Christology: The 'I AM's' Of Jesus Christ

1. Moses meets the ‘I AM’. When Moses (the ‘Lawgiver’) on Mt. Sinai asked the mysterious Being speaking to him from the burning bush who He was, the answer he got was a blunt, “I AM”, or a step further, “I AM that I AM!”

2. The Apostle John’s Christology. John, the ‘beloved apostle’, elaborates on a wonderful ‘Christology’ in the narrative of the Gospel of John, for instance, Jesus Christ has said:

2.1 “I AM the Bread of life … For the bread of God is He who comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world.” [John6:48,33].

2.2 “As long as I AM in the world, I am the Light of the world. I have come as a Light into the world, so that whoever believes on Me should not remain in darkness.” [John9:5; 12:46].

2.3 “Then Jesus said to them again, Truly, truly, I say to you, I AM the door of the sheep. I am the door. If anyone enters in by Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.” [John10:7,9].

2.4 ”I AM the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep … I am the Good Shepherd, and I know those that are Mine, and I am known by those who are Mine.” [John10:11,14].

2.5 "Jesus said to her, 'I AM the Resurrection and the Life! He who believes in Me, though he die, yet he shall live'." [John11:25].

2.6 “Jesus said to him, 'I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me'." [John14:6].

2.7 “I AM the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” [John15:1,4].

2.8 "I AM the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." [Revelation1:8].

2.9 "... saying, I AM the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last. Also, What you see, write in a book and send it to the seven churches which are in Asia: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea." [Revelation1:11].

2.10 "And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying to me, Do not fear, I AM the First and the Last, and the Living One, and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for ever and ever, Amen. And I have the keys of hell and of death." [Revelation1:17-18]. 

2.11 "And He said to me, It is done. I AM the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who thirsts I will give of the fountain of the Water of Life freely." [Revelation21:6].

2.12 "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to each according as his work is. I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last." [Revelation22:12-13].

2.13 "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify these things to you over the churches. I AM the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and Morning Star." [Revelation22:16].

3. The Divine Paradox. A remarkable paradox that illustrates the true cosmic mystery of the august Trinity is that, notwithstanding the fact that Jesus had stated that His Father was ‘greater than He’, He nevertheless not for a moment considered it fraudulent to put Himself on par with God: 

   "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me [JESUS].  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." [John14:1-3]. 

   “For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." [Philippians2:5-7].

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Christians: The Best Is Yet To Come!

1. The Pre-Creation Void. It would be futile for Science to speculate about this ‘pre-Big Bang era’ (sic) as only the Creator is privy to this kind of information; no man can find out the works God makes from ‘BEGINNING to END’ outside of Biblical revelation:

   "He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end." [Ecclesiastes3:11].

1.1 Time, Space & Matter. God first created time, space & matter as chronicled in the Hebrew Bible (‘Old Testament’): “In the beginning [TIME] God created the heavens [SPACE] and the earth [MATTER].” [Genesis1:1].

1.2 Jesus Christ the Projects Engineer. Jesus Christ was the ‘Projects Engineer’ tasked with creating the Universe and who is still upholding it by the word of His power. 

   "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son [JESUS], whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."  [Hebrews1:1-3].

1.3 Jesus Christ the Author or Prince of Life. Jesus Christ is Heaven’s de facto Author of Life/Prince of Life who has (original) selfsustaining ZOE life as opposed to ordinary humans who are naturally born into (derived) 'borrowed’ BIOS life. 

   "For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." [John5:26].

   "But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.  [Acts3:14-15].

1.4 ZOE life vs. BIOS life. Jesus Christ has the power and stature to bestow ZOE life on born again (spiritually regenerated) believers of the Gospel. [John3:16; 5:24,26,40; 6:40,47,53,54; 8:12; 10:28; 11:25; 12:25; 17:2; 1Cor15:22,45].

1.5 The difference between 'Earthly' & 'Heavenly' bodies. There are Earthly bodies (for those who dwell on earth) and Heavenly bodies (for those who dwell, or will dwell, in Heaven). [1Cor15:40,47-49; 2Cor5:1].

1.6 The Second Coming. The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is imminent, but the exact date cannot be calculated or guessed from Scripture. [Matt24:1-51; Mark-8:38; Acts1:1-11; Rev1:7,11-14].

1.7 The Cosmos to collapse. The Cosmos as we know it will be destroyed; the Bible says that the ‘heaven will depart like a scroll when it is rolled together’; the ‘heavens being on fire will together with the elements melt away’. [2Peter3:7,12; Revelation6:14].

1.8 There is a ‘Great White Throne Judgment’ Coming. [Matt5:22; 10:15; 11:22,24; 12:36; John-5:22,27,30; 8:16; Rev14:7; 20:11-15].

1.9 Jesus Christ the Chief Justice presiding. Jesus Christ will be the Chief Justice presiding over the Great White Throne Judgment during the judgment of the nations. 

   ”For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” [John-5:22].

1.10 Ashamed of Jesus Christ? Those who have suffered for Christ will sit along with Him in the Judgment of the nations and will also reign with Christ over the nations. Jesus has warned: 

   “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels." [Revelation20:4; Mark8:38].

2. The Final Promise. There’s a New Heaven & New Earth coming. Jesus Christ shall feed believers & lead them unto living fountains of waters. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. [Revelation21:1; 7:17; 21:4].

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Christians And The Apocalypse: Brace Yourselves

1. The Honeymoon is over. During the past number of years the world has seen ISIS beheading dozens, if not many more of Christians, sometimes brazenly displayed on worldwide television. In 2015 the Syrian archaeologist, Khaled Al-Asaad was beheaded by members of the same gang for refusing to lead them to where Palmyra’s hidden antiquities were located. Brace yourselves … the honeymoon is over, the gloves are coming off. Those who believe that Christians won’t suffer persecution in this age are in for a rude awakening.

2. ‘Rapture’ Models & Issues. This interesting field of study is currently dominated by basically four different models of the Rapture, i.e. 

- No Rapture; 

- Pre-Trib; 

- Mid-Trib and 

- Post-Trib Rapture. 

   In the final analysis, however, only one of these models can possibly be correct, unless all four are wrong altogether. No matter which model we espouse and preach, three of these are one day going to be proved having been in error, with the proponents of the erroneous three not only in error i.r.o. the interpretation of Scripture (with leeway allowed in terms of Matthew 5:19) but also as ‘false prophets’ (not allowed by Scripture!) as any model advanced as a forecast about the future is catapulted immediately into the risky arena of Biblical prophecy.

3. Persecution of the Church. Those who naively think that the Church will not suffer persecution must think again; Christians have been suffering harassment & persecution for years. Speak to those beheaded by ISIS in recent times and Christians in places like China, North-Korea and elsewhere in Asia, the Middle-East or Africa and they will laugh you out of the kitchen should they be told that the Church ‘will not suffer persecution’.

4. ‘Worthy to escape these things’. Christians are not destined for wrath, and Christ’s injunction for us to pray ‘to be considered worthy to escape these things’ is a reference to the wrath and judgments of God on the ungodly to come over the inhabitants of the earth (of which this worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, I surmise, is only a precursory preview) and not the promise of a Disneyland kind of Utopia of absolute immunity of the Church (Ekklesia) against persecution, irrespective of our pet ‘Rapture model’. 

   Christians should learn the fundamental difference between (i) suffering persecutiion for Christ and the Christian faith ('tribulation') and (ii) escaping the wrath poured out on the ungodly and the wicked in the end times. A careful study of MatthewChptr24 will show that by the word 'tribulation' Jesus has meant the persecution of believers by a world or system hostile to the Church and believers, not 'wrath' or judgments'. Jesus Christ has indeed solemnly warned: 

   “… In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” [John16:33b].

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Christian Atheism: Cult Of Unreason

1. Definition. “Christian atheism is a form of cultural Christianity and ethics system drawing its beliefs and practices from Jesus' life and teachings as recorded in the New Testament Gospels and other sources, whilst rejecting supernatural claims of Christianity.” [Wikipedia]. Fashions and fads in the Church and religious world come and go, just like the Greeks from the days of Paul who always clamoured to ‘hear something new’. So, I am not entirely surprised to see people taking this rather wonky view of Christianity.

2. Charles Spurgeon. Charles Spurgeon once made this priceless comment when he said that he was so glad that these kinds of outlandish fads had the good sense of popping up over time in ‘instalments’, and not all simultaneously at the same time, attributing it to the foresight of God designed to prevent genuine believers from dying en masse from amazement! Be that as it may, the emergence of this fad now explains the problems we have with some ‘Christian theologians’ (sic) here in South Africa who have joined the postmodernist ’Jesus Seminar’ bandwagon and have begun winning prizes from our local 'Secular Humanist Society' (the atheist’s club) for so-called ‘progressiveness in religious thought’ (!).

3. The tragedy of the ‘lukewarm Christian’, 'another Jesus', 'another spirit' & 'another gospel'. I am inclined to have far more respect for the genuine, serious atheist that rejects faith-in-God on principle, for at least one knows where on stands with him, but as far as ‘Christian atheists’ are concerned I think that, with their vacillating between the true Gospel and their fake ‘imitation-leather’ gospel (‘another Jesus’; 'another spirit', ‘another gospel’) they are flirting with terrible danger in the murky pseudo-theological mud of fashionable but lethal philosophical stupidity. The Bible says:

- “So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” [Revelation3:16].

- "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. [2Corinthians11:3-4].

4. Philosophical Stupidity. Here’s the problem: Why would any sane, literate person of even average education (let alone of advanced education sporting post-graduate degrees from 'Ivy League' universities) choose as his moral roll-model, spiritual leader or teacher-of-ethics a person who (according to his theological model) has (i) habitually lied about His divine status and origins, (ii) fabricated His miracles and (iii) fooled the first century public by claiming what Jesus Christ has claimed about Himself? Something in ‘Christian Atheism’ just does not add up!

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Cause And Effect

 1.   The Kalām Cosmological Argument.  In terms of the familiar Kalām Cosmological Argument* most reasonable people today believe in the phenomenon of cause and effect and that everything that begins to exists in the Universe must have had a cause. 

* Named after the kalam (medieval Islamic scholasticism) from which its key ideas originated. [Wikipedia].

 2. What Christians believe. Christians believe that God spoke the Universe into existence ex nihilo (from nothing) as described in the Genesis Creation Record and also is the Original Author of the Bible who has sent Jesus of Nazareth (the Christ) to earth as the long-awaited Messiah of the Israelites (today’s Jewish Nation) and Saviour of the world. God must have caused (among others):

- Space, Time & Matter (the Cosmos); the galaxies; stars; solar systems; planets; moons etc.

- The Periodic Table of the Elements;

- The Electromagnetic Spectrum;

- Acoustics;

- Universal Gravitation;

- The Weak & Strong Nuclear forces; and

-  Life on Earth etc.

3. The debate. When hardpressed to provide answers for how the Universe, according to 'Evolutionary Theory', could have emerged spontaneously by sheer random accident without a Creator or any specific cause or purpose (e.g. what or who caused 'Evolution'?) some atheists often may challenge the idea of ‘Cause & Effect’ and object by saying that ‘Evolution’ probably has happened spontaneously by random accident without a ‘cause’. 

   This is, however, disingenuous as they themselves often invoke ‘causes’ to explain Evolutionism, e.g. (i) 'Evolution' caused a 'singularity'; (ii) a ‘singularity’ (i.e. ‘nothing’) exploded to cause the ‘Big Bang’; (iii) the ‘Big Bang’ caused the Cosmos and (iv) blind, brainless 'Evolution-driven' ‘Natural Election' caused biological life and for species to proliferate on earth etc. ad infinitum from some spurious primordial soup of chemicals harassed by lightning. Some more (off-the-cuff) questions to evolutionists:

- Who or what caused 'Evolution'? (for instance, did 'Evolution' cause the 'singularity' or did the 'singularity' cause Evolution)?

- Who or what caused the 'primordial soup of chemicals'? 

- Who or what caused the 'lightning'?

- Where can skeptics go to see the 'Geologic Column' displayed in nature exactly as depicted in evolutionists' encyclopaedias, textbooks and on wall-charts? Does it even exist outside theoretical constructs developed in textbooks and scientific journals?

- Where can skeptics see examples of 'transitional ('transmediary') fossils' representing the thousands of evolutionary stages between early hominids and modern man, e.g. the thousands of stages between Mrs. Ples (Cradle of Humankind, South Africa) and modern man?

- How can evolutionary scientists have the courage to say that a scientifically unverifiable 'millions of years' (sic) old fossil represent observable and measureable empirical evidence based on protocols that allegedly have followed the scientific method?

- How can evolutionary scientists have the courage to say that a photo of a scientifically unverifiable galaxy and images of a cosmos of '13.8 billion years' (sic)  old represent observable and measureable empirical evidence based on protocols that allegedly have followed the scientific method?

4. The Mother of all questions. Having illustrated above that even evolutionists have conceded the validity of 'cause & effect' in nature, why have evolutionary scientists thus far, in their cavalier dismissal of the Genesis Creation Record,  failed to provide answers for the questions below ... questions that really matter:

4.1 Where do we (mankind) come from?

4.2 Why are we here?

4.3 Where are we going?

4.4 How do evolutionists/atheists decide between (morally) right and wrong?

4.5 Is there hope for mankind and planet earth?

4.6. Is there life after death?

4.7 Why would a group of people (e.g. atheists, evolutuonists, secular humanists etc.) preach, teach and spend valuable time, labour and money on a cause that has no hope to succeed given the fact that (i) there, according to them, is no life after death (no Hereafter) and (ii) the hard fact of a 100% mortality rate for every generation of mankind?

4.8 If the Cosmos is really 13.8 billion years old; the earth is 4.54 billion years old and life on earth only a few million year old, why can't 'Evolution' get it right? Why can't 'Evolution', after all these billions and millions of years of 'progressive evolution' (sic), not offer mankind something better and more hopeful than a 100% mortality rate for every generation?

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Atheism's Catch-22

1. Introduction. This article will address the four 'Catch-22' factors plus advice on how to escape Catch-22:

- the AGE factor

- the HELPLESSNESS factor

- the FOOLISHNESS factor

- the PRIDE factor

- ESCAPING Catch-22.

1.1 The AGE factor.  Age is a critical factor to consider. For instance, as time goes by, the older an unrepentant person becomes and the longer he/she waits to repent and make his/her peace with God, the (i) more sin he/she has accumulated to repent from and (ii) the less time he has left to do it in. So, as time goes by, this person is daily compounding his/her problem further until (i.e. if he/she never repents and/or makes his/her peace with God) he/she has waited too long and now, having accumulated such an oppressing number of crimes and/or sins for so long, he/she eventually has no more time (nor the will) left to repent in to make his/her peace with God. The Bible warns:

   ”Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” [Ecclesiastes 12:1].

1.2 The HELPLESSNESS factor.  The older a person becomes and the weaker or more feeble he/she grows because of old age (or illness) the less he/she is able to reach out for help in his/her own strength, or, the less he/she is able to lift himself/herself up by his/her own bootstraps from the morass of accumulated crimes and sins or lifelong bad and dysfunctional habits and practices (e.g. atheism or agnosticism etc.) he/she finds himself/herself bogged down in. The weaker he/she is, the more he/she stands in need of the Saviour (Jesus Christ) to save him/her and salvage his/her life; yet, at the same time, the weaker he/she had become  and less able (or willing) to ask Jesus to help him/her. The Bible warns: 

   "Call on Me in the day of trouble; and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me. [Psalm 50:15].

1.3 The FOOLISHNESS factor.   If a person never reads the Bible and refuses to believe in and repent to GOD, he/she is (according to the Bible) foolish, for the simple reason that he/she will have no wisdom, because he/she does not fear GOD.

(Fear of God > Knowledge > Wisdom). 

   In other words, the more foolish he/she is, the less he/she will fear GOD and the less he/she fears God the less wisdom he/she will have; in other words ... the more he/she needs GOD yet the less he/she will be inclined or capable of asking for His help. The Bible warns: 

   ”The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”  [Psalm 111:10a].

   "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." [Proverbs1:7]. 

1.4 The PRIDE factor. The door out of the prison-cell and 'Catch-22' of Atheism is locked from the inside by the key of pride; the atheist can leave it any time he/she wants to but ‘wanting to’ would demand from him/her to renounce atheism, a public embarrassment of which the thought probably is too ghastly for him/her to contemplate. The Bible teaches:

   "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." [Proverbs16:18].

2.2 Escaping Catch-22. "For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." [Isaiah66:2]. 

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Capitalism vs. Socialism

1. Socialism. The problem with socialism is its historical legacy of inefficiency and the production constraints (resulting in chronic shortages and long queues in shops) driven by a dysfunctional, centralised command-control economic system of government.

   The nuclear fall-out of this system is the phenomenon where people, especially those comrade  bureaucrats in government, are all jostling for position in the state machinery from where they somehow can concoct the best deal for themselves with the paltry pickings available, either in cash or benefits of some kind. As socialism is not necessarily a system conducive to spectacular wealth production, too many people are chasing too few resources, opportunities, advantages and benefits available, which in turn creates exploitation and corruption on a grand scale in a state where unemployment, economic destitution, poverty and privation run rife.

2. Capitalism. The problem with capitalism is that, for the very reason that it is a wealth-producing economic system par excellence, in such a system there usually is a lot of money and wealth to go around and, as socialist countries do not have a monopoly on sin, crime and corrupt people, the criminal and corrupt element in capitalist systems will rear its foul head (in the same way it does in socialist countries) to take advantage of the system in which benefits and proceeds from collusion, bribery, crony deployment, fraud & corruption are inordinately lucrative and more rewarding than anywhere else. They steal so much because there's a lot to steal. 

3. God's Economic system-of-choice. The Biblical record shows that God’s economic system-of-choice for man-kind is a free-market system (capitalism) where all of those Judeo-Christian values such as industriousness, hard work, diligence in business, private property-ownership* (everyman to his own ‘fig tree’ and ‘thou shalt not covet another man’s house, wife or ox’ etc.) can prevail freely.

*See the 'Ten Commandments': (i) Exodus20 or (ii) Deuteronomy 5.  

4.. There's a New World Coming.    Sadly, due to the fact that we live in a broken Universe and a fallen society and, although the capitalist, freemarket system is the better option by far to encourage innovation, entrepreneurship, jobs and economic prosperity, neither of these two systems are currently ideal. I think it was Winston Churchill who has said that capitalism is the unequal distribution of wealth while socialism is the equal distribution of misery ... history has shown this to be true. When Jesus Christ returns, however, He is going to rule the nations in perfect justice of a different kind i.e. with a ‘sharp sword’ and a  ‘rod of iron’ [Revelation 19:15].

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Build Your House On The Rock Of Ages

1. The Unverifiability of Classic (Atheistic) Darwinism. In order to affirm Classic (Atheistic) Darwinism  and verify its wild claims (theories, opinions) about the history and origins of the Cosmos and also the evolutionists’ claims about the origins and age of the earth, skeptics will have to travel ‘billions of years’ into the past to verify ‘cosmic’ or ‘stellar evolution’.  Likewise, to affirm the evolutionists’ claims about the ‘anthropological & biological’ origins and age of mankind, skeptics will have to travel ‘millions of years’ into the past to verify the veracity of theories founded on palaeontological excavations and fossils. How this unverifiabilty can be accepted as 'irrefutable observable & measureable empirical evidence founded on the scientific method' boggles the mind.

2. The Unverifiability of Darwinian Creationism (Creative Theistic Evolution).  This hybrid worldview of a cross between the Genesis Creation Record and Classic (Atheistic) Darwinism  proves to be even more unverifiable for the same reasons as mentioned before  … and more. For instance:

► Should Classic (Atheistic) Darwinism be found to have been false (invalid) then Darwinian Creationism (Creative Evolution) will fall off the bus because Darwinian Creationism (Creative Evolution) needs ‘Evolution’ in the equation to survive as a viable theory.

► Should Classic (Atheistic) Darwinism be found to have been true (valid) then Darwinian Creationism will again fall off the bus because Darwinian Creationism (Creative Evolution) needs a ‘Creator’ in its equation to survive as a viable theory.

3. The Evolution ‘Catch-22’.  Ideas and theories about ‘Evolution’ have proliferated but we can safely deduce that they finally have bifurcated into the two dominant worldviews of Classic Atheistic Darwinism and Darwinian Creationism (Creative Theistic Evolutionism).  So, although these two worldviews are trying to perambulate over the convoluted landscape of troubled and perplexed academia as bedpartners in search of the same ‘missing link’, they are actually mortal enemies, since:

► these two worldviews are mutually exclusive and cannot both be right (true/valid) at the same time.

► In terms of the ‘no honour among thieves’ principle Darwinian Creationism falls off the bus everytime anyway whether Classic (Atheistic) Darwinism would be found to have been either valid (true) or invalid (false).

   Jesus Christ has said:  “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” [Matthew7:24-25].

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Biblical (Young Earth) Creationism vs. Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationism

1. Revisiting Classical (Atheistic) Darwinism. When reading literature on Classical Darwinism one would soon discover that Classical Darwinism leans predominantly toward Atheism as a worldview (or ‘religion’) of choice, hence the term Classical (Atheistic) Darwinism for the remainder of this article.

2. The Two Major Pillars Of Classical (Atheistic) Darwinism. These are:

2.1 There was (and still is) no God, Supreme Being or Intelligent Designer in existence involved with the creation and the managing and maintenance of the Universe.

2.2 The Universe came into existence (cosmically/geologically/biologically) by the random accident of (brainless, mindless) 'Darwinian ‘Evolution’ without any particular purpose and without the help of a supernatural Creator/Intelligent Designer.

3. Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationism. This worldview, i.e. Creative Evolution or Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationism attempts to fuse Classical (Atheistic) Darwinism and the Genesis Creation Account into a single worldview that will, intellectually and spiritually, hopefully satisfy those people who believe in some kind of ‘Evolution’ and a ‘Creator’ of some kind.

4. Biblical (Young Earth) Creationism. Biblical (Young Earth) Creationism believes that it would be theologically untenable (and absurd) to believe that God (the Creator) would be Omnipotent (Almighty) enough to create a Universe in ‘13.8 billion years’ but not Omnipotent (Almighty) enough to do it in six ordinary days of 24 hours each (about 6000 years ago). What alien brand of 'omnipotence' is that?

   Biblical (Young Earth) Creationists are, for instance, willing to (in principle) concede that God could have made the Universe in 13.8 billion years for the simple reason that nothing is impossible with God. They insist, however, say that although it may have been possible, it was, considering Biblical testimony and the Genesis Creation Account, improbable since it would not have been necessary for an omnipotent God.

   The problem is that the Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationists are not preprepared to make that concession to Biblical (Young Earth) Creationists  by for instance conceding that God must obviously have been omnipotent enough to could have created the Universe in six ordinary weekdays of 24 hours each (even if He hadn't).

5. The Paradox. So here we now arrive at a theological-philosophical paradox where: 

- The Biblical (Young Earth) Creationists are ascribing to God ('first class') absolute omnipotence;

- The Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationists are ascribing to God only ('second class') relative (curtailed by His own physics) omnipotence.

- The Bible is ascribing Absolute ('first class') Omnipotence to the God of the Bible.

6. The Omnipotence Quiz. Decide on your worldview about the omnipotence of God below by answering the question: "How Omnipotent (Almighty) Do You Believe Is God Really?"

"In my opinion, the God of the Bible (the YHWH of Moses and Mt. Sinai and the Ten Commandments) is:

- Absolutely Omnipotent!

- Relatively Omnipotent!

- Very Omnipotent!

- Just a little Omnipotent!

- Not Omnipotent at all!"

7. Rationale for Biblical (Young Earth) Creationism’s rejection of Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationism by referring back to the 'Master Template' of the atheists, i.e. Classical (Atheistic) Darwinism.

 

7.1. Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationism cannot be possible where Classical (Atheistic) Darwinism were found to be CORRECT (VALID) because Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationism needs God in its equation to survive as a viable theory.

P.S. In Classical (Atheistic) Darwinism there is no God.

7.2 Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationism can also not be possible where Classical (Atheistic) Darwinism were found to be INCORRECT (INVALID) because Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationism needs Evolution in its equation to survive as a viable theory.

P.S. Were Classical (Atheistic) Darwinianism found to be INCORRECT/INVALID there would be no such thing as 'Evolution'.

8. The problem of the superficial 'Two Opposite Worldviews' dichotomy. Just in case of objections ... the superficial Classical (Atheistic) Darwinism versus Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationism 'dichotomy' illustrated in paragraph 7 was first superficially created by the evolutionists (evolution-minded atheists & theists) and not by this author; therefore this author reserves the right to use the superficial dichotomy to point out the error of the Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationists, another hybrid dichotomy (Darwinian [Old Earth] Creationism versus Biblical [Young Earth] Creationism) that wouldn't have happened had Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationists simply been willing to accept the spiritual integrity of the Bible (and especially the miracles of the Bible and the bona fides and integrity of Jesus Christ) on face value.

9. Summary. As far as the atheist-evolutionists are concerned they must feel free to believe what they like ... it's a free country. There 'religion-of-choice', it would appear, is Classical (Atheistic) Darwinism and it probably will remain that way until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ unless they repent and believe the Gospel; for, in the atheist-evolutionist's bizarre world (i) everything 'evolves' except evolutionists and (ii) there is no such thing as 'Absolute truth' except the absolute truth of atheism.

   Be that as it may, it is my submission that Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationism:  

- makes a mockery of Classical (Atheistic) Darwinism, as both these two opposite and mutually exclusive wordviews, i.e. Classical (Atheistic) Darwinism and Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationism  cannot both be right (valid) at the same time;

- makes a mockery of Biblical (Young Earth) Creationism, as both these two opposite and mutually exclusive worldviews, i.e. Darwinian (Old Earth) Creationism and Biblical (Young Earth) Creationism cannot both be right (valid) at the same time;

- makes a mockery of the Old Testament miracles and Biblical timeline i.r.o. the Genesis Creation Account and the testimony of Cultural and Biblical History well-attested by Biblical Archaeology;  

- makes a mockery of the miracles of Jesus Christ who never needed 'millions of years' to change water into wine, multiply a few loaves and fishes to feed thousands, learn to walk on water, raise Lazarus (and others) from the dead and rise form the dead Himself;

- makes a mockery of the Genesis Creation Account that affirmed Adam as the first man ever (since before Adam there was yet 'no man to till the ground');

- makes a mockery of the bona fides, testimony and integrity of Jesus Christ who personally attested to the authenticity and veracity of the Genesis Creation Account by affirming the existence of Adam and Eve; Noah, the Ark of Noah and the Flood of Noah; 

- makes a mockery of the Old Testament (outside the Book of Genesis) that affirms the existence of Adam and Noah and Noah's Flood; 

- makes a mockery of the New Testament Epistles that affirm the existence of the first man Adam and the first woman, Eve;

- makes a  mockery of God's assumed omnipotence by ascribing to Him a kind of omnipotence that is somehow subservient to His own created Laws of Physics;

- makes a mockery of the doctrine of the New Heaven and New Earth as described in Revelation 21;

P.S.  If it had taken 13.8 billion years to make this present Universe and 4.54 billion years this present Solar System (and Planet Earth), must we surmise that Christians are going to wait billions and millions of years for the New Heaven and New Earth to arrive too?     

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BIBLE: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth

1. The Bible (Christianity). According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica parts of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) were written as early as the 10^th century B.C. with ‘final redaction and canonisation’ during the 6^th and 5^th centuries B.C.  The New Testament was written during the 1^st and 2^nd centuries A.D. This makes the Christian Bible approximately 3000 years (Old Testament) to 2000 years (New Testament) old. 

2. New Testament Attestation.  Writes dr. F.F. Bruce, the late  Ryland’s Professor  of Biblical Criticism & Exegesis at the University of Manchester:

   “There is no body of ancient literature in the world which enjoys such a wealth of good textual attestation as the New Testament … ”The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical writers, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.” [The John Ankerberg Show].

3. Comparing Science & Atheism. At first glance it is obvious that scientists (atheists &  some theists alike) will invariably ascribe ‘millions & billions of years’ to the age of the Cosmos or e.g. the age of species (biological) on earth. For instance are the ages of galaxies like Andromeda and the Sombrero given as 10 billion years and 10-13 billion years respectively. Similarly is the oldest (emergence of) life forms on earth given as 4.41 billion yrs.

4. The Bitter Irony.  So here we have a situation where scientists, i.e. a group who are strict  sticklers to the ‘scientific method’ and ‘empiricism’, are studying heavenly bodies (astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology etc.) ‘billions of years’ old and often ‘million & billions’ of light-years away making not only them but also the very information (unverifiable, by the way) received at such distances ancient and probably obsolete. At the same time palaeontologists & geologists will study and draw conclusions from fossils and rock-formations allegedly ‘million of years’ old (also unverifiable) and expect us to believe everything they say.

   Considering the fact that they build their theories and hypotheses on observations about the Cosmos (Cosmology) described by themselves as 'billions and millions of years old' and fossils (palaeontology) 'millions of years' old (and with all this 'evidence' unverifiable in every instance) they still have the audacity to label the Bible, a record that is only a few thousand years old, as too ancient to rely on and therefore obsolete. 

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