Have a Blessed 2021 Christmas

Christmas is only a few days away, so I thought I'd say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

To my regret, I don't think I'll be going to mass on Christmas because of the repeat in COVID number spikes. I'm in the susceptible category, though I am grateful to have avoided it so far. I missed Easter mass last year in the shut-downs. I will watch a service on EWTN from Rome at 4:30 am. I'm an early bird and will be up anyway. I hope that next year will be more normal and we can all attend all the masses and church services we desire.

God is with us, at home, work and church. We can celebrate the coming of Christ no matter where we are, although Catholics desire the communion which comes when we attend mass. Of course, many Christians get together with food and presents in celebration of Christ's entry to Earth. Sometimes, though, it seems the celebrations don't spell out all that Christ's appearance implies. Don't get me wrong--it is commemoration of a joyous occasion (Luke 2:8-11). However, this year, with increased quiet time to reflect, I see Christmas more as the beginning of the most important battle of good versus evil happening on our planet. This war was going on before, but in the critical battle, Christ came to die for us, and also agreed to live a perfect life so He could take our place in the atonement of sins. Neither of these could have been easy even though He is God. 

And the war continues now in our world, but in a different way after Christ's victory. Satan knows he is defeated but tries to fool people away from the Lord. Unfortunately this enemy with his minions has been winning in the US in the last decades. A recent Pew Survey shows the numbers of decreasing Christianity and increasing "nones," people unaffiliated with religion (article HERE).

The battleground for Christians is in the realm of faith. If we believe in Jesus as our Savior, that He died for our sins to satisfy justice, and that He is God as part of the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we can abide with Him forever. This is our benefit of His great triumph. But for those who don't believe, the future, in this world and beyond, is very bleak. The challenge is to get non-believers to realize the truth and recognize the Truth.

I pray for everyone's safety and health. I hope you will give time to reflect on Christmas. It is a joyous celebration, but it is also a sober reminder of the circumstances under which Christ was born, what He came to do and then accomplished.

New Creation Biology Cover

It's been an amazingly busy summer and my last blog post was over 2 months ago. But I've been working, with help, on a new cover for my Creation Biology, 2021 Edition, and am happy with the results. I offer this 35-page booklet free over the Internet but also will print out some paper editions as I seek God's guidance on its distribution. I know many people are writing about creation now, related to the fields of biology, geology and cosmology. This is my small contribution, gleaned from my formal education and continued reading. 

UPDATE 2-21-22: After printing out some of the booklets, I found the font too small to comfortably read. I thought I might as well check through it again and made yet a few more edits for clarity. So now it is the 40-page Creation Biology, 2022 Edition. You can click on the image for the direct link or get it RIGHT HERE.

I think there are very good reasons to believe that God made life and some species, or types, directly by supernatural means, called Special Creation. My booklet describes some details of biology and relates how improbable it would be for the present systems to be in place by chance. I try to be as clear as I can, and it is important for people to know these facts so they can approach the questions of Creation and evolution with as much information as possible.

Though people say that scientists will always discover more, at some point we accept certain scientific facts such as the existence of atoms and molecules. We may come to learn more about them, but enough has been clarified to believe they exist. The biological discoveries of the last few decades have been enough to clarify that random mutation of DNA and subsequent "selection of the fittest" is not a reasonable answer for the makeup and variation of life we see today.

Now that I'm done with this booklet, I'm trying to read more of the Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas, the great theologian.  He refers to Aristotle's Metaphysics quite often, which I had never read, so I am tackling that too. Those books will keep me occupied for a long time.

I hope that you will let my Creation Biology, 2022 Edition booklet occupy some of your time.

Creation Biology, 2021 Edition

I have been wanting to update my Creation Biology booklet and finally managed to do it in a 2021 edition. Like all my books and booklets, it is absolutely free!

UPDATE 2-21-22: After printing out some of the booklets, I found the font too small to comfortably read. I thought I might as well check through it again and made yet a few more edits for clarity. So now it is the 40-page Creation Biology, 2022 Edition. To access, you can click on the image or the direct link RIGHT HERE.

The purpose of Creation Biology has always been to discuss the possibility of direct supernatural creation by God of biological life. Though I have some of the same information in this booklet as previous ones, I feel this one adds even more to explain recent biological research and the implications. One new section describes some of the most recent discoveries in the Human Genome Project, and my "Evolution Conclusion" shows how a biological system which is given as a "simple" source for complexity by evolutionists, the Type III Secretion System, is itself complex. So click the link HERE or on the side column picture, and get to the page that takes you to the PDF file. As with the other books and booklets, you can download it if you want. There is a link for a PDF reader on the booklet page. 

Be sure to tell anyone you know that is interested in the controversy about Darwinian evolution that this is a thought-provoking booklet about the possibility, and even probability, that God created life directly by supernatural means.

PS -- I use the Word 2016 program for word processing. I can convert to PDF, but it has limits. The bad news is that you can't click directly to the endnotes on the last pages (34-35),  At least the PDF scrolls easily (once the file is all there), so to go to an endnote, remember what page you are on, scroll to see the note and then go back up to your page when ready. The good news is that the endnote hyperlinks work, so you can go to the references directly from the booklet. If anyone knows of an online converter that works with footnotes and endnotes, please drop a line.

PPS -- I do my own booklet graphics, so they are not perfect, but the links will take you to the original works. I will, however, be turning to a professional company for the cover for the new version. I'll post the change as soon as it's done!

A Blessed Easter to Everyone

I was surprised when I recently looked at the date on my last post at how long ago it was. It’s almost Easter, so I’ll take this opportunity to say that I hope everyone may have a blessed Easter. That would mean two different “everyone’s.”

First, for those who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came to Earth, lived as fully human and fully God, was killed by crucifixion on a cross and then rose from the dead, this is a holiday to celebrate His life and that very resurrection with joy. He told us that if we believe in Him, we can live forever with Him in Heaven even after our own Earthly passing. The fact that He rose from the dead shows us that life after death is possible.

Second, for those who don’t believe in Jesus, Who is part of the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I hope you have a blessed Easter by realizing that Jesus is true and your whole life can be changed by believing in Him. I hope you will recognize Him as your Savior who lived a perfect life so that His sacrifice could be offered in atonement for the sins of all humans. In other words, because of Jesus, God the Father will accept you into heaven if you believe in His Son.

You in the second group, don’t let the evils of this world keep you from believing in God. As is repeated constantly, God did not make robots. He made people with free will, and that can result in bad choices which hurt others. Also, the sins of the first parents brought on fallen nature, so natural disasters are bound to happen. But Jesus is perfect. He doesn’t cheat on you, like a spouse might have done. He doesn’t abandon you, like a parent might have done. He doesn’t introduce you to destructive drugs, like so-called friends might have done. Yet He leaves you to decide whether to accept or reject His offer to come to Him. If you reject Him, you will find that after you die, it is you who have made the choice to be alone (or in bad company at any rate).

It is good for all of us to once in a while think about what happens when we die. There are no guarantees how long we will live, which should be very apparent considering these past 12 months. What do you really want to happen when you die? God Himself has come and told us what to expect. It is as simple and yet critical for each of us to make a commitment to the Lord.

Easter is the wonderful reminder that we can live in joy even after death, as long as we believe in the One who rose.