BiblicalInsights.net

I have uploaded a response to Matthew Sokoloski’s review of Nobie Stone’s book, Genesis 1 and Lessons From Space.  Sokoloski teaches in the Humanities department of Faulkner University.  He wrote a book review of Nobie Stone’s book for Sufficient Evidence, a journal published by the Warren Christian Apologetics Center.  The review appeared in the Fall, 2017 issue.  Sokoloski’s review exposes one of the major weaknesses of Nobie Stone’s book (also published by the Warren Christian Apologetics Center) which is its skepticism (agnosticism).  However, Sokoloski fails to point out some of the other errors contained in the book.  You will find my response to Sokoloski’s review under my Book Reviews page on this blog.  Please take the time to read it.  Then, for more background information, please read my book reviews of both the first edition and revised edition of Nobie Stone’s book.  The publishing of Stone’s book utterly destroys the integrity of the Warren Christian Apologetics Center and brings shame and reproach on the name of Thomas B. Warren.

In Ruth 2:3, the Bible says, “And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech.”  The word hap means “an accidental set of circumstances.”  For accidental causes to accomplish something that would normally require insight is a coincidence (Theistic Evolution, p. 97).  Ruth gleaned in the field of Boaz by coincidence.
Probability is the math of coincidence–  the math by which we rigorously rank coincidences.  For instance, you bump into an old classmate at a restaurant a thousand miles from your home and understand that it was a coincidence.  However, if your entire graduating class was at the restaurant, then, you know that it could not be by accident or coincidence, but would have to be by design.
Common Science
Whether or not we know how to calculate probabilities, we all seem to know from everyday experience–common science–that the number of opportunities cannot be large enough for anything but minor coincidences to occur.  Douglas Axe introduces us to the concept of common science in a chapter that he wrote for the book, Theistic Evolution.  Axe confidently affirms that inventions never occur by accident.  An invention is illustrated by a pizza, a power point presentation, or a paragraph in a book.  In invention (and we are all inventors) a large number of small things must be done sensibly (intelligently) in order for the big thing to come together.  Projects like making a pizza are easy to accomplish because we have mastered all of the elementary skills they require, but the fact that these skills had to be acquired assures us that accidents will never take the place of inventions.  If an invention such as a pizza will never be made by accident, then, for mind blowingly spectacular inventions like hummingbirds or dolphins to happen by accident is completely out of the question.  The rule then is: accidental invention is impossible.
Application of the Rule to Evolution
If accidental invention is impossible, then macroevolution is false.  The theory of evolution does not escape the rule of accidental invention.  Yet, evolutionists insist that, given enough time, the natural world and the universe that we live in including all life forms happened by accident!  They affirm this even though the probability is so high that it violates common science. 
Application of the Rule to Theistic Evolution
The concept of theistic evolution attempts to compromise the theory of evolution and the Biblical account of creation.  However, evolution and design are contradictory as noted above.  Theistic evolution is false because it attempts to assert that both evolution (chance development of all things) and design (intelligent design) are true.  This violates the law of non-contradiction.  The law of non-contradiction states that a proposition cannot both be true and not true at the same time.  Every precisely stated proposition is either true or false.  Evolutionists like Charles Darwin and his followers explicitly claim that chance variation (mutations) and the law of natural selection have produced all species of living organisms from a common ancestor including human beings. If true, then, design is ruled out.  In contrast, if design is the cause of creation of species as the Bible affirms, then chance and the law of natural selection are ruled out.  Theistic evolutionists attempt to have it both ways and violate the law of non-contradiction. This simply means that you have to be irrational in order to be either an evolutionist or a theistic evolutionist.
Evolution is a story without a mechanism.  It is not possible for chance to produce the design (invention) that we see every day in our universe.  This means that there is only one explanation for the design we observe all around us–an intelligent being–God–created it (Gen. 1:1)!  (reference:  Theistic Evolution, edited by J. P. Moreland, Stephen C. Meyer, Christopher Shaw, Ann K. Gauger, and Wayne Grudem).

Roderick C. Meredith in Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? affirms that Jesus was resurrected on the Sabbath day. He also affirms that Jesus was crucified on Wednesday and buried Wednesday afternoon.  He states, “But the Bible is very clear that Christ was not resurrected on Sunday morning” (p. 22).
In the interest of trying the spirits whether they be of God (I John 4:1), let us put Mr. Meredith to the test of truth.
First, Jesus predicted His resurrection on the third day. Matt. 16:21, “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.”  “Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day” (Luke 9:22).  Many other passages teach the same thing (Mark 9:31; 10:34; Matt. 17:23; 20:19; Luke 18:33; 24:46).
Second, Luke gives us irrefutable evidence that Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week or the third day.
Luke 24:1, “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.”  This passage indicates the day when the women came to the tomb of Jesus to prepare His body with spices. They discovered that His body was no longer in the tomb.
Luke 24:13, “And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.”  The phrase, “that same day” refers to the first day of the week.
Luke 24:21, “But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.”  These words were spoken by Cleopas and another disciple (unnamed) as they spoke to Jesus while on the road to Emmaus.  They spoke of Jesus’ crucifixion (Luke 24:20). This day was, in fact, the third day from the time of Jesus’ crucifixion which was the first day of the week (Luke 24:1).
Luke 24:46, “And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.”  In Luke 24, the third day was the first day of the week. Jesus was resurrected on Sunday, the first day of the week.  We affirm this confidently because Luke, an inspired writer, recorded it and not because of any tradition of men.