BiblicalInsights.net

Inflation theory is dead!  Calla Cofield, on Space.com wrote an article titled, “Cosmic Inflation Theory Bites the (Space) Dust.”  The article was posted January 30, 2015, 03:46 ET.  She writes, “It is the announcement no one wanted to hear:  The most exciting astronomical discovery of 2014 has vanished.  Two groups of scientists announced today (Jan. 30) that a tantalizing signal–which some scientists claimed was “smoking gun” evidence of dramatic cosmic expansion just after the birth of the universe–was actually caused by something much more mundane: interstellar dust.”
She continues, “In the cosmic inflation announcement, which was unveiled in March, 2014, scientists with the BICEP 2 experiment, claimed to have found patterns in light left over from the Big Bang that indicated that space had rapidly inflated at the beginning of the universe, about 13.8 billion years ago.  The discovery also supposedly confirmed the existence of gravitational waves, theoretical ripples in space-time. But in a statement today, scientists with the European Space Agency said that data from the agency’s Planck Space Observatory has revealed that interstellar dust caused more than half of the signal detected by the Antarctica based BICEP 2 experiment.  The Planck spacecraft observations were not yet available last March when the BICEP 2 science team made its announcement.  ‘Unfortunately, we have not been able to confirm that the signal is an imprint of cosmic inflation,’ Jean-Loup Puget, principle investigator of the HFI instrument on Planck at the Institut d’ Astrophysique Spatiale in Orsay, France, said in a statement.  The conclusion is the result of a collaborative analysis by scientists with both BICEP 2 and Planck, using data from both telescopes as well as the Keck array at the South Pole.” (Evidence For Cosmic Inflation Theory Bites the (Space) Dust by Calla Cofield, Space.com).
In light of the above statement and evidence, it seems strange that Nobie Stone, in his book, Genesis 1 and Lessons From Space Revised Edition (pp. 67-68) published by the Warren Christian Apologetics Center, would continue to affirm the inflation theory in support of the Big Bang theory and deny the historical and literal interpretation of Genesis 1.  Is the Warren Christian Apologetics Center accountable for false science as well as a false interpretation of God’s Word due to the fact that it published this book and is distributing it worldwide without refutation?  You be the judge!
Please read my complete review of Nobie Stone’s book under the Book Reviews page on this blog.

Temperance and patience form an important team of virtues.  In II Peter 1:5-8, Peter instructs us to add patience to temperance.  Without temperance, we could not be patient.  The word “add” indicates that we must grow spiritually in the development of godly character.  The pursuit of godly character is one aspect of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Patience–Passive Sense.
The word patience literally involves “an abiding under.” (Vine, III, pp. 167-168).  In the passive sense, patience is endurance.  In the face of hatred, Christians must endure.  Luke 21:19, “In your patience possess ye your souls.”  Jesus warned that His disciples would be hated of all men for His name’s sake.  Some trials are incident to service to Jesus Christ or the Gospel.  II Cor. 6:4-5, “But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings… (See also, II Cor. 12:12; II Tim. 3:10).  We must be patient when under chastisement (Heb. 12:7).  And, we must be patient in the face of undeserved affliction (I Peter 2:20).
Patience-Active Sense
Patience, in the active sense, means perseverance or persistence. Paul teaches us to continue in well-doing.  Rom. 2:7, “To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.”  It takes patience to bear fruit.  Luke 8:15, “But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.”  Patience is also needed to run the Christian race.  Heb. 12:1, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”
Patience–Some Opposites
Consider this list of opposites to patience:  idleness, contrariness, inattention, defiance, neglect, irritation, exasperation, rage, fretfulness, fickleness, ire, temper, petulance, displeasure, negligence, disobedience, resistance, wrath, remissness, indignation, indolence, recalcitrance, fury, pettishness, offense, sloth, insubordination, peevishness, impatience, willfulness, inconstancy, resentment, intractability, vexation, animosity, changeableness, and passion.  A lack of patience produces a whole host of undesirable attitudes and behaviors.
Patience and Temperance
Temperance is self-control or will-power exercised to restrain the passions and develop the spiritual habits of mind and heart that will keep us from sin and promote righteousness.  Patience is the use of will-power to either endure hardships and trials or persevere in well-doing (righteousness).  Temperance and patience are a team that work together to help us live a life that is pleasing to God.  They are intricately involved in the mastery of self.  These may be two virtues that are lacking the most in the character of God’s people.

Christopher Ingraham, in The Washington Post, August 13, 2017 provided the following information about alcohol abuse in the United States.
–A new study published in JAMA Psychiatry this month finds that the rate of alcohol use disorder (alcoholism) rose by a shocking 49 percent in the first decade of the 2000’s.
–1 in 8 Americans, 12.7 percent of the U. S. population, now meets diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorder.
–The authors of the study characterize the findings as a serious and overlooked public health problem.  Health issues involved in alcohol abuse are:  fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, liver cirrhosis, several types of cancer and infections, pancreatitis, type 2 diabetes and various injuries.  In another study, The American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research fund have announced the analysis of 119 previous studies involving 12 million women and 260,000 cases of breast cancer.  The study shows that even one small glass of wine or an eight-ounce beer a day causes a 5% greater risk of breast cancer for premenopausal women and a 9% increase for postmenopausal women.  Alcohol triggers DNA mutations and raises estrogen levels which are linked to increased risk for breast cancer.  (Does God Exist?, Third Quarter, 2017, p. 26).
–The CDC (Center For Disease Control) estimates that 88,000 people a year die from alcohol-related causes.  This is more than double the annual death rate of opiate overdoses (100 people a day die from opiate/heroin overdoes in the U. S.).  241 people a day are dying due to alcohol abuse!  Where are the headlines exposing this crisis?
–Nearly 1 in 4 adults under the age of 30 (23.4 percent) met the diagnostic criteria for alcoholism.
A diagnosis of alcohol dependency occurs when any three of the following seven symptoms are present:
1.  Need for markedly increased amounts of alcohol to achieve intoxication or desired effect.
2.  Characteristic withdrawal symptoms (shakes for instance) or drinking to relieve these types of symptoms.
3.  Drinking larger amounts; or, over a longer period of time.
4.  Persistent desire or one or more unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control drinking (out-of-control drinking).
5.  Spending a great deal of time in activities necessary to obtain, to use, or to recover from the effects of drinking.
6.  Continued drinking despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent physical or psychological problem that is likely to be caused or exacerbated by drinking.
7.  Important social, occupational, or recreational activities given up or reduced because of drinking.
God’s Word Condemns Drinking Alcohol
Consider the following passages that condemn the use of alcohol.  Proverbs 20:1, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”  Prov. 23:29, “Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling?  Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?  They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine?  Eph. 5:18, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”  “Be not drunk” is an inceptive verb that refers to the entire process of inebriation, from the first drink onward.  There is an alternative to consuming alcohol and that is to be filled with the Spirit.  Rom. 8:13-14, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”  Gal. 5:19-21, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
The sin of drinking alcoholic beverages in our culture and in our churches has become widespread.  The indulgence of the lusts of the flesh are detrimental to the cultivation of godly character.  The use of alcohol lessons our ability to practice self-control.  The result is that alcohol use becomes an avenue for the commission of more sins (fornication, adultery, domestic abuse, violence, death and injury due to drunk driving, murder, and such like).
Paul set forth a clear pathway to God that involves mortifying the lusts of the flesh and pursuing life in the Spirit.  Those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God.