Apologetics

Set in Stone?

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Normally, I don’t touch on a lot of science here, but this recent paleological find is too important to ignore.

Archaeopteryx fossilJust this week, paleontologists (i.e.—”dinosaur scientists”) have announced the finding of soft tissue in the fossilized remains of a T. Rex dated at 70 million years old. This extraordinary discovery may actually slam closed the issue of whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded or not. In a Jurassic Park-like side note, there may actually be genetic material that can be analyzed in the tissue.

But what is important about this—at least to young Earth creationists—is the fact that this find violates common theories used by Darwinists to explain fossilization. Not only that, but it calls into question how soft tissue can survive for 7o million years. Perhaps it’s not truly millions of years old.

The sad part is that this is not being noted. It’s the dirty little secret that the Darwinists don’t want to entertain, even if it is staring them in the face.

So let’s let time reveal how this discovery plays out. It could be fascinating for Bible-believing Christians who ascribe to young Earth creation models.

{Image: Archaeopteryx fossil, possibly the most famous in the world}

A Question for Paedobaptists…

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Been reading some outstanding blogs that have tackled the issue of paedobaptism (the baptism of infants and toddlers) and find much of what they say to be worth considering.

Suffer the Little ChildrenBut one thing bothers me. As someone who has been a part of both churches that practice paedobaptism and churches that abhor it, I have always had a question for paedobaptists that none has ever been willing to answer: If you baptize infants and toddlers, why do you not allow them communion?

That seems like an oxymoron to me. To deny communion to baptized members of the Body of Christ flies in the face of the Lord’s admonishments to us concerning communion (when seen through the same logic used in support of paedobaptism.) If we want the little children to come to Jesus through baptism, why would we not let them come to him through communion?

I say this because the paedobaptist churches I was a part of refused young baptized children communion until they had completed some sort of catechism or were considered to be of the age of accountability. But if we are not willing to allow young children to commune with their households (and have the biblical injunctions to make a case for not doing so), then how can we make the case for paedobaptism using household analogies?

I really want to hear a good justification for this odd dichotomy in belief. So please comment!

{Image: Detail of Henry Holiday’s “Suffer the Little Children”}

The Message of Salvation in a Nutshell

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Frederick Hart's 'Ex Nihilo Fragment Five'A few days ago, I posted The Christian Walk in a Nutshell. Well, after someone in another forum asked to sum up the message of salvation, I decided to answer with as terse a layout of that message as I could—right from the Bible. I hope all who visit this blog will find this very simple (and easily memorized) collection of passages to be helpful in sharing with others:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God….
—Romans 3:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
—Romans 6:23

This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
—Revelation 20:14b-15

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
—Romans 5:8

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
—John 3:16-18

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
—John 14:6

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
—Acts 2:38

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
—2 Corinthians 5:17

And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
—1 John 5:11-13

{All passages taken from the English Standard Version of the Bible.
Photo: Frederick Hart‘s “Ex Nihilo, Fragment Five”}