Stormbringer's Thunder

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...

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...

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...

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...

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  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 Some time ago, I wrote an article about the proper use of debates , which drew heavily on what I had learned from Dr. James R. White. At this writing, he has done 169 formal debates. One thing he emphasizes is that to do this, both sides have to know what the other represents so they can discuss things properly. Screenshot from The Dividing Line, September 3, 2019 (linked below) There is a section of The Dividing Line  that I would like you to see. Dr. White is telling how he represents the other side correctly (at the moment, he was talking to a Mohammedan). That is an excellent set-up for the next segment where he is (if I understood this correctly) going to debate an atheist. This atheist wrote a post where he makes fifteen assertions that parts of the Bible had material that were inserted deceptively. What he is doing (and what the Mohammedan was doing earlier) is focusing on textual variances. Christian scholars know about these things, and the...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen People who reject the truth of the Bible resort to various rescuing devices such as saying Scripture has errors, does not mean what it says so we need help from atheistic interpretations of science, and outright ridicule. How many of these owlhoots have seriously read it? Credit: Pixabay / Jeff Jacobs Christians frequently hear atheists refer to the Bible as "fairy tales". (One of the most absurd remarks is the claim that the Bible was written by illiterate goat herders. Not only does this reveal bigotry and prejudicial conjecture about the writers of the Bible, but it is self-refuting: how do illiterate people write books?) The fairy tale aspect is easily dismissed by comparing actual fairy tales with the Bible. You will find detailed, accurate history in the Bible and see that it reads quite differently from fairy tales. In a similar way, myths and legends are usually vague and unbelievable; I wonder if people actually believed the tale...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen For April 1, it is appropriate to examine how atheists try to trip up Christians with what some of us call "Gotcha!" questions and statements. Although they deny the existence of God, it is convenient for the God of the Bible to exist for them to hate him, the Bible, and his followers. They do  know he exists, however, but unrighteously suppress the truth (Psalm 14:1, Romans 1:18-23). Shattering atheism image courtesy of WHY?Outreach Atheists are the MS-13 of rational discourse. I have seen atheistic "logic" work along the lines of, "I asked a question. The Christian could not answer it to my satisfaction. Therefore, the Bible is false and there is no God!" Mayhaps an atheist picked a professing Christian who is unskilled in apologetics or has not studied a particular question. If someone cannot answer a question it does not mean an answer is impossible, old son. I'll allow that there are some tricky areas that we strugg...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen First, a side note before I commence do be writing the actual article. It was eleven years ago today that I started this, my first weblog. Then, as now, it is a sort of general purpose thing. But back then, it had a great deal of political material and things that were dreadful (many of which have been removed). Although I still do some political things, I also post material on theology, refuting atheism, and some odds and ends. My main weblogs are Evolutionary Truth by Piltdown Superman and Biblical Creation and Evangelism . Also, I've been filling in for the owner of Radaractive . Those three are the weblogs that are updated the most often. Quite a contrast from when this one started. Credit: CSIRO / David McClenaghan ( CC BY 3.0 ) As I have written in several places, some folks (especially atheists) believe that "science" is something special, even deserving of special consideration and privileges . They make science into an infallible...

The bodily Resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the lynchpin of Christianity, because without it, our faith is in vain (1 Cor. 15:14, 19). The Creator of the universe (John 1:1, Col. 1:16) took on human form (he pitched his tent among us, John 1:14) and died on a cross for our sins (Phil. 2:6-11). Jesus defeated death by rising from the grave (Hebrews 2:14, Romans 1:4). Indeed, the entire Bible lays out God's plan of redemption of mankind from sin. Credit: Pixabay / acperez1 Some folks do not want to accept the historical narrative of the Bible. This is clearly from bias, not logic. Compare the Bible with legends and the sacred books of other religions, and there is a marked contrast: details. Other accounts are vague while the Bible gives specifics, many of which have been corroborated through archaeology and history. Mockers have attempted to come up with ways of dismissing the Resurrection, but those fail under scrutiny. The New Testament documents are abundant, the o...

People who doubt the authenticity of the Bible, whether unbelievers or liberal "Christians", will occasionally appeal to archaeology in their attempts to reject God's Word and continue riding the owlhoot trail. However, they are showing massive ignorance as well as relying on fallacious reasoning. Although the Christian's faith is based on the Word of God , there is  evidence for our beliefs. Maybe I'm unusual, but I actually found the material I rounded up and presented below to be rather exciting. Credit: Pixabay /  Heather Truett Archaeology is a newer science when compared to some of the more established disciplines. The subject matter requires careful excavation of unoccupied areas. This is a huge reason that Jerusalem and other areas are left alone, as not only do people live there, but buildings are erected on much older foundations.  When some people claim that the Bible is historically inaccurate because certain things have not been discovered by...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen This 2010 debate between atheist David Silverman and Christian Dr. James White illustrates how things that are considered logical from an atheistic perspective are, in reality, incoherent. Silverman used many fallacies: Argument from outrage (essentially, the New Testament is evil because he doesn't like what it says) Straw man arguments (when he was called on this, he promptly redefined the meaning of a straw man for his own convenience) Appeal to motive plus some ad hominem  remarks against Dr. White Equivocation For a debate on the New Testament, he went back to the Old Testament several times. Especially Genesis, which helps illustrate why biblical creationists affirm its truth Several others that I'll leave to the listener to observe James White clearly showed that David Silverman's arguments for the nature of good and evil are irrational, standing on the biblical worldview when he calls something evil, but Silverman also relies ...

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Since the Bible is not being taught very well in too many churches, one of the questions that stymies some people is, "Where did Cain get his wife in Genesis 4:16:17? After all, we only know about Cain and Abel". It's a fair question. However, atheopaths will often use this in a weird, self-refuting way that ends with, "therefore, evolution". They claim that there is no God and the Bible is false, but they selectively cite passages as if they were true  to allow God to exist so they can hate him, such as in this image . The chronology of some of the early Hebrew writings is less linear than our 21st century minds prefer. In Genesis 5:3-4, it said that Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters.  As to when  they had them, we're not told. Ultimately, its indicates that the sons and daughters married each other. After all, God commanded them to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28). Incest was expected back then. Centuries ago ...

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...