reaction: "You'll hurt their feelings, they'll chose against Christ and go to Hell, and it'll be all your fault !" Not hardly! They're responsible for choices and decisions, but I'll a