Christian Data Resources

Yesterday, I watched some of Attorney General William Barr’s hearing before the House of Representatives. I noticed a peculiar trend among the Democratic Representatives who asked him questions. They were given five minutes each. Usually, the first four minutes consisted of a diatribe against President Trump, and then they would ask a quick question. As Barr began to answer (with a disappointingly accurate reply), they would ring in with, “I reclaim my time.” Per House rules, this indicated that Barr should stop in the middle of his answer. Then, after talking over Barr for a few seconds, and complaining about Barr’s answer, the representative would finish his or her five minutes continuing with their diatribe. Then they would “considerately” yield their remaining five seconds back to the chairman.

First of all, as Barr noted, it was odd that he was called before Congress for a hearing, but they didn’t really want to hear him. They only wanted some free air time for a campaign ad, since they’re all running for re-election in three months.

Secondly, the tone in which they each used the phrase “I reclaim my time” indicated that what they really meant was “Shut up.” I suppose the next time your kids are too loud at the dinner table, parents should simply say, “I reclaim my time.”

Does the Bible defy the natural law of gravity (miracles)? According to the Bible, the orbits of the earth and moon can be stopped (Joshua 10: 12-13). This seems to completely ignore the Copernican Revolution (1543), Kepler’s Laws (1609), the observations that the Earth moves by Galileo (1632), and the Law of Universal Gravitation Newton (1687).

You have asked about a very interesting event in Joshua 10:12-13 when the sun and the moon stopped their orbits. This was a miracle. Please allow me to explain. God is more powerful than the laws of nature. In fact, He created all of the laws of the universe. As the creator, His creation belongs to Him, and he can do with it as He pleases.

On a limited number of occasions, He has chosen to intervene in our world by performing miracles; i.e., overruling the laws of nature. Please consider the following miracles in addition to the one you have already cited:

– 2 Chronicles 20:11 records a miracle where God reversed the orbit of the earth around the sun when he made the sundial back up ten steps.

– In 2 Kings 6:6, Elisha made an iron ax head float on water.

– Jesus performed many miracles, such as restoring sight to the blind and restoring speech to the mute (Matthew 12:22), and calming a raging sea (Matthew 8:26), which had to disrupt the current weather patterns at the time.

We must understand that God performs miracles for a specific purpose that He has in mind–not simply for the amusement of us who cannot similarly deny the laws of nature. When God stopped the orbits of the sun and the moon, this was done in order to prove that God was fighting for Israel (Joshua 10:14). When He made the sundial back up ten steps, this was done in order to prove that Isaiah was a true prophet, speaking with the authority of God.

Similarly, when the ax head floated, this proved that Elisha was a true prophet from God. Obviously, the miracles that Jesus performed proved that He is the Messiah, the very Son of God.

Now, it would be a very weak argument for a skeptic to point to these miracles in trying to prove that the Bible contains errors. On the other hand, for believers, these miracles serve to increase our faith–not to plant doubts in our minds. In fact, miracles could be another answer for some of the other questions that you have asked: i.e., the process of photosynthesis before the sun was created; the violation of the laws of thermodynamics; etc.

Are There Waters Beyond the Abyss? Exodus 20:4 says, “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” This could easily be explained by seas and oceans; i.e., waters below the “surface” of the earth. Again, science cannot prove that waters do not exist even further within the earth’s interior. Psalm 136:6 says that God “spread out the earth upon the waters…” Psalm 24:2 says that God founded the earth “on the seas and established it on the waters.”

It would appear that this is explained by Genesis 1:2, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Apparently, during His act of creation, God first created the waters. Then later, He created the “land” (“earth”) and the sky. Verses 6-7 say, “And God said, ‘Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.’ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so.”

In the last two months, the federal government has spent about $4 trillion of taxpayer money on the Coronavirus pandemic, and the Federal reserve has added about $5 trillion in loans. Now the House has passed another $3.7 trillion. That’s about $13 trillion so far.

Soon we will exceed the $21 trillion GDP. I guess then we’ll try to top the (growing) $25 trillion national debt. How long will it be before we exceed the $125 trillion national debt that counts unfunded Social Security and Medicare promises? That number represents $806,000 per taxpayer.

California governor Gavin Newsom doesn’t think we’re spending enough. He wants the U.S. taxpayers to bail out the states. He requested another $1 trillion for Coronavirus 50-state aid.

Despite California’s $54 billion budget deficit and $1 trillion unfunded pension liability, it has 340,000 government employees making six-figure salaries and pension checks. Paying $45 billion for the 340,000 six-figure public employees costs every single household in California $2,500. That’s a full month of after-tax income for a worker making the magical $15 per hour.

Let’s slow down and take a breath on the spending. Why isn’t anyone worried about the debt?

Are There Waters Above the Sky?  Genesis 7:11 says that in the time of the flood, “… the floodgates of the heavens were opened.”

Genesis 7:11 is easily explained in that the “heavens” there refer to the “first heaven,” the atmosphere including clouds and weather patterns from which we receive our rains.

2 Corinthians 12:2 speaks of the “third heaven.” This implies that there are three heavens, and these appear to be:

1. The first heaven – the atmosphere of the earth, including the air immediately above our heads;
2. Beyond that, the second heaven – outer space;
3. Beyond that, the third heaven – where God abides.

Psalm 148:4 refers to the “waters” above the skies. Psalm 104:2-3 says that God “stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of His upper chambers on their waters.”

I cannot explain this, other than to say that perhaps there are indeed waters above the sky, perhaps even in the third heaven. Certainly, science has not disproved this.

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, it is interesting to look at the leading causes of death in the United States, according to the CDC website, as of May 4th, 2020:

• Suicide:                                            47,173
• Kidney Disease:                                 50,633
• Influenza and Pneumonia:                  55,672
• Covid-19                                           65,735
• Diabetes:                                          83,564
• Alzheimer’s:                                     121,404
• Stroke:                                            146,383
• Lung Disease:                                  160,201
• Accidents:                                       169,936
• Cancer:                                           599,108
• Heart Disease:                                 647,457
• Abortion:                                         862,320

So, we willingly kill about the same number of unborn babies as those who die of all other causes combine, excluding cancer and heart disease.

So, the state of Illinois wants a $40 billion bailout.  See what got them into trouble:  Hundreds of thousands of public employees making hundreds of thousands of dollars each!

Genesis 11:4-6 says, “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’ But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The LORD said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.'”

Can the Sky Be Achieved?  

I’m not sure what your question is with this verse, but I’ll attempt an answer. What the people said here is of no consequence. Their vain and failed attempt to build a tower that reached to the heavens doesn’t matter. The only universal truth we can discern from this passage is what God said. God did not really address whether or not the sky can be achieved.

Technically, what God said was that as long as all people spoke the same language, then nothing they do will be impossible for them. As a result, in verses 7 through 9, he confused their language and scattered them according to their various languages. So, today, the “nothing will be impossible” clause does not apply to us, because we are no longer united by a common language. However, the Bible is clear that only God is omnipotent, and man, in his sinful nature, is quite helpless in many respects. So, it has never been “possible” for man to do anything and everything, even before his language was confused.

However, yes, in terms of airplanes and space travel, the sky can be “achieved,” with limitations.

This is a controversial question, but here’s how I see it: Muslims believe that their god is Allah, and that Jesus was just a prophet. They claim to worship the god of Abraham, as do Christians. However, Christians believe in the Trinity (a Triune God), where God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all deity. The question basically comes down to whether one can reject Jesus Christ as the Son and truly know God the Father. And it is Christ himself who answered that question in John 14:6 when He said that to reject the Son means that one does not know the Father: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

So, based upon this, I would say no, that Muslims do not worship the same God as we Christians.

Thanks,

Owen

Yesterday, Senator Chuck Schumer sounded off on the abortion issue: “I want to tell you, Gorsuch. I want to tell you, Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price… You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

So what price will they pay? Is he threatening their lives? Is he threatening to take a scalpel and cut them to shreds? Or is he threatening to administer a lethal chemical to them? Or is he threatening to stop them from stopping others (mothers and doctors) who do those exact things to unborn babies through the 1,000,000 abortions in the United States each year?