Bible Archives

October 26, 2023October 25, 2023

Is Moderate Drinking Good for You?

Have you seen media reports claiming that alcohol is good for you? It turns out that the studies that led to those headlines were severely distorted by poor sampling. Those studies linked all nondrinkers together and called them all “abstainers.” Some of them were recovered alcoholics who had quit drinking. Others were non-drinking substance abusers or those suffering from chronic illnesses. Meanwhile, the “moderate drinkers” in the study could include those who ate healthy and exercised. More balanced modern studies answer “Is moderate drinking good for you?” with a “NO!”

Based on more non-biased studies, by 2022, the World Heart Federation stated that alcohol did not protect people from cardiovascular diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) has now stated that any amount of alcohol is dangerous. U.S. and Canadian authorities have lowered their definitions of “moderate-risk drinking.” A growing body of research says that any amount of alcohol raises the chance of premature death from various causes. Here is what is now known:

Half of all cases of liver disease are attributed to drinking.

Alcohol is a potent carcinogen because it breaks down in the body to form a compound called acetaldehyde, which damages DNA.

Fifteen percent of breast cancers are linked to alcohol.

In Europe, 50% of all cancers linked to alcohol are caused by “light” or “moderate” consumption.

The distressing thing about this is that young people are bombarded with messages and music glamorizing drinking. Television shows encourage drinking by showing a glamorous picture of people drinking alcohol. The health damage and risks from alcohol consumption are not presented to young people in any educationally sound manner.

Biblical teaching tells us that the body is the temple of God’s Spirit and must be cared for and protected (1 Corinthians 3:16). The Church should lead in education, especially with teens and young adults. So far, that has not happened, and the whole basis for not drinking is frequently lost in discussions about “moderation.” Is moderate drinking good for you? No, and beyond that, “There is no safe amount that does not affect health” (WHO).

Reference: Scientific American for October 2023

October 25, 2023October 24, 2023

The Church Can Answer Loneliness

Statistical data from 2021 showed that 63% of men and 58% of women in America felt “lonely.” Our ministry receives phone calls from people who say, “I just need to talk to someone.” Because we invite questions and discussions in our printed material and online, we get communications from various lonely people. The Church can answer loneliness.

One of God’s answers to loneliness is marriage. In a Christian marriage, there is always someone to talk to, share with, and care about. I vividly remember sitting in my kitchen the night after my wife died and being overwhelmed with loneliness. In Genesis 2:18, God says, “It is not good for the man to be alone: I will make a suitable helper for him.”

I found that being with people was important to me, even though I am not a very social person. “Suitable helper” refers to filling in what man cannot do for himself. It does not imply servitude but an equal. Galatians 3:28 tells us that no matter who or what we are as Christians, “we are all one in Christ Jesus.” That is how the Church can answer loneliness.

The description of the first-century Church shows their cure for loneliness. Acts 2:42 says, “They continued steadfastly in..fellowship.” Verse 44 says, “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common.” Verse 46 says, “Continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and singleness of heart.” The Church can answer loneliness, but driving to a building, sitting by yourself, and watching a worship service once a week does not deal with the issue of loneliness.

We do a great deal of work in prisons and nursing homes. On those rare occasions when we are allowed to go into a prison to be with inmates, we often hear that the most significant pain they experience in incarceration is loneliness. Frequently, these men and women are in prison because their drug habit started when they were in the depths of loneliness.

One of the great tragedies of nursing homes is that many folks are placed there by family and are never visited again. Recently, a blind man in a nursing home we regularly visit told me that losing sight wasn’t as bad as losing time with people he loved.

Rejecting God and His people is an invitation to loneliness. Visiting a bar or a club is a band-aid approach to fighting loneliness. We need to spend time with others of like faith and be active in the joy of serving others. Matthew 25:31-40 describes Christian activities that nonbelievers cannot comprehend, but they another way the Church can answer loneliness.

Statistics reported by Mark Young in the December 16, 2023, issue of Power for Today.

October 24, 2023April 12, 2024

Solar System Formation

NASA released a fascinating picture showing solar system formation. The star in the picture is PDS 70, and the resolution is so good that a planet orbiting the star is clearly visible. Also visible is a disk around the planet, apparently forming several moons.

This picture shows what astronomers believe was the process that produced Jupiter and some of its moons. This is the first time astronomers have seen a solar system formation in progress. The amazing thing about this is that it is very reminiscent of the Bible’s description of the process God used to produce the Earth and the other objects in our solar system.

Genesis 1:1 uses the Hebrew word for creation (bara), which describes a process that only God can do, creating something from nothing. Modern science has now shown that time, space, and matter/energy came into existence at a point called a singularity, but can’t answer what went on before this singularity. From verse 1 through the rest of Genesis chapter 1, the word “bara” is not used until verse 21, when God created the first animal life. The term used elsewhere is “asah,” which describes changing something already created. (See verses 7, 16, and 25.) The word “bara” is used again in verse 27, when God created man and woman in his own image. Chapter 2, verse 3 summarizes what God had done by saying that He rested from all He had created (bara) and made (asah).

What we are now seeing is how material already created is crafted into a solar system. We may never know what purpose God has for these other solar systems. However, watching this solar system formation helps us understand the formation of our solar system and our unique planet. We know that our giant gas planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are strategically placed to protect Earth from collisions by comets and other objects coming from outside our solar system.

In Psalms 8:3-4 we read, “When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him,…” We don’t see the answer to that question in the physical processes God has used and continues to use. The significance of humans and Jesus Christ’s teachings reveal God’s spiritual purposes in the creation.

The horrible wars wreaking havoc among humans in today’s world are caused by the evil that combats the good Jesus came to establish. While the world is embroiled in war, selfishness, power struggles, greed, and death, we see God working in the lives of men and women and the good being done by the people who faithfully follow Jesus.

Reference: apod.nasa.gov for October 17, 2023.

October 20, 2023October 16, 2023

What Is a Legalist?

One of our detractors recently wrote that she hates me because I am a legalist. I asked her to define “legalist,” and she refused. What is a legalist? The problem is understanding the difference between a legalist and a believer. My detractor had earlier sent me an email stating that she was applying to be the preacher in the congregation where we worship.

The detractor cited the fact that the government has passed a law that no one can be denied a job based on race, gender, or sexual orientation. She is a lesbian woman and since I have never seen her, I don’t know her race. The fact that I believe God has established different roles for men and women makes me a legalist in her opinion. When I asked her if there was a job a woman could do that I am excluded from she said “No.” When I asked her if she thought I could be a mother, she hung up.

So, what is a legalist? A legalist is a person who makes a law out of their opinion or tradition and forces that on everyone else. God has given us certain laws that even an atheist should not question. One example would be not murdering. That does not make God a legalist because it is not an opinion or me a legalist because I support it.

As a Christian who taught in public schools for 41 years, I have an opinion that recreational marijuana and alcoholic drinks should not be marketed in a place where teenagers have easy access to them. I base my opinion on seeing the horrible damage done by these recreational drugs. My opinion is that they should be removed from grocery stores, quick-stop stores, and filling stations. I have Christian friends who strongly disagree, and they have that right. I am not going to denigrate them or segregate the church over this issue. I can provide evidence of the destructive nature of these drugs (as we have done HERE and HERE), but a legalist would disfellowship another Christian if they drank a beer.

Legalism is a mindset, and Jesus gave us a classic example of what is a legalist in Luke 18:9-12. In this case, it was a Pharisee extolling the things he was doing that the tax collector was not doing, including fasting and giving tithes. He assumed that the tax collector was inferior to him. This ministry is about providing evidence of God and Jesus Christ and asking people to decide how they will use that evidence. It is not my job to tell you what to believe or how to live. I only ask that others not be legalists by telling me I can’t present that evidence or must be forcibly stopped and punished for engaging in a Christian activity just because they disagree.

October 18, 2023October 16, 2023

Generation Z Questions and Faith

Generation Z is a label applied to those born between 1996 and 2010. These young people have grown up with COVID, climate concerns, and lives run by digital controls. Gen Z-ers have been bombarded by hypocrisy in adults, threats of violence, and an atheistic government lacking moral standards. How do those factors affect Generation Z questions and faith?

Those who study demographics tell us that 33% of these young people believe it is impossible to know if God is real. Only 4% have a biblical worldview, and less than 40% identify themselves as “Christian” in the term’s broadest sense. It is not hard to understand why these numbers exist, but the larger question is how can we address Generation Z questions and needs?

The answer is not in preaching to them or quoting scripture. That doesn’t mean the Bible should not be part of addressing their needs, but we must change how we approach them. How did Jesus address the struggles of His disciples and other people of His day? In Luke 7:20-23, John the Baptist sends men to Jesus, asking if He was the one the prophets had said would come.

How did Jesus respond to the question? In verse 22, He said, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard.” He then refers to the evidence of the miracles performed. When Thomas didn’t believe that Jesus had risen, what did Jesus do? (See John 20:26-28.) In Luke 24:36-43, the disciples were frightened, thinking they were seeing a ghost. Jesus said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see.” He then ate a piece of broiled fish so they could see he was real.

The point is that Jesus dealt with doubt by showing evidence. He didn’t tell them to blindly believe. He didn’t quote scripture to them. If Jesus appeared in the flesh today, some people would still find a way to deny Him, as the religious leaders of that day did. However, our discussion must center around evidence, not human-made creeds or denominational dogma, and it must be backed up by living a Christ-like life.

We must show evidence that God is real, that we are uniquely created in God’s image, and that we have a soul that makes us different from other forms of life. Furthermore, the teachings of Jesus show that He is far beyond a mere human, and following His instructions can give us a life of fulfillment and purpose. Generation Z questions are the same things people asked of Jesus. We have the tools to address those questions as we show the reality of faith by how we live our lives.

Data from the Barna Group (2018), Impact 360 Institute (2018), and Pew Research Center Religion in Public Life (2022)

October 17, 2023October 15, 2023

Quantum Scammers – Quantum Quackery

Scammers have recently made several claims about quantum physics and its applications. Quantum scammers claim that an interface called Quantum Xrroid Consciousness can use quantum physics to treat various physical ailments, including cancer. Others advertise “quantum power” as a solution to everything from climate change to control of the ozone hole. People are selling “quantum stones” as high-vibration stones for healing arthritis and muscular problems. “Quantum threads” are being promoted as the fabric of space-time to bring the energy of the universe to those who use them properly.

Scammers and quacks will latch onto anything to bilk people out of money or, in some cases, even harm them. Scammers were active in biblical times. Acts 8 tells of a sorcerer named Simon who saw the power of the apostles and wanted to buy it to advance his quackery. In Acts 19, we read about a group of Jewish exorcists who heard about exorcisms by the apostles and tried to do it themselves. Snake oil salesmen did a lively business in the early American frontier. Recently, scammers have sold marijuana to cure everything from athlete’s foot to cancer. My son-in-law died because he was convinced to try marijuana to cure his bone cancer rather than using conventional medical treatments.

None of this has any scientific support. “Quantum threads” don’t exist. Religious quantum scammers suggest that “profound sounding” can open the universe to quantum spiritual understanding through meditation. Quantum theory deals with the composition of particles smaller than atoms, not some plasma that we can harness and use.

We live in an age of incredible spiritual and biblical ignorance. Apostle Paul wrote, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be complete (thoroughly equipped) for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16). Don’t be misled by claims of people using scientific words to support false medical or religious claims. You can always rely on the truth of God’s Word.

Reference: New Scientist magazine Autumn 2023 and Wikipedia.

October 13, 2023October 12, 2023

The Red Giant Star Mu Cephei

When you look at the astronomical data on the red giant star Mu Cephei, you can’t help but be amazed at the size and power of things we can see in the cosmos. We read passages like Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” The Hebrew word “glory” is “kabod,” and the lexicon’s first use of that word is weight or power. Mu Cephei is an incredible demonstration of the power of the Creator.

If we could put Mu Cephei in the place of the Sun, the orbit of Jupiter would fit inside it. That means the size of this one star, which is relatively close to the solar system (2800 light years), would exceed the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. If our understanding of stellar evolution is correct, this giant star will eventually collapse into a supernova, producing the elements you and I are made of. We now understand that the stuff we see, the elements that make up everything on Earth, are only 5% of the universe. The European Space Agency’s Planck satellite has revealed that 68% of the cosmos consists of dark energy, 27% is dark matter, and only 5% is atomic matter. So the red giant star Mu Cephei and everything else we can see is only a tiny part of the cosmos.

Science has just scratched the surface of comprehending the fundamental nature of the universe. The words of Psalms 8:3-4 are magnified by what we see as we look into space with our instruments and technology: “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you visit him.” The only answer that can come to thinking people is that we are summoned to a higher calling than the physical world in which we live.

After Job’s complaining, God answered him by saying, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” Then, God challenged Job with many questions about creation in chapters 38 to 41. Humbled, Job responded, “Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” Using our technology, we can examine the red giant star Mu Cephei and know much more about creation than Job ever could. But there are still many wonderful things that we do not know.

References: NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 22, 2023, and American Scientist magazine for July/August 2023, pages 222-225.

October 11, 2023October 10, 2023

Nobody Is an Expert in Everything

Everyone knows that Albert Einstein, the father of relativity, was a genius. Over the years, we have published several articles dealing with relativity and how it helps us understand modern cosmology and the nature of God. One unintended lesson we can learn from Einstein is that a genius in one area of human endeavor may still be below average in other areas. Nobody is an expert in everything.

Reader’s Digest had a wonderful story of an area of human endeavor in which Einstein failed miserably – sailing a sailboat. In 1939, Einstein rented a cottage in Cutchogue, Long Island, New York. A sailboat came with the house, and Einstein decided to go sailing, thinking that he could be oblivious to the world while sailing.

The problem was that Einstein knew nothing about sailing and couldn’t seem to learn how to do it. On top of that, Einstein had never learned to swim. He capsized the boat over 30 times, requiring local people to rescue him and the boat, towing them to safety. Once, Einstein got caught in a strong wind that took him to Connecticut, where he was stranded and again had to be rescued.

Interestingly, movie stars or professional athletes often comment about politics, education, or how to raise a family, and the media presents it as an expert opinion. A star quarterback in the NFL is probably a poor choice to give a lecture on global warming or vaccines. Being good in one area does not mean you are good in all areas because nobody is an expert in everything.

The same goes for religious leaders commenting on cosmology or paleontology. Sometimes, when I have discussed rock types or methods of measuring time and distance in outer space, a preacher will counter with a comment showing a lack of understanding of those topics. I have heard statements from church leaders indicating that granite was laid down by Noah’s flood or that the Web telescope is looking at galaxies created less than 10,000 years ago.

Knowledgable young people recognize when a church leader makes a disproven scientific statement, and it causes them to see the Church as a relic of the past with no help in their daily lives. Those factors are part of the reason young people leave Christianity. Nobody is an expert in everything, but sometimes, we are better off being silent rather than displaying our lack of understanding.

Reference: Reader’s Digest, September 2023, pages 60-61.

October 10, 2023October 9, 2023

The Church is People, Not Buildings

When Christ walked among humans teaching God’s message, He did not call for building physical structures of brick and mortar but for changing lives. In John 4:21-24 Jesus said to the Samaritan woman: “A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem … a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.” The point is that the Church is people, not structures.

Despite the clear teaching of Jesus, humans continue to waste massive amounts of money on structures while poverty and starvation afflict most people on this planet. I am a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and I was reminded of this fact by the Autumn 2023 issue of Notre Dame Magazine. It contained a fact sheet showing the cost of the golden dome at Notre Dame and the Virgin Mary statue atop it. The dome was built in 1883, and the statue was placed there in 1880. The total surface area of the dome and statue is 7,300 square feet, and it is gilded with 23.75-carat gold leaf.

The hollow cast iron statue weighs roughly 4,400 pounds. The gold leaf that covers the statue and dome weighs only 15 pounds. Because of weathering and wear and tear, the gold has to be replaced periodically. The most recent regilding in 2023 was the twelfth time. The price of gold in October of 2023 is $1848.47 per ounce, which is $29,575.52 per pound. That means the gold cost $443, 632.80 not counting labor, cleaning, lighting, etc. The advertising value of the gold dome for the university has to be weighed by the school’s administration. I know that the football team and the gold dome are great publicity for the school, and we do not intend to criticize what they do to promote their institution.

The point is that Christians should realize that the Church is people, not buildings. Expensive structures are not what Christianity is about. In Matthew 25:21-46, when Jesus pictured God’s judgment, it is not the buildings, crosses, or educational institutions that indicate who is saved and who is lost. The point is how we have used what God has given us to benefit the lives of others. Those skeptics who condemn Christianity as extravagant in wasting money should look at what Jesus taught, not the wastefulness of misguided human efforts.

October 9, 2023October 8, 2023

Misunderstandings About Weather and Climate

The cause and control of the weather has been one of the great human misunderstandings throughout the ages and even today. In ancient times, pagan societies invented gods to explain weather phenomena. They had gods and goddesses of rain, hail, lightning, wind, snow, and even rainbows. As human knowledge increased, we have come to understand these things are design features of the Earth. However, we still have misunderstandings about weather and climate. The current climate change debate makes that obvious.

The Bible doesn’t embrace the pagan misunderstandings of weather and related phenomena. Essential to our weather is the water cycle beautifully described in Ecclesiastes 1:7, “All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; the place from which the rivers come they return again.” You will also find this in Job 36:27-28. The ancients viewed lightning as weapons of the gods, but the Bible repeatedly references the fact that lightning is a natural occurrence. (See Jeremiah 10:13 and 51:16.) Recently, a local weather person said that lightning never hits the same place twice, but between 2015 and 2020, lightning struck the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) in Chicago 250 times.

Tornadoes are a significant issue for those who want to blame God for destructive weather. However, few understand that tornadoes are pretty much an American phenomenon that seems related to how we have used the land. Every year, roughly 1,200 tornadoes are reported in the U.S. That is 75% of all tornado reports in the world. I have talked with indigenous people in America, and they tell me that their ancestors never saw a tornado and had no word for it. (They did have a word for dust devils.) Between our plowing and blacktopping the land, we may have provided a catalyst for these terrible storms.

Now, we are seeing global changes in climate and weather. Scientific evidence indicates that the way we use what God has given us is at least a contributor to these changes. Misunderstandings about weather and climate cause some to believe that destructive weather is a vindictive act of an angry God. The truth is that we have caused a very high percentage of our misery from dust storms to recent fires and flooding. We must listen to and obey God’s admonition to “Take care of the garden” (Genesis 2:15).

Reference: Reader’s Digest for September 2023, pages 26-28.