Review: In the Beginning

An important book, In the Beginning: Listening to Genesis 1 and 2 (2021, Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 371 pages) has just been published by Dr. Cornelis van Dam, emeritus professor of Old Testament at Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Ontario.

Why is There Something?

Why is there something? There could have been nothing - no physical objects or laws, no conscious beings, no thoughts, no universe at all. So, why is there something, rather than nothing? 

How big tech became big brother

 A relevant video by David Wood (found on the Triablogue site), raising concerns that big tech (Youtube, Google, Twitter, Amazon, etc.), like mainstream media, is increasingly censoring Christian views while promoting leftist ideology.

Useful Sites

Here are some sites that I find useful and check regularly. Please inform me of any dead links, or sites that should be added.

Finding Adam

The Dutch scholar Dr. Willem J. Ouweneel defends the traditional Biblical Adam, against attempts to combine Adam with human evolution, in his recent book Adam, Where Are You? —And Why This Matters: A Theological Evaluation of the Evolutionist Hermeneutic (Jordan Station, Canada: Paideia Press, 2018, 480 pages).

Hijacking John Calvin – More Pro Rege Polemics

A few months ago, in my post Pro Rege Polemics, I discussed a dispute about science and the Bible in Pro Rege, a Dordt University publication. Since then two more contributions continue the debate.

Seeing Through Smoke

Here is a new book very relevant to recent events: Seeing Through Smoke: Living the Truth in an Age of Deception (2020), by Dr Jon Garvey. This book (pdf) can be downloaded free.

Some thoughts on Dr Packer

James Innell Packer recently died on July 17, 2020, at age 93. He was one of the most influential theologians of the last century, perhaps best known for his two earliest books, Fundamentalism and the Word of God (1958) and Knowing God (1973). He was also general editor of the English Standard Version of the Bible.

How Should Christians View Origins?

We have just revised our booklet How Should Christians View Origins? and converted it into an e-book. Available for free. 

Review: Understanding Scientific Theories of Origins

The Creation Without Compromise site has just published an extensive review by Dr. Wes Bredenhof of the theistic evolutionist book Understanding Scientific Theories of Origins: Cosmology, Geology, and Biology in Christian Perspective (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2018.  Hardcover, 659 pages).

Should Christians Support "Black Lives Matter"?

Recently there have been many mass demonstrations against alleged police racism and violence against blacks. Much of this is organized by the Black Lives Matter movement. Many Christians naively support BLM, being unaware of its unchristian nature, and of the pertinent facts concerning blacks and violence. Here are some useful links providing important information, and analysis of the underlying problems.

Should We Still Cast Lots?

Some Reformed churches sometimes use the lot to help in the election of office-bearers.

Did Solomon Write Ecclesiastes?

Some time ago, when our church’s Men's Society studied Ecclesiastes, there was considerable debate as to who wrote it. Traditionally, it seemed clear that the author was Solomon. Yet the study guide used [Rev. M.J.C. Blok, “
Ecclesiastes: The Advent Congregation, The Study, 2007] asserts that “all commentators agree that Solomon could not have written this book.”

Pro Rege Polemics

The last few issues of Pro Rege contain an interesting debate regarding the relative authority of Scripture versus science. Should science cause us to modify our reading of Scripture? Or should we base our science on the plain sense of Scripture?

Theological Cost of Evolution

Here is a good review in the latest issue of Themelios by Hans Madueme on a recent attempt to reconcile evolution with Christian theology.

Why Believe Christianity?

How can we convince an unbeliever that he should believe Christianity? An excellent book on that topic is "Why Should I Believe Christianity?" (2016, Christian Focus Publications; Fearn, Scotland, 230 pages) by Dr. James N. Anderson, who specializes in philosophical theology and apologetics at Reformed Theological Seminary.

Light-speed, Convention, and Creation

In recent years the Anisotropic Synchrony Convention cosmology of Dr. Jason Lisle has become more popular among creationists. At the 2018 International Conference on Creationism T.G. Tenev, J. Baumgardner, and M.F. Horstemeyer presented a model that was very similar. Dr. John Hartnett seems to have abandoned has own earlier Carmeli-based cosmology, and has posted a number of articles promoting the ASC as the current best solution to the distant-starlight problem (i.e., how we can see distant stars if they were created recently).

How feasible is the ASC model?

Rapidly Matured Creation

If the universe is young, how can we see light from galaxies billions of lights away? A simple solution is that of Rapidly Matured Creation. This was discussed, in passing, in my previous posts Is Mature Creation Deceptive? and Cosmology at Creationist Convention. For convenience, that material is summarized here in a separate post.

Why (so much) Evil?

A major challenge to Christianity is the so-called Problem of Evil: A perfectly good God would want to prevent evil, and a perfectly powerful God could prevent evil; why then is there so much evil in the world?

Reformed faith in Bolivia

Last month (actually Oct.29- Nov.2) I taught a course, "Science and Christianity", at the Seminario Reformada Latinoamericano, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, for ITEM (International Theological Education Ministries).