Bible study - Simon and John the Creationist

Today our subject in the Peth Bible study group led by Simon, our Bible teacher, was the date of the creation of the world.

John the Creationist was a brilliant young student of Physics in the University of Western Australia. He had his much used laptop on the table beside the Bible to get accurate references from the Creation Ministries International website and other reliable sources about his brand of Christianity. Some of us also had our laptops but Lisa stood out with her new Samsung Galaxy tablet computer with the English Bible loaded into it.



Discussion on creation
Simon: "The Gospel of John tells us that Lord Jesus promised that Holy Spirit would come and lead us to all truth. Lisa, please read to us aloud John 16:12-15."

Lisa: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.However when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth; for He shall not speak from Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak; and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are Mine; therefore I said that He shall take of Mine, and shall show it unto you."

(Lisa was using the 21st Century King James Version and not everybody liked her modernity.)

Simon: "This is a wonderful promise. But it does not say that we have all truth in Holy Spirit. Christian, can you tell us what exactly it says?"

Christian: "It says verbatim He will guide you into all truth".

Simon: "There is a big difference between knowing all truth and been guided into all truth."

We all nodded in our minds, there indeed is a difference. I was thinking, how this affects our attitudes towards knowledge and also our behaviour among fellow believers and those who do not believe like we do.

Simon: "John, I have something to say to you."

John: "Teacher, please say!"

Simon: "You err because you do not know the Bible. You know modern natural sciences and are well versed in the Theory of Relativity and understand what is time-space continuum but you do not know the holy Scriptures."

John: "This is a serious accusation, Teacher. Please explain to me what you mean for I do read the Bible every day and remember many verses by heart already since my childhood."

Simon: "In the Scriptures it is written "In the beginning God created heaven and earth". You are curious and want to know when was the Beginning. To find it out you do the following reckoning: God created the world in one week. God created Adam and set him in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had children from whom all humans upon Earth originate. The Bible gives us genealogies that reach from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Jesus of Nazareth."

John: "This is true".

Simon: "You reason that because it is possible to calculate backwards from Jesus the date of Adam and Eve by adding the generations and from the life spans Bible gives to the ancients you say that God created the universe around the year 4000 before Christ."

John: "This is true and I believe that the Bible is telling the truth for God does not lie."

Simon: "Amen. God does not lie."

We all ten added our amens to this with John the Creationist.

Simon: "By coupling the Seven Days of Creation with Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden Archbishop James Ussher proposed an exact date and time for creation. Mark, could you please use your laptop and give us the exact date of Creation by Ussher?"

Mark (after a quick Google search):  "The night preceding Sunday, 23 October 4004 BC."

Simon: "Archbishop Ussher's chronology was added to the Authorized King James Version of the Bible. However, he was not the first one to calculate the date of Creation. The People of God, the Jews, use a religious calendar that counts the years from the Creation. Ann, please tell us what year is now according to the Jewish calendar."

Ann: "Today's Haaretz online is dated Wednesday, February 22, 2012 Shvat 29, 5772. So now is year 5722 after the Creation of the world."

Simon: "Yes. According to the Jewish calendar we reach the year 6000 in another 278 years."

John: "Dear Teacher, tell me why you say that I do not know Bible well? All what you have said now is true and I believe this to be Divine revelation."

Simon: "You have not studied the Bible and do not know that there is not one story of Creation but two. The first story of creation is a complete narrative of the Seven Days of Creation. God creates the word from nothing, nihil, and rests on the seventh day after all is done. Including the creation of humans, man and woman. This story is in Genesis 1:1 - 2:3.

Lisa, please read to us aloud Genesis 2:1-4 where is the join. The second story of Creation begins with the Hebrew expression toldot - which KJV translates with the word generations."

Lisa: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.

These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens"

Simon: "Thank you, Lisa. According to the Document Hypothesis of the Pentateuch first suggested by the German scholar Julius Wellhausen, the two stories of Creation come to the Books of Moses from two different sources. The first one from what is commonly called Priestly source (P) and the second one from the source called Jahwist (J). The two stories at the beginning of the Bible are completely different."

John: "But Teacher, do you seriously believe what the godless scientists are writing about the Holy Bible? Do you want us to know the lies these enemies of faith are writing? Surely, as the Bible says, the Books of Moses were written by Moses and not collected from a multitude of sources. What blasphemy!"

Simon: "John the Creationist! As I told you, you do not know the holy Bible as it is written and as Holy Ghost has seen wise to give it to humanity through the people of Israel.

For this reason you err, as our Lord told to the Sadducees asking Him about the contents of the Book of Moses that they used to argue against His teaching Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. This is written in Matthew 22:29."

John: "There are many learned teachers of the Bible who have shown that the Document Theory is not correct."

Simon: "This is true that there is serious scientific debate about the structure of the Books of Moses and about their literary history.

What I want you to do, and do it carefully John the Creationist, is to see if Wellhausen was right in saying that there are two different narratives about the creation of the world and that their contents are totally different.

See by yourself if this is true or not regardless of what explanation you or others give to such differences."

John: "I will do that in the name of truth."

Simon: "May the Holy Spirit guide you to all truth!

For if there are two different stories you cannot couple the Seven Days of Creation and the Garden of Eden stories in the Bible in order to give a date in human years when God created the world."

Bible study - Intro to the Perth group

We were sitting around a table in a quiet room in down-town Perth. The ocean was visible from our window and the morning was sunny.

Simon, the leader of our Scriptures study group, had a big black Bible open in front of him. He looked serene and peaceful, without fear or anxiety despite of our impressive presence and he radiated towards us genuine love of God. From experience we knew, however, that his words could be quite severe when necessary.

Today we were only eleven since Merri had been warned by her family not to join the group. As you know, Australian law prohibits Christian missionary work among Aboriginals. The government and also her family wanted to keep her as a living museum of the religion of the ancients. (Sadly, the sale of the Western product alcohol is not prohibited by law although it is another alien thing and known to causes damage in the protective reservations.) We hope that she would return to study the Bible and to bring her unique contribution to our discussions about the Word of God - after all, Bible is intended to all people on the Earth.

(Our group was also in another way rebellious ignoring St. Paul's advise to be obedient to the rulers - for we ignored the Ministry of Education recommendation to use the Jewish terminology "Common Era" and boldly dated things before the birth of Christ or Anno Domino.)

The Missing (2003)

The Missing (2003)

Official website

The disappointing box-office performance of the Western thriller The Missing despite of the very powerful acting by Cate Blanchett as Maggie Cilkeson and Tom Lee Jones as Samuel Jones is for me yet another indication that, in general, people do not go to movies to see reality but rather to escape it.

For The Missing is uncomfortably real.

The powerful story is based on the 1995 novel The Last Ride by Thomas Eidson and the movie was directed by Ron Howard..

The desert of New Mexico is one of the stars in the movie and the areas in Santa Fe are photographed with great skill and obvious love of the rough nature, its rock formations, canyons, sandy plains and sturdy plants. The nature creates an eerie world in which the complex and real people, white American Christians, good and bad, genuine Apaches speaking their own language, nasty Mexican criminals planning to buy some white women, go through violent tragedies and emotional upheavals shaping their relationships and attitudes and leading to the deaths of many.

What evil people did in late 19th century New Mexico! What evil people do there today. What it is to be a captive woman to be sold to slavery in Mexico.


Shamanism
The most interesting part in this movie for me as a theologian is the description of Native American religion, shamanism. It is involved in several ways, in protective amulets and ritual acts, in dark curses of black magic, and in causing sickness and providing healing through prayer and chant.

The Missing clearly has a message here.

The apprehension of the magic protection provided by Samuel to the child and her despise of the religion of the handsome Kayitah (Jay Tavare), a Chiricachua, as an upright Western Christian woman is finely acted by Maggie. The large cross she is carrying has a central role in the movie and can perhaps be seen as a counterpart to the protective magic Native American necklace.


Ron Howard uses the cursing of Maggie with the help of her lost hairbrush by the very convincing Pesh-Chidin (Eric Schweig) to set the two religions into context. The curse works making Maggie suddenly very sick and thus demonstrating the reality of shamanism. Also the protecting and healing chants and magic work and bring Maggie back to health. The young white girl Dot Glickeson (Jenny Boyd) joins in to the aborigine prayer for her deadly sick mother holding a Christian prayer book in her hand.

The thing is that in my opinion the depiction of shamanism in this movie is real.

This is no regular Hollywood stuff but like an actual documentary of Native American religion as seen from inside. It catches the very scary undertones present in this religion not so far from the underworld, from the otherside.

I do not remember having seen another movie where the religious element of Native Americans is shown in such a powerful manner and contrasted with the religion of the whites, Christianity.

Händel's Rinaldo in Caen Theatre

© Národní divadlo, Ilona Sochorová

The spectacular production of Rinaldo premièred 4 April 2009
 in the Estates Theater Prague with beautiful Kateřina Kněžíková as Almirena (ref)

MEZZO TV did it to me again as I was not careful.

I opened the TV and switched casually to MEZZO ... heard some Händel and ...

That was it. Even if I tried I could not change the channel for the next three hours or so as I was totally mesmerized by the opera. I need to learn to be more careful with this station of classical music and jazz.

Personally I love to listen to Händel's Italian Cantatas on CD, also his oratorios, especially Susanna. But the operas... to be quite honest listening to them on radio makes me feel that they are rather boring. Including Rinaldo...

So where is the difference between just listening to Rinaldo from a CD and listening and watching a performance on TV?

What is the reason that Händel's composition suddenly becomes meaningful and live - including those recitatives with sometimes only a cembalo supporting it and the complicated A-B-A style arias? Why the "boring" baroque opera suddenly sounds heavenly beautiful demonstrating why Händel is counted among the greatest masters of Western music?


Not just music...
I think it is the combination of visual splendour together with the music that makes the difference.

Händel's Rinaldo in Cane Theatre with Collegium 1704 was co-production of the National Theatre Prague, Le Théâtre de Caen, L´Opéra de Rennes and Le Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg. 

I have never before seen anything quite like that.

Everything worked together, the dresses were all pieces of art, the props stunning, the dances fitted perfectly to the moods and events from the magic forest to the major battle, the orchestra sounding like a real baroque, the majestic trumpets, the unforgettable singing ...

But what was most impressive in my mind were the gestures.

The hand gestures of the wonderful singers and the dancers made this Rinaldo an almost iconic event.

All this together did not hide but rather emphasized the Händel's music.

Do I sound overly enthusiastic?

If so, apparently you have not yet watched this particular production of Rinaldo!

Creation and professor John G. Hartnett

Research professor John G. Hartnett

UWA profiles

Wikipedia tells that "John Hartnett (born 24 March 1952 in Manjimup, Western Australia), is an Australian physicist and cosmologist active in Creation Ministries International and known for an ardent opposition to the Big Bang theory and criticism of Dark Matter and Dark Energy hypothesis.

He received both his B.Sc. (Hons) (1973) and PhD with distinction (2001) from the School of Physics at the University of Western Australia (UWA). He currently works as a Research Professor at the University of Western Australia.

He has published more than 170 papers in scientific journals and conference proceedings, holds 2 patents and participates on a Sapphire Clock Ensemble project (Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space Mission) run by European Space Agency. He also writes articles for several creationist journals.
...
According to Moshe Carmeli, Professor of Theoretical Physics at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, Israel, Hartnett in his theory demonstrated that there is no need to reckon with the existence of the dark matter in the universe.
wikipedia

Chicago 1978 declaration
Research professor John G. Hartnett associates himself with Creation Ministries International and contributes there to the discussion of God's creation and modern science. Not in generic terms but in the very specific terms expressed in the Chicago 1978 declaration of the Inerrancy of the Bible

4. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives.


Ussher chonology and Young Earth Creationism
The Biblical hermeneutics expressed by 300 evangelical leaders in Chicago declaration is at the source of the solemn faith that, regardless of what appears to be true about the age of the world, Universe was in reality made during the Seven Days of Creation in the year 4004 before the birth of Christ (Ussher chronology) or 5722 years ago (Jewish religious calendar) as can be learned from the holy Scriptures.

James Ussher chronology was included in the King James Bible and other versions of the Bible and was soon associated with the Word of God as the authoritative version. At the time the Irish Archbishop studied world history the Bible was by far the most extensive source its genealogies reaching beyond the Classical Roman and Greek sources.

Ussher chronology counts the time of creation from the genealogies beginning from Adam and Eve in the Paradise. It is pretty good in dating the later periods in the Bible and Mediterranean region.

Especially US baptist churches seek for a solid foundation to our faith and sanctifies Authorized King James Version as the Bible inspired by the Holy Spirit. Together with KJV these solemn Christians also adopt Ussher chronology.

Any Young Earth Creationist who suggests dates before the creation of the world around 4000 BC has lost the foundation of the genealogically generated Ussher chronology and must explain how the Days of Creation in the first book of the Bible should be understood.


The age of Cosmos
As an astrophysicist and student of cosmology Hartnett meets scientists who claim that sunlight reaches Earth in about eight minutes photons travelling at the speed of light. Reflected sunlight from the Moon reaches earth in about one second.

Creationist believing in Ussher chronology must face not only the challenge of Lyell's uniformist principle that geological phenomena, such as the carving of a Grand Canyon by water, happens at uniform speed throughout the history of Earth.

Consistent faith requires that such creationists also demonstrate that the age of the entire Cosmos, starting with Big Bang or forever existing or whatever, is no more than 6000 human years.

In this front facing modern Astonomy active work is going on in Creation Ministries with the authoritative help of established scientists. John G. Hartnett is cited as a leading beacon among these interpreters of God's creation based on the faith that the Bible is literally true.

None of the articles written "to several creationist journals" are listed in the list of the publications in the University of Western Australia profile for research professor John G. Hartnett.


Red Shift
Pulsars give crucial data for measuring distances in the space. Red shift of the spectrum gives key data for the dating of the suggested Big Bang. Research is going on and surely professor Hartnett has

For example, in 2008 John G. Hartnett wrote with Koichi Hirano a scientific paper

Hartnett, J.G.; K. Hirano Galaxy redshift abundance periodicity from Fourier analysis of number counts N(z) using SDSS and 2dF GRS galaxy surveys. Cornell University Library. pp. 13–24. Vol. 318, No. 1&2.


IMHO
Young Earth Creationists are people with truly good intentions to defend Christianity and the authority of the Bible. Instead of this, these Christians are causing serious damage to the religion by twisting both the holy Bible and creation into something that is not true. The dualistic way the natural scientists among them consider reality suggests that God of Israel is a minter of false coins.

About Biblical inerarncy and Papal infallibility

Biblical Inerrancy
Ecumenical Church has never confessed a dogma about the Bible "we believe that Bible is...".

However, Nicene Creed refers at the crucial point of the credo to the authority of the Scriptures
Et resurréxit tértia die, secúndum Scriptúras

In the modern times 300 evangelical leaders in the USA decided to write such a dogmatic confession about the Bible.

THE CHICAGO STATEMENT ON BIBLICAL INERRANCY

4. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives.
Church documents

Papal infallibility

Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when in his official capacity he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals. It is also taught that the Holy Spirit works in the body of the Church, as sensus fidelium, to ensure that dogmatic teachings proclaimed to be infallible will be received by all Catholics. This dogma, however, does not state either that the pope cannot sin in his own personal life or that he is necessarily free of error, even when speaking in his official capacity, outside the specific contexts in which the dogma applies.

This doctrine was defined dogmatically in the First Vatican Council of 1870. According to Catholic theology, there are several concepts important to the understanding of infallible, divine revelation: Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Sacred Magisterium. The infallible teachings of the pope are part of the Sacred Magisterium, which also consists of ecumenical councils and the "ordinary and universal magisterium". In Catholic theology, papal infallibility is one of the channels of the infallibility of the Church. The infallible teachings of the pope must be based on, or at least not contradict, Sacred Tradition or Sacred Scripture. Papal infallibility does not signify that the pope is impeccable, i.e.., that he is specially exempt from liability to sin.

The doctrine of infallibility relies on one of the cornerstones of Catholic dogma—that of petrine supremacy of the pope, and his authority to be the ruling agent in deciding what will be accepted as formal beliefs in the Church. The clearest example (though not the only one) of the use of this power, referred to as speaking ex cathedra[4] expressed since the solemn declaration of papal infallibility by Vatican I on July 18, 1870, took place in 1950 when Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary as being an article of faith for Roman Catholics. This authority is considered by Catholics to be apostolic and of divine origin. Prior to the solemn definition of 1870, Pope Boniface VIII in the Bull Unam Sanctam of 1302, Pope Eugene IV in the Bull Cantate Domino of 1441, and Pope Pius IX in the Papal constitution Ineffabilis Deus of 1854 have all spoken "ex cathedra."
wikipedia

The Karate Kid (2010)

Seeing the new version of Karate Kid movie directed by Harald Zwart and produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith is in many ways a deeply rewarding experience and a charming and exciting visit to China.

Not least because of the spectacular landscape shots up on the mountains, the majestic Great Wall or the very narrow alleys, the warm and sympathetic description of the real people of Beijing, the delicately involved elements of great cultures, Eastern and Western, exotic Orient with fried scorpions, problems with chopsticks, mysterious cobras or truly superb filming of amazing martial art scenes.

In my opinion Wenwen Han with that yellow violin case shines as the pearl of this movie and brings with her to it much needed grace and beauty to balance the raw violence and male fighting.

Jaden Smith is so believable as Dre Parker that we can feel in our own bones his growth from a brave but physically weak school boy to a skilled martial arts fighter with real muscle. We see this not as an act with stuntmen doing the jumping but as a real thing: it seems that during the filming Jaden actually learned real kung fu and actually grows and develops physically from scene to scene. 

I have always liked Jackie Chan - as millions do for his unique blend of humanity, fierce fighting and humour - but this is a different role for him: as Mister Han he conveys the simplicity, humility and wisdom that characterize a true Master who has also studied in the school of life.

Zhenwei Wang as the bully Cheng is totally believable and we learn to understand him as a kind of victim of Master Li (Yu Rongguang) and the ah so common misuse of martial arts on the streets.


Chinese or American values?

Wenwen Han

Wenwen brings the charming Chinese culture, politeness, sensibility, family values and amazing musical and other gifts of these people to the movie in the most graceful way hopefully inspiring many modern American girls about what is important in life and how the first date should go!

The dominant theme - underdog winning the fight - is so genuinely American that movie after movie has made Box Office history with it. Not least Sylvester Stallone as Rocky.

The relation between Dre and his mother Sherry Parker (Taraji P. Henson) has strongly Western family values and issues. Well, they are both American citizens so ...

The bad guy - good guy setting and its development is very familiar to our western minds but is probably universally human. The way the students of Master Li respect Mister Han at the end is in my mind as genuinely Chinese as it is American.

The humanistic values at the heart of the Karate Kid movie rest mainly on the shoulders of Mister "Kung fu is everywhere" Han. Actor Jackie Chan is genuinely both East and West, a real oriental person who knows the USA better than his own pockets. The combination works in a surprisingly fine and subtle way in this movie, for example in the way he walks.

I think the message brought by Mister Han and his student Drek Parrett is inspiring to all growing boys and their sometimes overprotective, sometimes despairing mothers around the world!

Great Wall kept the barbarians from China.

Great movies build bridges between East and West for the benefit of both!

Sir Isaac Newton the Theologian online

Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) at old age

Portrait by Sir James Thornhill 1712 

wikimedia

Great news!
Sir Isaac Newton's theological writings have been digitized and are available online

"This exhibition sheds new light on Isaac Newton, the greatest physicist of all times. The manuscripts of this collection, one of the treasures of the Jewish National and University Library, discuss Biblical interpretation, the architecture of the Jewish Temple, ancient history, alchemy and the Apocalypse."
The David and Stela Fallep Digitalization Project
The Jewish and National University Library


Haaretz tells more

"Contrary to his public image, most of Newton's work was not devoted to science but rather to theology, mysticism and alchemy. Unlike Newton's scientific texts, which are owned by the University of Cambridge in England, the 18th century thinker's theological writings made their way to the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, and they have just recently been digitally copied and posted on the Internet in cooperation with Cambridge University's Newton Project.
...
Apparently only two people showed up for the auction of Newton's writings, the noted British economist John Maynard Keynes and the Jewish Orientalist and book collector Abraham Shalom Yahuda, so the two divided the spoils. Keynes bought Newton's alchemy manuscripts while Yahuda got Newton's theological writings. After Yahuda's death in 1951, his collection of Newton's work was transferred to the National Library of Israel. "
9 February 2012  Haaretz

Grandfather's clock and cow

Watch made by Jaakko Könni (1775-1830) 

House of Yli-Laurosela Ilmajoki, Finland 

Museovirasto

This valuable watch was about as expensive as a cow when it was purchased around 1825. Today it is a priceless art treasure surviving from the handworks of one of the most famous watchmakers in Finland.


It clearly has a purpose. Top of the white wooden casing is Empire style and bottom Rococo. Carefully constructed system of wheels, rockers, springs and a mathematically tuned pendulum have been ticking minutes and showing hours ever since it was located in the main living room of Yli-Laurosela house.

The design of the clock engine shows careful planning, measurement and there is a pleasing combination of functionality and beauty. The historical Könni watches are famed for their accuracy and endurance.

The watch has been signed by Könni so the experts in the Antiquities Service of Finland have been able to assign it to its makers and date it quite accurately.


God of Israel has signed His work - the entire Universe - for us humans in a very special signature called the Bible.

He knows that not everyone believes in Him. That is how He has made us. With freedom to sin against His will (Genesis 3) and obviously also free not to believe in Him (look around).

The Book even says that the functionality, beauty and intelligence of deep thinking in the nature does not make humans to believe in God (Romans 1:18-23).

So who nevertheless believes in God of Israel?

There are some people who do have faith in Him.


Grandfather's Cow

West Finncattle

Mosaurus and Marc R. Ross

Mosaurus (robot)

Republican photo by MICHAEL S. GORDON

Springfield Science Museum

Doctor Ross in the news
February 12 2007 journalist Cornelia Dean published an article in the New York Times with title Believing Scripture but Playing by Science's Rules  (NYT). She wrote about a telephone interview with Rhode Island University student Marcus R. Ross (born 1976) who had just published his dissertation on the marine reptile Mosaurus.

Cornelia Dean tells that the research was written according to all the rules of natural sciences and the results fit into the framework of modern understanding of the history of life on Earth. She continues that Dr Marcus R. Ross is a YEC - he believes that the Bible is literally true and that the world was created less than 10.000 years ago (Young Earth Creationist).

This combination is what made the dissertation news worthy for New York Times. Here is a Bible believing Young Earth Creationist who nevertheless writes scientifically acceptable research on life in the Mesolithic period.

Professor Ross
Today Marcus R. Ross is a professor of Biology and Chemistry in Liberty University, Lynchburg Virginia. This is the largest evangelical Christian university in the world and has today some 72.000 students, 12.000 as residents and 60.000 others.

Liberty University logo

Liberty University has strong connections to the Bible Belt Christianity. It began under the leadership of Jerry Falwell (1933-2007) as Lynchburg Baptist College in 1971. The present name was taken in 1984. The university is doing well and plans to open also a medical faculty in 2013.


All is well at Liberty University?

Nope.

This page is a truly scary combination of scientific fact and Biblical interpretation
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/arj/v3/n1/geology-of-israel-2

The writer is identified as Dr. Andrew Snelling.

Dr Alex Ritchie took a closer look at the identity of  "Dr. Andrew Snelling"
http://www.noanswersingenesis.org.au/realsnelling.htm

Creation Ministries are in deep waters.

And so is Professor Marc R. Ross.

Which is a pity as he would have so much to give by being truthful.

Finding the only real God

There are so many human images of God that it is difficult not to stumble them every day.

Finding the only real God is something else.

A person might think that now I want to find God and I start by reading the Bible.

Finding the real God means finding faith.

And faith does not come from reading.

Faith comes from hearing.

So, in order to find the real God we need to go to places where we can hear the preaching of God's word.

This is not so difficult since God has taken care that His words are preached everywhere on this planet in almost every spoken language.

Especially on those days dedicated every week for Him.


Romans 10
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"

But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. For Isaiah saith, "Lord, who hath believed our report?"

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Rom 10:14-17 KJ21