Deer Season Can't Come Soon Enough!

So I started the 2008 gun buck season using a Chinese SKS that a good friend of mine had given me. It was a fun gun, but I soon discovered that for deer hunting, it was just not accurate enough. Missed three deer at less than 40 yards. I knew it was the gun and not me when I borrowed a friend's .30-.30 and took two deer at the same distance with no problems. That meant I needed a real deer rifle.

I took the SKS down to the Trading Post in Marmet, WV and traded it for a Stevens (Savage) Model 110 .30-06 plus $50 to boot. I lost the gun my friend gave me, but got an excellent deer rifle for nearly nothing. Took it out this morning and zeroed it in. Took four shots to sight it dead center at 35 yards. Excellent gun. Kicks like a mule. Only eleven more months to go til the next deer season. Maybe by then I will have run out of deer jerky.

The Bills Blog at www.adoniram.net

What Evolutionists Fear Most

Evolution is an intimidating theory. It predominates among scientists all over the world, who marshal swarms of weighty facts and powerful assertions in its support. It has filtered down into common acceptance by laymen through classroom instruction, books, documentaries, TV shows, and casual conversations. It is ubiquitous and unchallenged by all but those who believe in creation.

However, the massive heft of evolutionary theory depends upon one simple presupposition: the God-option must be excluded from the discussion at all costs. For evolution to be true, the God-option must be shoved off the table.

The God-option is excluded by a deceptively simple tactic—limit the discussion to the exclusive realm of science. Science has defined itself as distinct from religion. The God-option is inherently religious, so its proponents do not have a seat at the science table. Intelligent God-option arguments are irrelevant and will never change the course of the discussion, because the God-option does not belong in the discussion. As experts huddle themselves around the table to decide the origin of all things, they come to a haughty consensus by tightening the huddle. No matter how loudly we object, we will be ignored. The God-option is not, under any circumstances, a legitimate option.

If the God-option is excluded, what can the evolutionists conclude? They must propose that life originated through natural processes. They have no choice. They have limited themselves through the arrogance of their own self-definition. They must therefore marshal their arguments as powerfully as their limitations allow. The full weight of their expertise, education, experience, and intellect is thrust behind the only conclusion they can possibly derive.

As long as Christians fail to recognize this simple fact, evolution will continue to be intimidating and will claim the faith of those who give in to its weight. If God created everything, there is no fact of science that is outside the scope of his domain. If He created everything, no aspect of evolutionary theory is truly intimidating. As Van Til said, “there are not because there cannot be other than God-interpreted facts.” God’s creation cannot undermine itself. God has not proved Himself wrong by means of science. Scientists have instead left God out of the picture, limited themselves to their wild imaginations, and must desperately cling to their conclusions as a result. If they do not, they must fearfully face what they do not dare—the God who made them.

Consolation for the Brevity of Life

Like most people, I sometimes sink into a funk, in spite of the blessings I experience. Most of it comes from a keen awareness of my unworthiness of these blessings. The recent passing of friends my own age makes me also keenly aware of my own mortality. Tomorrow is guaranteed for none of us. I find myself tuning in to every vibration of my heart. Every skipped beat or rushed pattern scares me. My fears are mostly for my family and how they must cope if God were to take me. I know the pain of losing others; I do not want them to experience that on my behalf. Also, the job is not done, and I do not want to leave before it is. I have kids to raise and a church to pastor and a wife to love and the gift of life to enjoy.

When these fears arise, I search my life for consolations--things that would make it all right if God were to take me. And I find that every consolation I want to grab onto is ultimately insufficient: My reputation, my life insurance, my accomplishments, my education, the good character of my children, the temporariness of the inevitable grief, even the unfoundedness of my mortal fears is itself an unfounded consolation. I am driven in those moments to the only remaining consolation that has any real meaning: Christ alone is my consolation--the fear cannot be entirely assuaged by anything else. Nothing else is worth meditating upon in those moments. Even if God grants me long life, nothing that comes next can compare to the glory of knowing Christ. I am his child, he will do with me what he will, and I will be with him for eternity. His love for me does not fail, in spite of my failings.

The question that remains is how can I glorify God in my present circumstances whatever they may be. It is possible to do so regardless of the circumstances. My reputation can be thrown in the dust. My wife could leave me. My children could forsake the church and never speak to me again. I could lose my ministry and need to work a job that just gets me by and seems to have no larger significance than that. Even then I can glorify God. The questions is, how?

I know it must start with this: whether I live or die, Christ is my consolation. There is glory for God and joy for me if I can settle this deep in my heart.

A Grouse, A Squirrel, and a Four-Wheeler

Tuesday began with some squirrel hunting with a fellow PCA pastor, Jason Driggers. Saw several, but didn't hit anything . . . something must be wrong with my .22. But once I returned home, a friend in Winifrede took me out ATV four- wheeling--25 miles of deep-woods trails, mud, logs, rocks, sticks, briars, and, along the way, one poor little grouse. Unfortunately for the grouse, I had a shotgun with me. He is now resting quietly in my freezer beside the deer. Now if I could only get some squirrel, my hunting conquest would be complete.

Wet Babies!

Ethan Deal was baptized at Winifrede Presbyterian Church on December 28, 2008. Right afterwards, I baptized Caleb Knapp. I then preached the first of two sermons on "Why We Baptize our Children." We have three more baptisms on January 25, when I will preach part two. It was a wonderful, humbling, and exciting experience. I thank God for the privilege and hope to be able to baptize many more in the years ahead.

WV Roots . . . The House Mom Was Raised In.

Located in the community of Branchland in Lincoln County WV, my mother and her four sisters were raised in this home.  My grandparents finally moved out in the early seventies.  I lived there myself for the first few months of my life. The house has fallen into disrepair in the decades since and is now uninhabitable.  Probably should be torn down. But from what I understand, Mamaw and Papaw Bear had this little home looking quite pristine and beautiful beside the bottom by the Gyuandotte River.    Two small bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, bathroom and a little den, all fitting within a few hundred square feet.   Below are some pics of the interior as it appears today.  







 

Movie Review: The Day the Earth Stood Still

 Plot:  D
 Acting:  C
 Production Quality:  A
 Negative Elements:  B
 Positive Elements:  C

 GPA:  2.4

 

Comments:   The Day the Earth Stood Still was a misfire.  The human race is about to be exterminated by a coalition of alien civilizations that believes humans are killing the planet Earth.  It is going to happen soon, and humans are helpless to stop it.   This crisis appears to concern the actors in the movie, but I found it very easy to watch their plight with ambivalence.  Movies are at their best when they stir our affections:  fear, love, hatred, joy, etc.  Movies that fail to do this are either not my kind of movie (a matter of preference) or they are far from the best that movies can be.  Since sci-fi is right down my alley, I judge the latter.  The effects were fascinating to watch, but there was little else to commend it.  

Oh, for the good old days of rising-Cold-War-tension plot lines--that would have hit the heart!  This was in fact what the original 1951 flick tried to capitalize upon, and it hit at the heart of humanity's hateful problem of violent selfishness.  Today's "re-visioning" ties into the modernistic fetish of preserving the earth at the expense of human life.  No matter how environmentally conscious one should be, nature's priority over human existence is an extreme, modern  reversal of the created order--the logical conclusion of confused priorities.   Now, admittedly, the movie's producers were aiming to produce more money and fun than enviro-preaching and repentance.  But I still cannot give the premise a pass.  While Biblical environmentalism may be neglected, it still has man at the top, and no alien has the right to trump that.  Stupid aliens!

So these were the weakest elements of the movie:  1)  The storyline and style of presentation did not create suspense for the viewer.  When there is no tension to be resolved, the resolution is irrelevant.  2)   The choice of  "environmentalism" as the crisis felt manufactured and unrealistic.  As a thematic proposition, it defies the common sense of even the most ardent environmentalists (no matter what they say).  3) The transformation of the alien from executioner to savior was too easy and unconvincing.   The mother's argument was "we can change!"   Her proof was that she loved her child.  That is a silly, underwhelming non-sequitur.  Nothing was argued or proved to Klaatu in support of that proposition.  Stupid aliens!    I don't think this movie is worth watching once.   That's a shame--because I love a good sci-fi flick.  

In Memory of Steve Crawford, who also loved a good sci-fi flick, was looking forward to this film, and would also  have been disappointed.   Visit one of his favorite websites here:  www.outpost31.com.