Observations on life; particularly spiritual

Posts tagged “bible

Dealing with problems in the church at Corinth

Ruins of the Temple to Apollo in CorinthImagine a high-performance sports team. They’ve got incredible talent—star players with amazing skills, speed, strength, and strategy. But when they hit the field, something’s terribly wrong. The players are arguing over who gets the spotlight, fighting about playing styles, some are living reckless lives off the field that’s dragging the whole team down, and others are showing up in mismatched uniforms, ignoring the coach’s playbook entirely. They’re talented, but they’re fractured—divided, dysfunctional, and far from winning. That’s a picture of the problems in the church in Corinth. (more…)


Genesis: the real history of the universe

The geologic time scaleToday we hear a very different history of the universe to what the Bible teaches. This is called cosmic evolution – everything made itself. There was nothing and it exploded and here we all are! But it had no cause – God didn’t do it. It just happened. They believe in magic rather than miracles. Christians believe in miracles, but I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist because they believe in magic, not miracles. Miracles require a miracle worker, and they have no miracle worker. So, they have nothing becoming everything with no cause whatsoever! Has anybody seen nothing do anything? Nothing does nothing! But this is what they have to believe if they don’t want to believe in God. Atheism is rife in Australia. And the basis of it is the idea of biological evolution. Richard Dawkins said that evolution enabled him to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist. So evolution is the creation myth of the atheist. (more…)


Christianity survived persecution in Rome

The Colosseum in Rome where some Christians were martyredThe city of Rome formed at the best place where the River Tiber could be forded between the Tyrrhenian Sea and a very distant locality upstream. This was at the island of Isola Tiberina.

Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire. Romans practiced polytheism and worshipped the emperor. Because Christians, believed in one God and refused to worship Roman gods or the emperor, they were viewed as subversive and even treasonous. (more…)


Four lessons from the life of Joseph

Joseph forgives his brothersI spent last week at a holiday camp for children aged 8-12 years. During this time the children learnt about four lessons from the life of Joseph, who lived about 3,700 years ago (~1680 BC). They also learnt some verses from the Bible (see Appendix). (more…)


Rescued by a substitute

Rugby League concussionSports like football and cricket have concussion substitutes. A player is replaced after they suffer concussion. Did you know that there are substitutes in the Bible? (more…)


Is the Torah fact or fiction?

“The Finding of Moses” by Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema, 1904Were the ancient Israelites ever really slaves in Egypt? Did the Exodus really happen? Was the Torah (see Appendix) written by Moses in the mid second millennium BC, or by Jews about 1,000 years later? Is it fact or fiction?

In this post, the content of the Torah is examined to see how it matches with the existing archaeological record to help throw light on its origin. When was the Torah written? (more…)


Ten cases of theophany in the Bible

God appeared to Moses in flames of fire from within a burning bushThe word theophany is a combination of two Greek words, meaning “God” and “appearance”. A theophany is an appearance of God. More precisely, it is a visible display to human beings that expresses the presence and character of God. (more…)


Why the Bible can be trusted

Clickbait for fake prizesSometimes I get phishing messages from myGov, Centrelink, the tax office, banks, tech support and internet providers. And I see clickbait for investment frauds, fake prizes, fake jobs, shopping scams, romance scams, ticket scams and inheritance scams. And photos and videos can be generated by AI. Did you know that not everything online is true? (more…)


Climate change and the Bible

There are good scientific reasons to reject the alarmist claims that a climate catastrophe will happen unless we do something immediatelyThis article comes from Dr Jason Lisle, an astrophysicist of the Biblical Science Institute.

Is climate change real? If so, what is the cause? Is it caused by human activity? And can it be reversed? If so, should it be reversed? Many people have never stopped to consider these questions because they think they already know the answers to all of them. After all, we have been told that climate change is real, dangerous, caused by human activity, and that we should fight it by reducing our carbon footprint. But does science bear out such claims? Most importantly, what does the Bible teach on this topic? (more…)


A thanksgiving prayer

Let’s thank God for everything (Eph. 5:20)A prayer at the end of a thanksgiving service for an aged care provider.

As next Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the USA, today has been day of thanksgiving for us. So let’s continue to honor God and thank Him for the work done through our organization over the past year. (more…)


The pinnacle of existence

Bart Erman is a Bible criticBart Erman is a New Testament scholar and an atheist critic of the Bible. During meditation he got this thought: “A rock has no way of recognizing that a dandelion exists. A dandelion has no way of recognizing that a panther exists. … A panther has no way of recognizing that a superior intelligence exists …  who can engineer skyscrapers, or split atoms, or reconstruct the history of Rome…

“The fact is that the lower levels of existence can never know about the higher ones, what they really are, what they are capable of, how they exist, what they do, and so on. They can’t even conceptualize their existence. (more…)


Justice questions

Protest for justiceLife is marked by events of suffering, both great and small. At present there is great suffering due to wars in Gaza, Sudan and the Ukraine. Some of these events are the products of a natural disaster impacting entire communities with grief and loss. Others are the fruit of human evil that has a profound effect on the world. Still others are private, affecting a person of a family. In all these cases people struggle to understand why it happens. And they question God’s goodness or His justice. (more…)


Prophecies about Jesus: He would be betrayed

Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus ChristIn February 2024, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation revealed that a former politician was cultivated by foreign spies. The person had agreed to share knowledge from inside Parliament in exchange for payment. The implication was that they may have betrayed their country. (more…)


Evidence for the God of Christianity

"The heavens proclaim the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1)According to a 2023 survey, about half of Americans believe in God, the lowest number in history. And globally (omitting China and Russia), an average of 40% say they believe in God “as described in holy scriptures”. (more…)


The theological motivation of science

Werner HeisenbergThis post comes from Dr Jay Wilde.

The German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg (December 5, 1901 – February 1, 1976), was a pioneer of quantum physics. He developed his own formulation of quantum mechanics, for which he won the 1932 Nobel Prize in physics. He later developed his famous Uncertainty Principle, which continues to guide physicists in their understanding of the behavior of atoms and subatomic particles. (more…)


The significance of places in the Bible

This is the index to a series of blog posts on places in the Bible. They are listed as places in Israel followed by places outside Israel.

PLACES INSIDE ISRAEL

Birth place of Jesus in BethlehemBethlehem, God’s solution to our crises

At Bethlehem God provided a solution to a family crisis, and a national crisis and a global crisis. What about our personal crisis? (more…)


Science and Christianity

This blogpost comes from Dr Roy SpencerDr Roy Spencer, atmospheric scientist a former NASA scientist.

Why is it that a bible-believing scientists’ views on science are automatically discounted by some people?

Hypocrisy

First, the hypocrisy. When warmist scientists like Sir John Houghton use the Bible to support action to fight global warming (for example, his book Global Warming: The Complete Briefing) that was OK with everyone. Same with Katherine Hayhoe and Thomas Ackerman.

So, I guess it depends upon whether the bible-believer agrees with them before the warmists decide to trash Bible-believing ways. (more…)


Good news in a world of bad news

Bad news gets our attentionThey say that the “proportion of headlines denoting anger, fear, disgust, negativity and sadness” grew markedly in the US between 2000 and 2019. News reports always begin with bad news because humans have a “negativity bias”. We tend to pay more attention to negative experiences than positive ones.

I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is something about us and the good news is something about God. (more…)


Questions and answers about Genesis – Part 2

Questions and answers about Genesis in the BibleThe Bible gives a selective history of the earth from its creation to its demise. Many question this. Did you know that there are answers to your questions? Here’s the answers to some questions that were asked recently.

This post is based on questions and answers after a presentation by Dr Tas Walker of Creation Ministries International (CMI). (more…)


Are you going in circles?

Florence - A tunnel boring machine used in the Snowy 2.0 pumped-storage hydroelectric projectTunnel boring machines (TBMs) are being used to build new roads and new metro rail lines in Sydney (see Appendix). The road is the Western Harbour tunnel from North Sydney to Rozelle. And there are three metro rail projects: from Chatswood under the harbour and the city to Sydenham, from the city to Westmead and from St Marys to the new Western Sydney Airport.

And the Snowy 2.0 pumped-storage hydroelectric project to help Australia’s electricity network is using three TBMs to excavate about 40 km of tunnels. But one of the machines named Florence, got bogged. Florence was meant to drill a tunnel 15 kilometres long but had only travelled about 150 metres before getting stuck in very soft wet ground for 14 months. It had only travelled 1% of the distance!  The machine weighs 2,400 tonnes and measures 143 metres in length and 11 metres (3 stories) in diameter. (more…)


Not for washing brains, only hearts

The Bible: Not for washing brains, only heartsBible basher and brainwashed are two aspersions often cast upon Christians. This is understandable given the sudden change and single mindedness some new Christians display. (more…)


Finding the way to heaven

How can we go to heaven?When we travel, maps and GPS apps guide us to our destination. But how do we find the way to heaven, and how many ways are there?

Understanding heaven
Heaven is where God lives and rules (Appendix A). Jesus taught His followers to pray to “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9NLT). Heaven is a spiritual place which we can’t see. It existed before the physical universe began. (more…)


The way to heaven

How can we know the way to heaven?Most people want to go to heaven. Do we all go there automatically? How can we know the way to heaven? A map or a GPS App can show us many ways to a destination. How many ways are there to heaven? (more…)


The greatest extraterrestrial message

E. T. was a popular science fiction movie released in 1982Astronomers have been searching for messages from extra-terrestrial (ET) beings for many years without success. And E. T. was a popular science fiction movie released in 1982. Meanwhile, two special messages from the greatest ET have been available for thousands of years. (more…)