March 6, 2015

From Gary... Bible Reading March 6

Bible Reading

March 6

The World English Bible

Mar. 6

Exodus 16

Exo 16:1 They took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

Exo 16:2 The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness;

Exo 16:3 and the children of Israel said to them, "We wish that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger."

Exo 16:4 Then said Yahweh to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.

Exo 16:5 It shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily."

Exo 16:6 Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, "At evening, then you shall know that Yahweh has brought you out from the land of Egypt;

Exo 16:7 and in the morning, then you shall see the glory of Yahweh; because he hears your murmurings against Yahweh. Who are we, that you murmur against us?"

Exo 16:8 Moses said, "Now Yahweh shall give you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to satisfy you; because Yahweh hears your murmurings which you murmur against him. And who are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against Yahweh."

Exo 16:9 Moses said to Aaron, "Tell all the congregation of the children of Israel, 'Come near before Yahweh, for he has heard your murmurings.' "

Exo 16:10 It happened, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud.

Exo 16:11 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

Exo 16:12 "I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, 'At evening you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread: and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God.' "

Exo 16:13 It happened at evening that quail came up and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay around the camp.

Exo 16:14 When the dew that lay had gone, behold, on the surface of the wilderness was a small round thing, small as the frost on the ground.

Exo 16:15 When the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, "What is it?" For they didn't know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat."

Exo 16:16 This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded: "Gather of it everyone according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, you shall take it, every man for those who are in his tent."

Exo 16:17 The children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less.

Exo 16:18 When they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. They gathered every man according to his eating.

Exo 16:19 Moses said to them, "Let no one leave of it until the morning."

Exo 16:20 Notwithstanding they didn't listen to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and became foul: and Moses was angry with them.

Exo 16:21 They gathered it morning by morning, everyone according to his eating. When the sun grew hot, it melted.

Exo 16:22 It happened that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one, and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

Exo 16:23 He said to them, "This is that which Yahweh has spoken, 'Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to Yahweh. Bake that which you want to bake, and boil that which you want to boil; and all that remains over lay up for yourselves to be kept until the morning.' "

Exo 16:24 They laid it up until the morning, as Moses asked, and it didn't become foul, neither was there any worm in it.

Exo 16:25 Moses said, "Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to Yahweh. Today you shall not find it in the field.

Exo 16:26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath. In it there shall be none."

Exo 16:27 It happened on the seventh day, that some of the people went out to gather, and they found none.

Exo 16:28 Yahweh said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?

Exo 16:29 Behold, because Yahweh has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Everyone stay in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day."

Exo 16:30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

Exo 16:31 The house of Israel called its name Manna, and it was like coriander seed, white; and its taste was like wafers with honey.

Exo 16:32 Moses said, "This is the thing which Yahweh has commanded, 'Let an omer-full of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.' "

Exo 16:33 Moses said to Aaron, "Take a pot, and put an omer-full of manna in it, and lay it up before Yahweh, to be kept throughout your generations."

Exo 16:34 As Yahweh commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

Exo 16:35 The children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.

Exo 16:36 Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

From Mark Copeland... "THE CASE FOR CREATION" Resources For Further Study

                        "THE CASE FOR CREATION"

                      Resources For Further Study

The following resources are suggested by Center For Science & Culture:

BOOKS

Darwin on Trial, by Phillip Johnson
Darwin's Black Box, by Michael Behe
Design Inference, by William Dembski
Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions About Intelligent
Design, by William Dembski
Icons of Evolution, by Jonathan Wells
The Mystery of Life's Origin: Reassessing Current Theories, by Charles
B. Thaxton
The Privileged Planet, by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards
Darwinism, Design, and Public Education, edited by John Angus Campbell
and Stephen Meyer

ARTICLES

The Origin of Biological Information and the Higher Taxonomic Categories
By: Stephen C. Meyer, Proceedings of the Biological Society of
Washington
Intelligent Design is not Creationism
By: Stephen C Meyer, The Daily Telegraph (London)
Molecular Machines: Experimental Support for the Design Inference
By: Michael J. Behe, Cosmic Pursuit
Evolution: Debate it
By: John Angus Campbell & Stephen C. Meyer, USA Today
Science & Design
By: William Dembski, First Things
DNA and Other Designs
By: Stephen C. Meyer, First Things
Survival of the Fakest (PDF)
By: Jonathan Wells, American Spectator
Are We Alone?
By: Jay W. Richards & Guillermo Gonzalez, The American Spectator

MULTIMEDIA

Privileged Planet
New science documentary explores Earth's extraordinary place in the
cosmos
Unlocking the Mystery of Life
Documentary reveals growing number of scientific challenges to Darwinian
evolution
Icons of Evolution
Are students learning the whole truth about Darwin's theory of
evolution?
Where Does the Evidence Lead?
Modular classroom version of Unlocking the Mystery of Life

The Messiah--Person or Ideal? by Wayne Jackson, M.A.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=10&article=220

The Messiah--Person or Ideal?

by	Wayne Jackson, M.A.

Harold Kushner is one of the most prominent Jewish voices in America today. Almost invariably, whenever the Hebrew point of view is desired, the news media solicit his opinions and publicize them widely. This Jewish leader has attracted considerable attention over the past couple of decades as a result of several controversial books he has authored.

In 1971 Kushner produced a book titled, When Children Ask About God. In this volume the famous “rabbi” offered advice to parents about how to cope with their children’s “fears, fantasies, and religious needs.” It is difficult to imagine a literary production that contains more error per square inch of space. As one surveys the pages of this work, he is reminded of the admonition of another Hebrew writer—one almost twenty centuries ago. A divine penman suggested that there are some, who by reason of time ought to be teachers, but who have need that someone teach them their ABCs all over again (Hebrews 5:12).

Consider, for example, Kushner’s observation regarding the term “Messiah.” He has written: “Today, few people still look for a person, called the Messiah, to appear and change the world.” He goes on to assert that the idea of “Messiah” arose in ancient times because people grew tired of unjust rulers, and so they longed for an ideal ruler to come and deliver them. He concluded by suggesting that the term “Messiah” merely embodies an “age” when “all the people will agree on what the world needs.”

Kushner’s view has no basis whatsoever in fact. There is not the slightest evidence in the Old Testament that his opinion regarding the Messiah is valid. Rather, this prominent scholar’s view is the result of his own skeptical inclinations regarding the Hebrew Scriptures. In fact, Kushner even goes so far as to deny that God is a person.

But what of Kushner’s idea concerning the Messiah? Let us reflect upon this momentarily. The notion that the Messiah is but an “ideal” is negated thoroughly by a consideration of the test of the Old Testament Scriptures. No better refutation can be found than that which is detailed in the book of Isaiah, chapter 53. This marvelous section of divine literature is a galaxy of prophetic testimony regarding the nature of the Messiah, Who, incidentally, is identified specifically in the New Testament as Jesus Christ (see John 4:25-26). Consider these crucial points in this regard.

First, there is ample historical evidence that the early Jews, both before and after the birth of Jesus, believed that Isaiah 53 was Messianic in its import. It was only after the early Christians began to use it as an apologetic for their claim that Jesus of Nazareth was this Messiah that novel (i.e., nonpersonal) views of the passage became vogue.

Second, anyone who is able to read this chapter with reasonable skill can see clearly that a person is the object of the prophet’s oracle. Verse 2, for example, reads: “For he [the Messiah] grew up before him [God] as a tender plant.” Again: “He was despised, and rejected of men.” Count the personal pronouns referring to the Messiah that are employed within this chapter. Aside from rationalistic bias, there is no compelling reason whatsoever for denying that a real person is being described here.

In the New Testament, Paul spoke of certain Jews who refused to believe in Jesus as the Christ because of the “veil” that shrouded their hearts (2 Corinthians 3:15). Mr. Kushner is of that sort. There is ample evidence that the Messianic hope is fulfilled gloriously in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

From Jim McGuiggan... ON READING THE BIBLE

ON READING THE BIBLE

No Bible book should be treated like an ancient artifact; examined for its grammar, syntax; examined historically, culturally and with tools of form, linguistic and literary criticism—end of story, and then put up on the shelf before we move on to another textual artifact.

The biblical books are covenant literature and the People of God have lived on them for millennia and God meant this literature to so function. As a single narrative [with all that that involves] it is alive and generates life because it is the voice of God’s Holy Spirit.

As a whole it cannot be embraced as covenant literature and climax in anyone but the one true God who has come to us in and through and as Jesus Christ.

Each book in the Bible is part of a single narrative and while each book has its own contribution to make to the entire Story—something we mustn’t ever forget—it has no sense by itself. That is, we could isolate the massive Exodus events from everything else and we could tell them in a story form easily enough as though it stood by itself but it would no longer be what it is in the biblical witness. It only makes biblical sense if it’s part of a single story connected with the past and looking to the future.

This is the claim of Jesus in passages like Luke 24:24, 44-47, and see Acts 3:17-18, 22-24; 26:22-23. Pay special attention also to Stephen’s Acts 7 speech before his critics, which shows the forward movement from Abraham to the crucifixion and exaltation of Jesus of Nazareth [7:2, 52, 55]. Then he further shows the climax in Jesus by praying for their forgiveness and commending himself into the Lord’s keeping as Jesus did on the cross [Luke 23:34, 46].

The OT book of Obadiah doesn’t have to have a verse talking about Jesus in order to be part of a grand narrative that speaks of God’s dealings in and with Israel. It’s part of a single Story and each prophet contributes what he has to contribute concerning his own time in the single narrative of salvation history.

Zechariah speaks in his own time and circumstances about the ways of God and we need to allow him to speak his own message. But having by God’s enlightening grace done that to the best of our ability we need to see it with that forward look that even the prophets didn’t grasp [1 Peter 1:12]. Jesus, as mediated to us through the NT, is to be our final and authoritative interpreter.

But what does that mean—Jesus must be our final interpreter of the entire biblical witness? Whatever else it means it means he is the ALPHA & OMEGA. He’s to be the beginning and end of our study, our reflection, our preaching, our praise, our esteemed and cherished thoughts and our behavior in all our relationships. We are to look at him and see in him what God thinks of the wayward humans family; we’re to see him as more than [not less than] the one who forgives our sins—he’s the meaning of all things; in him all things hold together and have ultimate meaning [Colossians 1:17].

To see the Bible as a single overarching narrative that climaxes in Jesus—the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, glorification as Lord and the coming One—will affect how we hear Scripture. But to seek to hear Scripture better must mean that we seek to hear it for what it is: God’s self revelation that is seen in the history of the human family with particular emphasis on Israel as the chosen People—a history that climaxes in Jesus.

We want to know more than the Story and how it fits into a single narrative and Story. We want to know the God who reveals himself in that Story. So it isn’t enough to explain what the verses mean and how the sections and books work together as if that were the goal. The goal is to know GOD as he is revealed in Jesus.

We’re not after religious ideas or principles or moral advice or an explanation of this verse or that—we want to encounter and admire and serve the living God. This and nothing less is [should be] the purpose of all biblical study and reflection. We must have the prophetic text and we’re glad to have it but it’s not an end in itself and if our study, teaching and preaching makes it an end in itself we’ve built an image and are calling people to serve it.

“Thou shalt have no other gods before me; not even a Bible.”

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, theabidingword.com.

March 5, 2015

From Gary... Common sense

Matthew, Chapter 3 (WEB)

1 In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 2 “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,

make ready the way of the Lord.

Make his paths straight.”

4 Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him. 6 They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! 9 Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.

10 “Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”

You know people by the way they look, what they say and what they do. Simple! It is not enough just to have Abraham as your father, you need to repent (turn from) wickedness. Killing people is WRONG!!! This is common sense!!!!

From Gary... Bible Reading March 5

Bible Reading

March 5

The World English Bible

Mar. 5

Exodus 15

Exo 15:1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said, "I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

Exo 15:2 Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father's God, and I will exalt him.

Exo 15:3 Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name.

Exo 15:4 He has cast Pharaoh's chariots and his army into the sea. His chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea.

Exo 15:5 The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone.

Exo 15:6 Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power. Your right hand, Yahweh, dashes the enemy in pieces.

Exo 15:7 In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send forth your wrath. It consumes them as stubble.

Exo 15:8 With the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.

Exo 15:9 The enemy said, 'I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.'

Exo 15:10 You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

Exo 15:11 Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

Exo 15:12 You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them.

Exo 15:13 "You, in your loving kindness, have led the people that you have redeemed. You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation.

Exo 15:14 The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.

Exo 15:15 Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed. Trembling takes hold of the mighty men of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away.

Exo 15:16 Terror and dread falls on them. By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone-- until your people pass over, Yahweh, until the people pass over who you have purchased.

Exo 15:17 You shall bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, the place, Yahweh, which you have made for yourself to dwell in; the sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have established.

Exo 15:18 Yahweh shall reign forever and ever."

Exo 15:19 For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on them; but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea.

Exo 15:20 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances.

Exo 15:21 Miriam answered them, "Sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."

Exo 15:22 Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.

Exo 15:23 When they came to Marah, they couldn't drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah.

Exo 15:24 The people murmured against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"

Exo 15:25 Then he cried to Yahweh. Yahweh showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them;

Exo 15:26 and he said, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you."

Exo 15:27 They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.

Mar. 5, 6

Mark 5

Mar 5:1 They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.

Mar 5:2 When he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs.

Mar 5:3 He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, not even with chains,

Mar 5:4 because he had been often bound with fetters and chaFrom Gary V. Womack... DANIEL - KEEPING YOUR HEARTins, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Nobody had the strength to tame him.

Mar 5:5 Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.

Mar 5:6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him,

Mar 5:7 and crying out with a loud voice, he said, "What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don't torment me."

Mar 5:8 For he said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!"

Mar 5:9 He asked him, "What is your name?" He said to him, "My name is Legion, for we are many."

Mar 5:10 He begged him much that he would not send them away out of the country.

Mar 5:11 Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding.

Mar 5:12 All the demons begged him, saying, "Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them."

Mar 5:13 At once Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and they were drowned in the sea.

Mar 5:14 Those who fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened.

Mar 5:15 They came to Jesus, and saw him who had been possessed by demons sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, even him who had the legion; and they were afraid.

Mar 5:16 Those who saw it declared to them how it happened to him who was possessed by demons, and about the pigs.

Mar 5:17 They began to beg him to depart from their region.

Mar 5:18 As he was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.

Mar 5:19 He didn't allow him, but said to him, "Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you."

Mar 5:20 He went his way, and began to proclaim in Decapolis how Jesus had done great things for him, and everyone marveled.

Mar 5:21 When Jesus had crossed back over in the boat to the other side, a great multitude was gathered to him; and he was by the sea.

Mar 5:22 Behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came; and seeing him, he fell at his feet,

Mar 5:23 and begged him much, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her, that she may be made healthy, and live."

Mar 5:24 He went with him, and a great multitude followed him, and they pressed upon him on all sides.

Mar 5:25 A certain woman, who had an issue of blood for twelve years,

Mar 5:26 and had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse,

Mar 5:27 having heard the things concerning Jesus, came up behind him in the crowd, and touched his clothes.

Mar 5:28 For she said, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be made well."

Mar 5:29 Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

Mar 5:30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd, and asked, "Who touched my clothes?"

Mar 5:31 His disciples said to him, "You see the multitude pressing against you, and you say, 'Who touched me?' "

Mar 5:32 He looked around to see her who had done this thing.

Mar 5:33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.

Mar 5:34 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease."

Mar 5:35 While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler's house saying, "Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?"

Mar 5:36 But Jesus, when he heard the message spoken, immediately said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Don't be afraid, only believe."

Mar 5:37 He allowed no one to follow him, except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.

Mar 5:38 He came to the synagogue ruler's house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing.

Mar 5:39 When he had entered in, he said to them, "Why do you make an uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but is asleep."

Mar 5:40 They ridiculed him. But he, having put them all out, took the father of the child, her mother, and those who were with him, and went in where the child was lying.

Mar 5:41 Taking the child by the hand, he said to her, "Talitha cumi!" which means, being interpreted, "Girl, I tell you, get up!"

Mar 5:42 Immediately the girl rose up and walked, for she was twelve years old. They were amazed with great amazement.

Mar 5:43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and commanded that something should be given to her to eat.

From Mark Copeland... "THE CASE FOR CREATION" Difficulties With Evolutionary Scientists

                        "THE CASE FOR CREATION"

               Difficulties With Evolutionary Scientists

INTRODUCTION

1. In this series we have presented evidence...
   a. From scientists who argue for creation, based on intelligent
      design
   b. From scientists who question macroevolution, based on lack of
      scientific support

2. Yet we often hear from teachers, scientists, and the media that
   evolution is...
   a. No longer a theory, but a fact
   b. A good reason to reject the Biblical account of creation

[If the issue is still debatable, then why do so many want to squelch
open discussion in our schools, scientific journals, etc.?  That such is
going on should be evident, but in case not, consider some...]

I. PROBLEMS WITH EVOLUTIONARY SCIENTISTS

   A. EVIDENCE OF MISCONDUCT...
      1. Misleading - "Present-day ultra-Darwinism, which is so sure of
         itself, impresses incompletely informed biologists, misleads
         them, and inspires fallacious interpretations." - Grasse,
         Pierre-P., [editor of the 28-volume "Traite de Zoologie,"
         former Chair of Evolution, Sorbonne University and ex-president
         of the French Academie des Sciences], "Evolution of Living
         Organisms: Evidence for a New Theory of Transformation,"
         [1973], Academic Press: New York NY, 1977, p. 6
      2. Fraudulent - "...we have proffered a collective tacit
         acceptance of the story of gradual adaptive change, a story
         that strengthened and became even more entrenched as the
         synthesis took hold. We paleontologists have said that the
         history of life supports that interpretation, all he while
         really knowing that it does not." - Eldredge, Niles, [Chairman
         and Curator of Invertebrates, American Museum of Natural
         History], "Time Frames: The Rethinking of Darwinian Evolution
         and the Theory of Punctuated Equilibria," Simon & Schuster:
         New York NY, 1985, p. 144
      -- Evolutionary scientists have been known not to be truthful
         about the evidence

   B. EVIDENCE OF DISCRIMINATION...
      1. Serious and widespread discrimination against creationists is
         well documented - Jerry Bergman, Contemporary Suppression Of
         The Theistic Worldview
      2. Over 100 active creationists employed in academia experienced
         one form or another of the following discrimination:
         a. Derogatory and inappropriate comments
         b. Refusal of admittance to graduate programs
         c. Refusal to award degree
         d. Denial of promotion
         e. Denial of tenure - ibid.
      3. Similar discrimination against students; what some educators
         have suggested:
         a. That professors fail any student in his class, no matter
            what the grade record indicates
         b. Retracting grades and even degrees if a person espouses
            creationism after passing the course or graduation
         c. Not awarding creationists with advanced degrees (e.g., PHDs)
            - ibid.
      4. Other articles one might read
         a. Quick, Let's Discriminate Against the Creationists!
         b. Bias In Higher Education
         c. Science Magazine Refuses To Hire Creationist
         D. Biologist Fired For Beliefs, Suit Says
      -- Evolutionary scientists have been known to carry out
         inquisitions against creationists

[Opposition if not outright persecution by evolutionary scientists is
certainly not universal.  Some possess true scientific integrity, and
have no problems with allowing opposing views to be taught and held.
For those who seek to silence critical examination of macroevolution,
let me offer some...]

II. REASONS FOR SUCH BEHAVIOR

   A. PEER PRESSURE...
      1. To succeed in the scientific field, one requires peer approval
      2. The results of one's research must be submitted for peer review
      -- While peer review has its merits, it can easily become peer pressure

   B. POLITICAL PRESSURE...
      1. Opposing theories have their ardent advocates
      2. Universities compete for research grants
      3. Science organizations vie for media attention
      -- Like politicians, scientists must often subscribe to popular
         opinion to succeed

   C. PECUNIARY PRESSURE...
      1. Scientists are supported by public and private institutions
      2. They must answer those who support them
      3. If research counters their benefactors, pressure is applied to
         change the results
      -- Scientists run the risk of being fired, having their funding cut off

   D. PERSONAL PRESSURE...
      1. Personal motives can be a factor
      2. Such as a strong desire to prove there is no God, no right or wrong
      3. Twisting evidence, overstating one's case, to justify one's
         immoral behavior
      -- Some love darkness more than light because their deeds are evil
         - Jn 3:19-20

CONCLUSION

1. My point is simply this:  scientists are human...
   a. Subject to failings common to us all - Ro 3:23
   b. Often corrupt, like many politicians, lawyers, car salesmen,
      preachers - cf. Ro 3:9

2. We should not be quick to place our faith in man...
   a. It is better to trust in the Lord - Psa 118:8-9
   b. It is better to trust in the Creator - Psa 146:3-6

I hope this series will encourage more careful and critical study in the
case for creation...

The Miracles of Christ—Many and Varied by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

The Miracles of Christ—Many and Varied

by	Eric Lyons, M.Min.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=10&article=2557

One of the biblical proofs for the deity of Christ is the miracles that Jesus worked. And, we are asked to believe that Jesus is the Son of God not because He performed one or two marvelous deeds during His lifetime. To the contrary, “miracles cluster around the Lord Jesus Christ like steel shavings to a magnet” (Witmer, 1973, 130:132). The gospel accounts are saturated with a variety of miracles that Christ performed, not for wealth or political power, but that the world may be convinced that He was sent by the Father to bring salvation to mankind (cf. John 5:36; 10:37-38). As Isaiah prophesied, Jesus performed miracles of healing (Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 8:16-17). He cleansed a leper with the touch of His hand (Matthew 8:1-4), and healed all manner of sickness and disease with the word of His mouth (cf. John 4:46-54). One woman who had a hemorrhage for 12 years was healed immediately simply by touching the fringe of His garment (Luke 8:43-48). Similarly, on one occasion after Jesus came into the land of Gennesaret, all who were sick in all of the surrounding region came to Him, “and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well” (Matthew 14:34-36; Mark 3:10). Generally speaking, “great multitudescame to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them” (Matthew 15:30, emp. added). “He cured many of infirmities, afflictions...and to many blind He gave sight” (Luke 7:21, emp. added). Even Jesus’ enemies confessed to His “many signs” (John 11:48).

Jesus not only exhibited power over the sick and afflicted, He also showed His superiority over nature more than once. Whereas God’s prophet Moses turned water into blood by striking water with his rod (Exodus 7:20), Jesus simply willed water into wine at a wedding feast (John 2:1-11). He further exercised His power over the natural world by calming the Sea of Galilee during a turbulent storm (Matthew 8:23-27), by walking on water for a considerable distance to reach His disciples (Matthew 14:25-43), and by causing a fig tree to wither away at His command. Jesus’ supernatural superiority over the physical world (which He created—Colossians 1:16) is exactly what we would expect from One Who claimed to be the Son of God.

Jesus’ miracles were not limited to the natural world, however. As further proof of His deity, He also revealed His power over the spiritual world by casting out demons. “They brought to Him manywho were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word” (Matthew 8:16, emp. added). Luke also recorded that “He cured many of...evil spirits” (Luke 7:21, emp. added). Mark recorded where Jesus once exhibited power over a man overwhelmed with unclean spirits, which no one had been able to bind—not even with chains and shackles; neither could anyone tame the demon-infested man (Mark 5:1-21). Jesus, however, cured him. Afterwards, witnesses saw the man with the unclean spirits “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind” (Luke 8:35-36). On several occasions, Jesus healed individuals who were tortured by evil spirits. And, “they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, ‘What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out’” (Luke 4:36).

Finally, Jesus performed miracles that demonstrated His power even over death. Recall that when John the Baptizer’s disciples came to Jesus inquiring about His identity, Jesus instructed them to tell John that “the dead are raised” (Matthew 11:5). The widow of Nain’s son had already been declared dead and placed in a casket when Jesus touched the open coffin and told him to “arise.” Immediately, “he who was dead sat up and began to speak” (Luke 7:14-15). Lazarus had already been dead and buried for four days by the time Jesus raised him from the dead (John 11:1-44). Such a great demonstration of power over death caused “many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did” to believe in Him (John 11:45). What’s more, Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead was the climax of all of His miracles, and serves as perhaps the most convincing miracle of all (see Butt, 2002, 22:9-15).

In all, the gospel records contain some 37 specific supernatural acts that Jesus performed. If that number were to include such miracles as His virgin birth and transfiguration, and the multiple times He exemplified the ability to “read minds,” and to know the past or future without having to learn of them through ordinary means (cf. John 4:15-19; 13:21-30; 2:25), etc., the number would reach upwards of 50. Indeed, the miracles of Christ were varied and numerous. He healed the blind, lame, sick, and leprous, as well as demonstrated power over nature, demons, and death. The apostle John, who recorded miracles of Christ “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31), also commented on how “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book” (20:30, emp. added). In fact, Jesus worked so many miracles throughout His ministry on Earth that, “if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25).

REFERENCES

Butt, Kyle (2002), “Jesus Christ—Dead or Alive?” Reason & Revelation, 22:9-15, February, [On-line],URL: http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/121.

Witmer, John (1973), “The Doctrine of Miracles,” Bibliotheca Sacra, 130:126-134, April.

From Jim McGuiggan... Beethoven, Science and Inspiration

Beethoven, Science and Inspiration

In a journal article some years back Chris Wright reminded us that even if "we have discovered and explained all the theory of music, harmony, instrumental qualities and acoustics" there's no reason for us to deny the Beethovian composition of the Fifth Symphony. All we would have succeeded in doing is to understand better how Beethoven did it. This is true in the realm of science and elsewhere. Suppose Stephen Hawkin's dream and Steven Weinberg's confidence is fulfilled—one of these days we finally arrive at a single explanation for "everything" in terms of how the universe began and works. The Christian would say that that would be no grounds for denying that God created the universe.

The same is true regarding the nature of the Bible. I'm one of the millions that believe the Bible we have is "inspired" of God and that what we have we have under the superintendence of God. We have some sense of how God went about giving us the Bible but even if we can't always understand how he did it there's no reason to deny that he did it. And if we worked out all the ways in which he did it there'd be even less reason to deny that he did it.

It doesn't matter that we don't know who wrote the book of Job and it doesn't matter that we can't prove to everyone's satisfaction that Jonah is all to be taken at face value or why the book of Jeremiah has been put together in such a "haphazard" manner—this is the Bible God has given us, the one the People of God has fed on from Moses until now.

It's right and important for us to continue to work on issues related to inspiration and canonicity but thankfully the vast majority of us works with and feeds on and trusts to the biblical text we have.

Habakkuk 3 is a prayer (as are the psalms). It is a prayer of a worried and frightened man who's been told that God is coming against his own people at the head of a predatory nation (Babylon). His response to that news is embodied in the prayer that ends with one of the most wonderful expressions of trust in the entire Bible. But it's a man's personal prayer! That prayer is part of our inspired Bible and God's hand in producing it involved his working in the life of Habakkuk—trace out all the elements in that if you can! God wanted the man's pain, bewilderment, fear and faith written down for his people but there's nothing here that even approaches God dictating it into his ear. Nothing remotely like that!

Still, we have reason to believe that this is the Bible God wants us to have and because Jesus saw it that way and because Jesus saw it that way we're more than happy to see it that way also. It's him we trust and we trust his choice of the apostles and NT prophets who help us to understand the entire Bible in light of Jesus himself. We don't trust our ability to get to the bottom of things any more than we trust "the critics" to manage it with their literary/historical/grammatical and other pieces of equipment or the scientists to get to a final answer by scientific methods.

In the end we believe Beethoven (or someone his equal) did the Fifth or Shakespeare (or someone his equal) did Julius Caesar or Hamlet and no advance in understanding how they did it changes that. In the end we believe God created and gave us an inspired Bible and it doesn't matter to us that the many and varied ways he worked to accomplish both are increasingly uncovered. He did it and we're just following his footprints as best we can on the how question.

In the final analysis we choose to hear, be shaped by and live in light of the Bible—in this area the rest is secondary.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, theabidingword.com