WHY THERE IS NO OTHER INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE COSMOS

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We only have to consider what the God of the Cosmos says about what He created. He made all of the heavenly bodies on the fourth day of creation and the whole focus of their creation is to provide light, signs, and seasons for Earth. Humankind made in God’s image is the final and ultimate creation act. Human life is the only kind of life that God has created for eternal friendship and eternal glory. Human life is the only kind of life that has the necessary qualities to receive such blessings, and human life is the only kind of life that God has moved all of history to redeem at the enormous cost of God’s son, Jesus having to die to pay the price for our rebellion.

“And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.” Genesis 1:14-19

As Martyn Isles says in his excellent book Who Am I? Solving the identity puzzle, the above information about humankind should make us consider how we view the lives of those we encounter each and every day. Do we see the possibility of their achieving eternal life? We should, otherwise the Holy Spirit which all believers received on surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ will convict us to make Jesus known.

“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3

The only other intelligent life is spiritual beings. God created angels before He created the Cosmos. We also know that many angels rebelled against God led by Satan. This rebellion may well be because Satan and the angels did not want to serve God’s newly created beings – humankind. Satan had been a leading Archangel in God’s heavenly realm. These rebellious angels are now called demons and they are doing their utmost to destroy humankind. It is entirely likely that any sightings of aliens are demonic apparitions. This is confirmed by reports that when these beings are told to GO in the name of Jesus Christ they disappear.

AN IRONIC QUESTION: WHO CREATED GOD?

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The author of this article is Marlon De Blasio. He is a cultural apologist, Christian writer, and the author of Discerning Culture: Knowing the Depths of Scriptural Christianity in a Culture of Scriptural Indifference.

The Christian faith claims “The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth … his understanding is unsearchable” (Isaiah 40:28). How can this be verified to the satisfaction of an inquiring mind? Even committed Christian thinkers know that the cliches, “by faith,” “by experience” or “by biblical analyses,” do not necessarily satisfy questioners. Nevertheless, I believe the Eternal God can be known personally and intellectually to satisfy rational thought.

Perhaps some expect me to provide a concrete reference that explains God’s origin. I must genuinely submit that this expectation is not reasonable. Even if I were to prove indisputably that “A” brought God into existence, the skeptic would then ask who/what created “A”? These demands could continue ad infinitum into absurdity. They lead to a fallacious line of thinking.

Knowledge does not require an explanation for its explanations to be true. For example, aviators know how much fuel is required to reach a destination and this workable knowledge is true without an explanation of where the computational values originated. We could attempt to investigate the origins, but only after we have acknowledged the computational values.

Likewise, a questioner must acknowledge God’s existence before asking where He came from. If God does not exist, the question is senseless. “Where did God come from?” is a question that is committed to His existence. In other words, a sincere questioner seeks an answer that informs about God and not about whether or not He exists. The question does have a correct answer, and even if one were to reject it that would not negate the actual existence of God.

Further, the Design Argument is often challenged by the question, who designed the Designer? Note that this question does not refute the argument. The argument is compelling and so the question is an attempt to avoid the conclusion by conflating the issue into confusion. The explanation that something is designed can be true regardless of what we know about the designer. I can understand why such an irrelevant question is asked because the questioner doesn’t like where the conversation is going.

Knowledge of the Christian faith is always rigorously challenged. Unlike other knowledge, concessions to a tenet of Christianity could entail moral accountability. Christian thinkers offer explanations that are often compelling, and so a skeptic who wishes to escape accountability often spins the content. Confusion is then deemed as a warrant for unbelief.

In Christian theology, God is eternal. He is without beginning and without end. He is the ultimate ground of reality. That is why we refer to Him as God. The question of “Where did God come” from is purposeless unless it’s asked with theological curiosity. As a young Christian, I remember asking a pastor what God was doing before He created us and the universe. The pastor explained that we don’t know, and although it was a fair question it had no bearing on our relationship with Him as He has decided to reveal Himself to us. Since then, I have grown to understand that in a human lifetime, there is no way we could understand everything about God.

Limited knowledge of God does not equate to His non-existence. On the contrary, it means that our knowledge of God is finite as we are finite beings grappling with the One whose “understanding is unsearchable.” Theologically and philosophically, it’s reasonable to believe and conclude that reality has an ultimate ground. For a Christian, there is a consciousness of God’s presence within (Holy Spirit) that is also informed intellectually. We experience and understand God exactly as the biblical writers revealed: “Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting” (Psalms 93:2). What was understood and experienced of God thousands of years ago has been real to subsequent generations of believers, as well as to us today. We comprehend meaningfully that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

A questioner is sincere only if committed to exploring the attributes of God, and then making up one’s own mind about personal salvation in Christ. Isn’t it reasonable to consider that God is the ultimate ground of reality? It makes philosophical sense; otherwise, we regress into absurdity. All the evil, selfishness and ill will we encounter have a remedy in Jesus Christ. It’s a fact that throughout history the Gospel has transformed countless lives, and continues to do so today. Isn’t it intellectually honest to read and investigate this Good News for oneself? Questions are meaningful only when we are genuinely open to considering the answers.

I have a question for the skeptic who asks, who created God? That is, if you somehow discovered that the Christian faith is true would you become a Christian? If you were to answer, no, then you should shift focus on why you would answer, no. It will reveal a great deal about your own questions.

You can follow Marlon De Blasio at MarlonDeBlasio@Twitter

IS GENESIS HISTORY, IS THE BIBLE GOD’S WORD, IS IT TRUE?

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If you have not viewed the film “Is Genesis History” then you need to as Dr. Del Hackett has done a thorough and convincing job of putting it together. He interviews leading Ph.D. scientists across all the relevant fields of science.

Is Genesis History? features over a dozen scientists and scholars explaining how the world intersects with the history recorded in Genesis.  From rock layers to fossils, from lions to stars, from the Bible to artifacts, this fascinating film will change the way you see the world. Evolution and random chance cannot explain its existence.

The film’s goal is to provide a convincing case for Creation in six normal days just 6000 years ago, a real Adam and Eve, an actual Fall that resulted in the entry of death into this world, God’s judgement of a Global Flood which caused the burial of billions of dead things (fossils) all over the world including fossil fuels, and the establishment of nations at the confusing of languages by God at the Tower of Babel.

Dr. Del Tackett, creator of The Truth Project, serves as your guide—hiking through canyons, climbing up mountains, and diving below the sea—in an exploration of two competing views … one compelling truth.

This is such an important issue in the world at this time when people who attend school in most Western civilizations are taught that this Cosmos came into existence through the Big Bang and evolution. God was not necessary and the Bible is just a book of fairy tales and myths. God warned us with many end-times prophecies in the Bible that this would be the case at the time of Jesus’ prophesied second coming to Earth. The following Scripture is one of them.

“Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” 2 Peter 3:3-7

“Is Genesis History will strengthen confidence in Scripture, clarify understanding of the relationships of revelation, science, history, and faith, and enhance understanding of difficult questions all the while being both beautiful and entertaining.” – E. Calvin Beisner, PhD

Running Time 1 hour and 44 minutes

THE REAL ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE WORLD AND MANKIND

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Part of this real history is the bad news that the rebellion of the first man, Adam, against God’s command, brought death, suffering, and separation from God into this world. We see the results all around us. All of Adam’s descendants are sinful from conception (Psalm 51:5) and have themselves entered into this rebellion (sin). They, therefore, cannot live with a holy God but are condemned to separation from God. The Bible says that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and that all are therefore subject to “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9).

 The good news is that God has done something about it. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Jesus Christ the Creator, God the Son, though totally sinless, took on human nature, so He could become our Redeemer. Then He suffered, on behalf of mankind, the penalty of mankind’s sin, which is death and separation from God. He did this to satisfy the righteous demands of the holiness and justice of God, His Father. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice; He died on a cross, but on the third day, He rose again, conquering death, so that all who truly believe in Him, repent (repentance = a change of mind) of their sin and trust in Him (rather than their own merit), are able to come back to God and live for eternity with their Creator.

Sadly, the world no longer takes the Bible as God’s Word divinely inspired by its Creator. Despite the overwhelming evidence of a worldwide flood: billions of dead things were buried quickly all over the world including abundant fossil fuels formed from buried vegetation, we do not want to believe there is a God to whom we are responsible for our actions. A god who judged the world just 4,000 years ago with the worldwide flood of Noah’s day. Look at the following two prophetic Scriptures written over two thousand years ago telling us that what we see happening in the world today will happen.

“You should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming?… For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.” 2 Peter 3:2-3,5-6

“But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.” Jude 1:17-19

Jesus came to earth, two thousand years ago, to redeem us and there were 300-plus prophecies to warn the religious leaders of the day but they missed it. Likewise, there are almost 2000 Biblical prophecies about Jesus’ soon second coming to earth and many of the religious leaders of our day are missing it. Jesus is coming to take believers to heaven for a period whilst God pours out His wrath a second time on an unrepentant world. The end times Biblical prophecies are already playing out in our day and we are not too far off the prophesied last seven years of this age. The Bible gives us a lot of information about the events that will occur during those last seven years. Make sure you take advantage of God’s offer of redemption in Jesus Christ and avoid the coming wrath of God.

“When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” 2 Thessalonians 1:6b-8

“When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” Revelation 6:12-17

THESE GALAXIES HAD NO TIME TO FORM

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University of Colorado at Boulder: James Webb telescope spots super old, massive galaxies that shouldn’t exist, sciencedaily.com, 22 Feb 2023.

Spiral galaxy. Somewhere in deep space.

An international research team examining images from the James Webb telescope reported finding six galaxies as big as our Milky Way Galaxy. This was thought impossible because they are said to be ‘only’ 500 to 700 million years after the alleged Big Bang, which is ‘too early’ for the theory. Yet they appear remarkably ‘modern’.

It’s no surprise that as technology enables us to ‘see’ more from the universe’s past, attempts to explain how everything made itself by natural processes face more, not less, difficulties. The alternative still stands:

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1).

Erica Nelson, co-author of the Nature paper and assistant professor of astrophysics at the University of Colorado Boulder, said, “It’s bananas. You just don’t expect the early universe to be able to organize itself that quickly. These galaxies should not have had time to form.”

“For His (God’s) invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Romans 1:20-21

“And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.” Genesis 1:14-19