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Category: Christianity

The Age of the Earth

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If you look up Earth’s History in your encyclopedia, you will read that the planet you’re standing on is more than 4,500,000,000 years old (that’s four and a half billion, if you don’t care to count the zeros). However, if you think about it, you can’t believe that date if you believe that the Bible is true, because God’s Word sets the date at about 6,000 years ago. If you count up the ages of the different people in the genealogies and do the math, that’s what you’ll come up with. 4,000 years from creation until Christ, and 2,000 years after that brings you to the present date. Here are a few things that show which number is correct:

    • Niagara Falls, before water-diversion projects in the 1950’s, eroded, and was pushed 3 feet upstream every year. If the earth is actually 4陆 billion years old, the falls’ original location would have been 13陆 billion feet upstream. However, this is not possible, considering that the earth is only 132 million feet in circumference!
    • As the Mississippi River flows into the Gulf of M茅xico, it dumps 300,000,000 cubic yards of sediment into the gulf. If the earth is really 4.5 billion years old, the Gulf of M茅xico would have been filled up long ago!

      There are many other examples, and you can learn more about the age of the earth by downloading this PDF file from Apologetics Press.

      The Lost Book of the Law

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      In Second Chronicles chapter thirty-four, we read about Josiah, who became king of Judah when he was eight years old. We read that “he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah,” and “in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father.” He “began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images.” He destroyed idols and places of worship to false gods.

      In the eighteenth year of his reign, Josiah had the temple repaired. Second Chronicles 34:14-33 says:

      And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of Jehovah, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Jehovah given by Moses. And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah. Read More

      Design in Creation

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      As you look at a very intricately designed computer, does it ever occur to you that through millions of years, simple electric circuits evolved into flashlights, and those simple flashlights over billions of years evolved into simple calculators, and those in turn changed and eventually over billions of years’ time evolved into the computer you see today? Sound ridiculous? Read the next story!

      As you look at the intricately designed people who are equipped with intelligence like no animal, does it ever occur to you that through millions of years, simple one-cell creatures evolved into fish, and those fish over billions of years evolved into reptiles, and those in turn changed and eventually over billions of years’ time evolved into the people you see today?

      These stories are equally ridiculous. Who ever heard of a flashlight turning into a calculator, or a fish turning into a reptile? Read More

      A Latin book about Greek hymns

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      In a recent project of mine I have been researching early Christian hymns in Greek, and from the book Early Christians Speak by Everett Ferguson, I was referred to an old volume Anthologia Graeca Carminum Christianorum, written by W. Christ and M. Paranikas. The title looked promising (Anthology of Greek Christian Songs for those who aren鈥檛 familiar with Lingua Latina), and I knew if it was written in Latin, it must be old.

      So where does Benjamin go to find old and obscure books in foreign languages? Straight to the Interlibrary Loan page at the library website! I was surprised to find that quite a few libraries owned it, and I hoped to have better luck than the last time when I asked for an Italian book about Greek verbs (or that course for learning Huastec Nahuatl written in Spanish). I was overjoyed when the UT library agreed to send the book, and the other day I picked it up at the library.

      It was all I had imagined. An old book, published in MDCCCLXXI (I鈥檒l let you translate the date, you probably need practice with Roman numerals anyway), and entirely in Latin鈥攅xcept for the great number of Greek hymns from the Byzantine and pre-Byzantine time periods. There is also an unexplicable group of German hymns in the middle of the book, and I haven鈥檛 yet figured out how they fit in. Read More

      Lost and Found Opportunities

      Mashkioya 1 Comment

      In First Samuel chapter nine, you will read about Saul, who was to become the first king of Israel. Starting at verse three we read,

      And the asses of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses. And he passed through the hill-country of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they found them not: then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and there they were not: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not. When they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come, and let us return, lest my father leave off caring for the asses, and be anxious for us. And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is a man that is held in honor; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can tell us concerning our journey whereon we go. Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we?
      (1 Samuel 9:3-7)

      In the end, Saul and his servant met the prophet Samuel in the city as he was going up to the high place. The Lord had already told Samuel that Saul was coming, and then He revealed to Samuel that Saul was the one. Read More