In recent days I have seen a circle drawn around the category of persecution that minimizes what some folk are going through. You’ll find that someone looks at Fox Book of Martyrs and defines “real” persecution as the things that those people had experienced. You don’t have to run too far down the Internet—do a search for “real persecution” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
I recently watched a debate, aired from the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum in Kentucky, between Ken Ham (degreed in Applied Science with an emphasis in Environmental Biology) and Bill Nye (degreed as a Mechanical Engineer and pupil of Carl Sagan). The topic for the debate was “Is Creation a viable model of origins in today’s modern scientific era?” This is important.
To make his case, Bill Nye would have to show that creationism is not a viable model at all; Ken Ham would have to show that creationism is just as viable as any model because the scientist is working in God’s world.
Mind you, right off the bat, I’m surprised that Bill Nye would agree to this topic. Any debater would simply have to show that there was no inconsistency between science and any creationist religion to win the debate.
Indeed, Bill Nye, during the Q and A session, admits that there is absolutely no inconsistency between modern science and the belief in a creator God. He does make claims about how you don’t need God for the process of evolution (calling it a process that leads to complexity from the bottom up instead of a process that leads to complexity from the top-down) but he admits no inconsistency.
On that ground, Nye would have lost the debate.
Unfortunately, from the start, the debate had nothing to do with the debate topic. Indeed, the topic strayed so far that proponents (on either side) would clamor that their position won.
Theology is the study of God. By definition, we expand it to a package of beliefs.
This means you can get your package of beliefs from different places. Studying the stars, looking at how people act with each other, the metal rock that fell out of the sky, or the situation you’re.
Sort of like the Biblical authors but much different.
Have you wondered why the King James Version uses words that aren’t in any other version? Or why some verses you read make no sense (like James 2:3)?
Have you ever heard “The Holy Spirit has preserved the Word of God so as to give us this Authorized Version”? Or have you heard that others have come along and introduced the doctrines of men into the newer versions? Sometimes even saying that it’s theological bias?
In this post, I want to give an answer for you folk who are wondering: (1) Is there anything wrong with other Bible versions and (2) Is there anything wrong with the King James Version?
Every now and then I like posting something incisive that was written in the past because it speaks so well into the present. The sweet thing about this is that these guys, who are often waved away today, have dealt with a lot of the same issues while remaining simultaneously (by the modern mind) ignored. This one comes from Samuel Shin in 2005.