The Bible Editors

It is fascinating to see how those most inclined to believe in the historically false notion that political maneuvers and bad men kept certain books out of the Bible (that God wanted there) are the same ones who edit the Bible today.  ”Romans 1? Oh, Paul was a misogynistic homophobe who didn’t know about committed same-sex relationships, so those are OK.”

Their hypocrisy of doing what they (falsely) accuse others of doing is lost on them.  If they would study books like Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels and other apologetic sources they would realize how embarrassingly bad their dating and authorship claims are for books inside and outside the Bible.  They claim to worship a God who couldn’t get the Bible right but is perfectly accurate in telling them his new revelations.

Their premise is that bad guys altered or eliminated the original texts but that they are good guys for altering it now.  And they claim that God is moving in a new direction and, by implication, only telling Western Liberals — roughly 15 minutes after the world came to the same conclusions.  Indeed.

Whether one believes that the Bible is divinely inspired or not, there is no rational basis to claim there are any lost books.  The real God doesn’t lose things, and if it was a purely man-made creation then by definition they put in what they wanted.

If people deny the explicit and oft-repeated claims from the Bible about itself — that it is the word of God and turned out exactly as He and the human writers wanted — then they should pick another religion besides Christianity.  These people love to quote Jesus when it matches up with their man-made religion, but they ignore his views on the Old Testament — namely that He agreed with all of it and much of the New Testament.

And they assume that anything in the New Testament that they agree with is from God and that anything they disagree with is not from God.  In other word, they are the editors of the Bible and sellers of Leopard Theology, where they claim that the Bible is only inspired in spots and that they are inspired to spot the spots, or Advanced Leopard Theology, where God is also changing spots and adding and removing spots, and, oddly enough, He is only telling theological liberals and progressives.

The false teachers and those who sit at their feet perpetuate this nonsense.

Well, that didn’t last long.

I’m referring to the Isralites’ celebration and obedience after they returned from their 70 year exile and re-built the wall of Jerusalem.  In Nehemiah chapter 12 they have a major celebration:

Nehemiah 12 (ESV)  ³⁸ The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above the Tower of the Ovens, to the Broad Wall, ³⁹ and above the Gate of Ephraim, and by the Gate of Yeshanah, and by the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate; and they came to a halt at the Gate of the Guard. ⁴⁰ So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God, and I and half of the officials with me; ⁴¹ and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets; ⁴² and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang with Jezrahiah as their leader. ⁴³ And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

The context here is vital, and it really sticks out when you have gone through the Old Testament chronologically, as I just finished doing.  If you read the OT straight through then Nehemiah comes before the halfway point.  But if you read it chronologically then there are only 5 chapters after it (a Psalm plus the book of Micah).  So it is basically at the end.

To reach this point you had to have read about dozens and dozens of judges and kings, most of whom were bad, the cycles of rebellion by the people (Baal worship, child sacrifice, and so much more), all the prophets warning them of doom, the Northern Kingdom taken away, then 200 years later the fall of Judah and the destruction of the temple.  The people are taken away to Babylon.  The books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and more describe in detail the grisly famine, pestilence, plague and sword that killed countless Israelites along with the humiliation of being carried away to other lands.  Pretty bleak stuff.

But after 70 years in exile they get to come back, and in miraculous fashion — just like God promised.  As Ezra and Nehemiah recount, there was great drama in King Cyrus letting the people return and in helping re-build the wall.

So in Nehemiah 12 the people celebrate.  So what happens in Nehemiah 13, roughly 15 minutes later?  Rampant disobedience: Foreigners in the temple, not paying the priests, violating the Sabbath.

Nehemiah 13 (ESV)   13 On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, ² for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. ³ As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.

⁴ Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, ⁵ prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. ⁶ While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king ⁷ and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. ⁸ And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. ⁹ Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.

¹⁰ I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field. ¹¹ So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. ¹² Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. ¹³ And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers. ¹⁴ Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.

¹⁵ In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food. ¹⁶ Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself! ¹⁷ Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? ¹⁸ Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”

¹⁹ As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. ²¹ But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. ²² Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.

As I read about their disobedience throughout the OT my first reaction is, “Why did you do that when you knew better?  You were God’s chosen people!  You knew him like no one else.  You had direct access to his word, and you ignored it.”  Then I’m convicted that I’m the same way.  Think of how much we know about God and how easy it is to slip into sin.  It is almost as if on our own we will continue to sin no matter how hard we try, and that we need someone with the power to save us and change us . . .

P.S. People who hold to the “mean OT God / nice NT God” need to read more of both.  God’s grace towards the Israelites — and us — is profound.

Roundup

The Mess of the Message: Denying Christ On The Printed Page – I’ve written before about serious problems with The Message, but this post added a host of new and serious issues.  Also note how it removes a reference to homosexuality and inserts a “green” passage.  Friendly reminder: It isn’t a Bible.  In many places it is the opposite of the Bible.

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People have lost their minds.  Remember that these are educators coming up with these things.

Boy Suspended Just for SAYING the Word Gun

Campus bans guns, tells people to nod at attackers

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The Affordable Care Act — and by affordable, we mean more expensive — They were caught lying.  Again.  Although we didn’t have to wait until now to know it.

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COULD A CHRISTIAN BAKER WHO REFUSED TO MAKE WEDDING CAKE FOR A GAY COUPLE REALLY GO TO JAIL? — Why don’t they try this with Muslim bakers?

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This is bizarre “tolerance” of Liberals:

1. It is bad to judge. [What they claim Conservatives do and what they themselves do non-stop.]
2. It is good to judge others for judging. [What Liberals do.]
3. It is very bad to judge others for their hypocrisy of judging others for judging.  [What Liberals don't like for us to point out.]

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While Denying Tea Party, IRS Grants Tax-Exempt Status to Radical Leftists and Terrorists

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Ergun Caner Cover-Up — This is such a sad case.  The guy was caught lying over and over and too many Christian leaders, churches and schools looked the other way or helped him cover his tracks.  The documentation is very thorough, even though he is working hard to cover it up.  If the guy had repented it would be different, but he shows no remorse.

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Profiles in Countermoonbattery: Ondray Harris – here’s a great guy who quit when he was told not to hire any conservatives or whites.  We need more courage like that.  Oh, and he’s black.

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The Contempt of PZ Myers — He really, really opposes schools that teach critical thinking.

None of the above keeps PZ from frothing at the mouth that: “There is no controversy!” Evolution happened…get over it. Really, PZ, “no controversy”? Guess PZ’s been too busy ranting and raving about ID and “Creationism” to keep up with what is actually happening in his own field of biology. Let’s see, can anyone name one aspect of evolution and its supposed mechanisms that isn’t hotly debated and controversial even among evolutionary biologists? Pick one – common descent, natural selection, gene transfer, phylogentics, gene duplication, genetic drift, mutation, etc etc – not one single supposed driving engine of evolution is uncontroversial within evolutionary biology itself. It continually amazes me that every single aspect of Darwinian evolution is hotly debated and controversial, yet the Darwinian faithful, like PZ pound their fists on their desks yelling “evolution is a fact, Fact, FACT!” What is telling, is how rabidly PZ and others of his ilk want to keep students in public schools from ever knowing about or even hearing about such controversies.

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Master Sergeant Punished for Serving Chick-fil-A at Party

DOMA is the law of the land, but the rogue Obama Regime refuses to enforce it.

A year later, the Master Sergeant is still bogged down in a legal battle. The lesson is passed down from Obama through the military as clearly as it is through the IRS: do not say, do, or even think anything that a liberal might not like, or you will suffer consequences.

A few more examples:

One service member received a severe reprimand for expressing his faith’s religious position about homosexuality in a personal religious blog.

A chaplain was relieved of his command over a military chapel because he could not allow same-sex weddings to take place in the chapel.

And a chaplain who asked senior military officers whether religious liberty would be protected in the wake of the repeal of the law against open homosexual behavior in the military was told to “get in line” or resign.

The world has seen other governments that forcibly repressed Christianity. But not even the Soviet Union attempted to impose reverence for sexual perversion. It wasn’t sufficiently morally depraved.

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Any AARP tips?

I turned 50 in January.  So what does the world do to celebrate 50 consecutive years of not dying?  (A new personal best, by the way — take that, haters!)

1. You get to have the most fun medical procedure ever!  A colonoscopy!  Note to the medical community: You have 5 years to come up with a better way to prepare for it — or better yet, replace it with some sort of MRI-thing. 
2. You get invited to join AARP.  Seriously?  I’m only 50!

I’m not a big fan of AARP’s politics, but I am a big fan of discounts.  And membership is relatively inexpensive.  So, AARP members, what benefits do you see with membership?  Do they have better deals on home and auto insurance?  Are there any travel benefits that are better than what AAA offers?  Anything else I should be aware of?

There is one other bonus: Our local outlet mall gives discounts to “seniors” like me on Tuesday nights.  Woo-hoo!

Roundup

One of the most sadly and morbidly ironic things ever: Brooklyn ‘Life Coach’ Couple Who Hosted Self-Help Radio Show Commit Double Suicide.

They hosted a monthly radio show called “The Pursuit of Happiness” on WBAI that focused on “personal development and growth.” WBAI describes them as speakers and “life coaches.”

Hat tip: Wintery Knight

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It isn’t just harassment from the IRS, it is from the EPA and other organizations such as the police.  Yet the media is following the Democrats’ script that these abuses of power are an overreach by Republicans.  Nonsense.

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ACLU Sues to Allow Abortions Based on Race, Who’s the Racist Now? – Charming.  They also defend gender-selection abortions, nearly all of which destroy females for the sole reason that they are female.  Why?  Because the Left is pro-women, of course!

On May 29, the ACLU filed suit (on behalf of two civil rights groups) to stop an Arizona pro-life law.This law, passed in 2011, is designed to prohibit doctors and abortion providers from performing abortions that they know are based on the gender or race of the child. One could reasonably assume that all Americans – and civil rights groups in particular – would oppose targeting any human being for death based simply on her gender or race. Sadly, in the face of abortion, we can no longer make reasonable assumptions. While somewhere between 77-86% of Americans agree with banning abortions based on gender, the ACLU has determined to rebel against this basic ideal of a civilized society. To the ACLU, abortion on demand apparently means that abortion done for any reason – no matter how outrageous – must be fully supported. It’s a sad day in America when leading civil rights groups take a stand on the side of gendercide and blatant racism. Yet this is one more horrible direction where abortion leads us. Arizona’s law does not penalize women who seek abortions based on the gender or race of their child. It only penalizes the abortionist. Despite this obvious fact, the executive director of one of the civil rights groups the ACLU is representing stated:  ‘This law is clearly a wolf in sheep’s clothing that purports to be about achieving equality for women when in reality it’s an attempt to control our reproductive decisions-making,’ said Miriam Yeung, NAPAWF’s executive director. ‘We hope the judgment in this case will expose the true intentions of the politicians behind these abortion bans and show unequivocally that they discriminate against women of color, Asian-American and African-American in particular.’

As always, the spin about “reproductive decisions” fails the basic science test.  All abortions are designed to kill human beings who have already been reproduced.  The decision isn’t whether to reproduce but whether to kill the unwanted human being who has been reproduced. — More evil from the ACLU: But … It Was Consensual!

The case of 18-year-old Kaitlyn Hunt, charged with a felony for having sex with a 14-year-old, has elicited the support of the American Civil Liberties Union, which calls this “behavior that is both fairly innocuous and extremely common.” Well, OK, if 18 and 14 is no problem, how about 13 and 19? And how about a foursome? Three 19-year-old northwest Indiana men have been charged separately with child molesting involving the same 13-year-old girl, the Post-Tribune is reporting.

The push for “morning after pills” and abortions for young girls and the Planned Parenthood-style “kids should have sex when they think they are ready” nonsense have handed pedophiles and statutory rapists a great defense: If the kids can have consensual sex with other 12-13 year olds, why not 15? Or 18? or 28?

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Sifting Reality asked, “Is there a legitimate reason abortion defenders fight to limit or eliminate parental notification laws?”  My answer: No. The typical argument I’ve heard is that the girl might get hurt by her parents. But we have laws for that. And take it to its logical conclusion: Kids “might” get abused for getting in trouble at school, or getting bad grades, or getting in trouble with the police, etc. So using the pro-abortion logic of insisting that the risk of getting abused means you don’t have a right to know that your child is having a physically and emotionally dangerous medical procedure to kill your grandchild, you would to give every kid all A’s, you couldn’t discipline or arrest them, etc. It is only the depraved desire to be able to kill unwanted human beings that would make someone even consider that stupid argument.

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Video: Tea Party activist describes IRS intimidation tactics – This is the tip of the iceberg.  This should be a thoroughly well-documented anti-IRS issue for many years to come.

And another, where they protect the baby killers at Planned Parenthood from being protested – Pro-life victim of IRS targeting testifies before Ways and Means Committee.

Then there is the audacity of the Democrats and their owned media to blame the victims of the IRS abuse.  They deliberately abused their power to intimate donors.

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5 Lies the Democrats Told To Sell Obamacare – And they weren’t even clever lies.  They were identified as lies before it even passed.

Obamacare hasn’t fully taken effect yet, but when it does, it’s only going to get worse. Everything from death panels to unimaginably long waits for surgeries to bureaucrats denying effective, relatively common, currently in use treatments because they are “too expensive” are all coming down the pike. Obamacare is too much of a disaster to truly fix; so the best thing we can do right now is let this nightmare become reality, let people see how bad it is and then insist on a repeal or bust. Either the Democrats live with the disaster they’ve inflicted on the American people at the ballot box long term or they do the right thing and allow us to repeal this monstrosity before it does even more damage to our country.

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From the religion of peace and the politically correct cowards who refuse to call it out:

• Afghanistan’s dirty little secret — The pedophilia capital of the world.  Sickening.
• The Religion of Peace on Display: The Epidemic of UK Muslim Pedophile Rings

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Is the global warming /climate change hoax coming to an end?

These things take time, especially when the public was so thoroughly inundated with falsehoods for so many years.  But the facts are becoming too much for the global warming climate change (aka the “weather”) scientists to hide.  This article from the Economist (hardly a right-wing fundie nutjob anti-science rag) gives a fascinating glimpse into how they finally make key concessions yet still cling to their faulty conclusions.  But they are showing progress!

Via Climate science: A sensitive matter:

The climate may be heating up less in response to greenhouse-gas emissions than was once thought. But that does not mean the problem is going away.

 

OVER the past 15 years air temperatures at the Earth’s surface have been flat while greenhouse-gas emissions have continued to soar.

I bolded that part for good reason.  Everyone should be forced to read that over and over — especially if at any time you saw or agreed with climahypocrite Al Gore.  Fifteen years of flat temperatures!  No warming.  Yes, we had some weather during that period, and any evidence of normal phenomena (hurricanes, tornadoes, snow, etc.) that deviated from the strict averages was considered evidence for “climate change.”

The world added roughly 100 billion tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere between 2000 and 2010. That is about a quarter of all the CO₂ put there by humanity since 1750. And yet, as James Hansen, the head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, observes, “the five-year mean global temperature has been flat for a decade.”

Yep.  More flatness.

Temperatures fluctuate over short periods, but this lack of new warming is a surprise. Ed Hawkins, of the University of Reading, in Britain, points out that surface temperatures since 2005 are already at the low end of the range of projections derived from 20 climate models (see chart 1). If they remain flat, they will fall outside the models’ range within a few years.

The mismatch between rising greenhouse-gas emissions and not-rising temperatures is among the biggest puzzles in climate science just now. It does not mean global warming is a delusion.

Delusion is a strong word, but perhaps accurate in this case.  They were doing great on the facts but they shifted back to their assumptions that (1) there is a problem even if there was additional warming, (2) that it is man-made and (3) that it could be solved by man.  By their own admission they don’t have a warming problem and even if they did they are far too presumptuous on the other topics.

Please continue to spread the news about this farce.  The consequences are huge.  Countless jobs are lost and unnecessary expenditures are made based on this false issue.

And worst of all, it leads to an unprecedented governmental power grab.  No matter how much power you give to the government, they’ll always want more.  If the “problem” is solved, then they’ll want more power because it was obviously government actions that solved it.  And if the “problem” isn’t solved, they’ll want more power because you didn’t give them enough in the first place.  It is a wildly destructive tautology: More government power or more government power.

If you drank the global warming Kool-Aid, it is a great time to repent.  You always look better admitting you were wrong sooner rather than later.  And don’t feel bad, the media, government and climate change lobby fooled a lot of people.  Just expand your media horizons and be a little more skeptical next time.

Roundup

Top aide to House Dem resigns in ballot-fraud scandal – I wonder how much coverage the mainstream media will give this?  This went on all over the country.  It should be one of the biggest stories of the year.

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Atheists Aren’t Any Better At Being Atheist Than Religious People Being Religious – a series of quotes by famous atheists that tip their hands at the lack of careful thinking on the most important matters of life.

Richard Dawkins: “We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.”

Atheists love to say this. It will be written down in the Atheist’s book of parables someday if they ever get one. What Dawkins may not realize is that only the Christian God is specifically revealed to be eternal. Ancient Jews believed God was eternal, whereas even modern scientists (up until the 70′s) all believed the universe was infinite. Now we realize it is finite and had a starting point. All Roman and Greek gods are finite, and never said to be eternal.

Dawkin’s quip is one of the many foolish things he has said.  Using his logic, being a bachelor is nearly identical to being a married man.  After all, the married man isn’t married to 3,499,999,999 women and the bachelor isn’t married to 3,500,00,000 women.

Ricky Gervais: “Wow. No God. If mum had lied to me about God, had she also lied to me about Santa?

Gervais’ comment (and others I’ve read about how his mom couldn’t answer simple questions about God) shows the importance of knowing the Bible and answering basic questions that kids have. When those claiming the name of Christ get defensive and/or are woefully uninformed about the faith they often give horrible answers to kids or convey a “just believe” attitude.

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Illegal Immigrant Mother of Seven Given Food Stamps, Meds, Housing, and Social Security – For 20 Years – The system is so broken, and the calls for amnesty are already increasing the amount of illegal aliens pouring in.  And as the video notes, the providers think that 11 Federal programs aren’t enough.  Oh, and no surprise, fraud is increasing.

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Today IS My Wedding Day! – A great story of a woman who made mistakes but became a believer and then correctly decided to cancel a wedding with a non-believer, and who saw forgiveness and grace in the process.

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I really wish I was making this up: School Says Deaf Boy’s Name Sign Looks Too Much Like A Gun

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‘Model Citizen’ Kaitlyn Hunt Helps Sister in 2-on-1 Beach Beatdown – sadly, the bullies in the LGBTQ lobby have done everything they can to destroy the family of the victim in this case of statutory rape.

Who wants to join the herd of credulous people who were deceived byKaitlyn’s mother’s May 17 Facebook post, which described her as “wonderful . . . exemplary . . . respected and well liked . . . never been in trouble, ever, she truly is the model student and child”? Who really believes that Kaitlyn Ashley Hunt (Booking #2013-00000708) is, as her lawyer has claimed, a “model citizen“?

. . .

Another blogger coins the word “Trayvoned”  to describe this myth-making process: The media provide a carefully constructed narrative of victimhood and, by the time countervailing facts emerge, the crusading mob is already emotionally invested.

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The Gospel Coalition interviews Stephen C. Meyer on the Cambrian explosion – things just keep getting worse for Darwinists.

Have the last century of fossil discoveries resolved or aggravated Darwin’s doubt?

Fossil discoveries since Darwin’s time have only made the Cambrian explosion problem worse for his theory.

Darwin believed that the fossil record was woefully incomplete, and he predicted that the problem of abrupt appearance of animals in the Cambrian would be alleviated by future discoveries.

But the opposite happened. . . .

So as more and more fossils have been discovered, we’ve found the same pattern over and over around the world: diverse types of animals appear abruptly in the Cambrian, without clear evolutionary precursors. This has accentuated the “dilemma” that Darwin faced.

So the progress of science is making the problem worse for Darwinists. The more discoveries we make, the tougher the problem becomes for them, and the effect looks like the result of intelligent action.

I’ve already ordered my copy of Darwin’s Doubt at the reduced price. Have you? And don’t forget that Dr. Meyer’s first book, the ground-breakingSignature in the Cell, can also be obtained. That was the best book on intelligent design out there, but people who have read Darwin’s Doubt are telling me that it will be far better. It seems unbelievable.

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Maternal Deaths Dropped 70% After Abortion Banned in Chile

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Louisiana Democrat after calling Obamacare opponents racist: “I didn’t call anyone racist” – So she’s a liar and a racist.  The simplest comeback to the race-baiters is simply to ask if they think that conservatives would have been supportive of Hillary if she had been responsible for Obamacare, Fast and Furious, IRS abuses, Benghazi (oops — bad example!), EPA abuses, massive unemployment, massive increases in food stamp and “disability” rolls and more.

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Moral schizophrenia.

Yet pro-life blacks are the ones labeled Uncle Toms’s by the Left.