June 13, 2016

Abortion

Mom Who Refused to Abort Baby With Down Syndrome Prays Doc Will “Now See True Beauty” by Katie Yoder

Creation

President Jimmy Carter Tours Ark Encounter

Devotional

You’ve Got Gifts by Pastor Ken Klaus

Still Angry After All These Years by Pastor Mark Jeske

End-of-Life

The moral and ethical corruption inherent in assisted suicide by Dave Andrusko

Family Living

Our Children by Abbot Tryphon

8 Ways To Help Grieving People by Cheryl Magness – “Death is similar to birth in that, as commonplace as it is, it is one of the most significant things any of us has to go through, and each time it happens is different from every other time.”

Sexual Purity

Keeping sex for marriage helps marriages last the distance by Carolyn Moynihan – “A new study confirms that virgin brides have the lowest divorce rates.”

Worldview and Culture

Steven Anderson, would you please zip it by Dr. Joel McDurmon

Dry Rotten Roots And The Boiling Frog by Michael Avramovich

Canada Legalizes Most Sex Acts With Animals by Stoyan Zaimov

How to Say Nothing, with Style! by Steven Howard

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The Genesis of All
by James M. Kushiner
Executive Director, The Fellowship of St. James
(From an email received 6/10/16)

Yesterday and today I am attending (as an observer) the Dabar Conference at the Carl F. H. Henry Center of Trinity International University. The topic is Reading Genesis in an Age of Science. (It is by invitation only.)

The early chapters of Genesis are a battleground over evolution, human origins, the existence of Adam and Eve, biblical “literalism” and the doctrine of Creation. They also are “source material” quoted by later writers, including Paul, and cited by Jesus in his teaching on marriage. They are seminal for the doctrine of the fall, original sin, the sanctity of life and divine plan for marriage, not to mention stewardship and dominion of the earth, the place of labor, child-bearing, family formation, and the course of human history, including the rise of cities, technology, music, as well as human sin through envy, violence and warfare.

While there are, to my recollection, no major controversies over the historicity of much of the Bible because of recent archaeological discoveries, supposedly the early chapters of Genesis, particularly Creation itself, are considered by some as susceptible to severe challenges from the discoveries of modern science, rendering the opening the chapters highly problematic.

Genesis relates the creation of the physical cosmos, not the spiritual realms and intelligences, that is to say the Angels and their spiritual heavenly dwelling place. Next, Genesis then relates the creation of the biological world. And then Genesis relates the creation of the human realm.

Regarding the cosmic realm, the first phase of creation, science seems to have confirmed the doctrine of creation ex nihilo in the form of what was initially and mockingly called the Big Bang. The naturalistic counter argument imagines something called a multiverse with an infinite number of universes bubbling up ad infinitum.

Regarding the biological realm–life–while origin of life researchers are convinced life somehow emerged naturally, they have no idea how, and the problem is getting more intractable. That’s another Big Bang, if you will, and all we know is that once there was no life and then there was life.

Regarding animal life, science confirms a Big Bang of species in what evolutionary biologists, paleontologists, and others have called the Cambrian Explosion. We see a proliferation of body types and fully formed species arising suddenly.

And then there is the final Big Bang, if you will, the sudden appearance of the human race. A zoologist from another planet might note that the Earth is full of various animals, and mammals, but one in particular stands out. He wears clothing. He composes poetry and songs. He stands looking up in wonder and bows down in worship. He talks about the Creator and sings songs to Him, prays to Him, and longs for His blessing and presence. He asks forgiveness and sacrifices his life for others.

Science has presented no plausible explanation for the cosmos, for life, or for this creature called Man. It is currently debated whether science has shown how early life evolved into higher species. Extending that explanation to include the creature who worships his Creator seems a stretch, to say the least. While open to the evidence for species evolution, I still haven’t found compelling reasons to accept that view.

The Psalms, which Jesus prayed, and the rest of Scripture, take Genesis as the story of how we got here and who we are. I still haven’t fathomed it fully, nor have I responded appropriately day by day and hour by hour as I should: in gratitude, for “In wisdom thou has made them all.”