Posts

Shooting Down Christmas

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen One thing that really burns my prairie schooner is when people attack Christmas. Atheists will pass along false information about Christmas having pagan origins, and legalistic Christians who are in touch with their inner Pharisee join in the condemnation of those of us who choose to celebrate. Their claims are easily refuted, see the links at " What About Christians and Christmas? " Assembled with elements from Clker clipart Now, I want to emphasize that some professing Christians choose to celebrate Christmas, and a few do not. They are acting according to their consciences, and I don't want to talk them into celebrating. Those folks  respect our choice to celebrate God the Son taking on human form to redeem fallen humanity, and we let them go on about their business; that's what knowledgeable, Bible-believing Christians are supposed to do, you savvy? Then we have the other group, which seems to be more strident every yea

Election Results and Shredding the Constitution

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen One of the benefits of the 2016 American presidential election is that we have seen just how poorly leftists react to results they don't like. We have professional sidewinders [ 1 ] rioting , other people protesting the clear results of the election , evidence of Democrat voter fraud is being made more obvious that usual [ 2 ], university students needing coddling [ 3 ], and more. Calls for a lost-cause recount are giving Donald Trump move votes [ 4 ], which gives me the impression that we may never know the final tally of the popular vote. Image credit: Freeimages / Kristen Price One of the bigger threats to our constitutional republic is efforts to abolish the Electoral College . This system ensures that the United States doesn't have mob rule , when the heavily-populated urban areas traditionally vote Democrat and the rest of the country would be told (to quote Remo), "That's the biz, sweetheart!" Hillary Clinton lost most of

Christians, Secularists, and Giving Thanks

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Although this is written for Thanksgiving Day here in the United States, there are some important truths that are applicable beyond this day. Although some sidewinders commence to rewriting history and redefining facts to suit their own preferences, America was founded on Christian principles, and Thanksgiving Day is a unique part of it. One bit of historical rewriting is that in 1621, the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Native Americans. Not hardly! They gave thanks to God , primarily. There are conflicting stories about that first "thanksgiving day". A few years later in 1676, the first Thanksgiving Proclamation was set up "...as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for such his Goodness and Favour..." Eventually, a national Thanksgiving Day was established. Atheists, whether calling themselves humanists, secularists, "freethinkers", atheists, or whatever, have a bit of a dilemma: they are in rebellion against God and do not wish to thank

Hating Donald Trump Near and Far

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen There is an amazing amount of vitriol aimed at Donald Trump, his supporters, and Christians. There were many Christians who did not support him, or (like me) only did so reluctantly in hopes that he meant what he said about appointing Supreme Court judges that are pro-life [ 1 ], supporting religious freedom [ 2 ], and he promises to uphold the Constitution [ 3 ]. Whether or not appointed judges betray the values they claim to uphold (like some have done) remains to be seen. Also, there's that "down ticket thing", people running for other offices; it wasn't just a presidential election, you know. I'm cautiously optimistic, and hope he gets advisers who know what they're doing. Christians need to pray for him [ 4 ]. I'd like to recommend a Christian analysis of the election on Janet Mefferd's podcast [ 5 ]. For some interesting discussion from a secular source, I had a great time listening to analysis and callers on this p

An Improper Environment for Science

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Interesting that some cultures have made scientific advances in some areas, then just — stalled. Ancient pagan cultures had some good mathematics and observations, Mohammedans falsely take credit for various discoveries [ 1 ], Communist science was notorious for lagging behind the West (espionage was a big part of their progress [ 2 ]), and so on. For science to thrive, it needs the proper environment. Mao Zedong image on Chinese banknote Image credit: Freeimages / Tudou Mao Despite Bill Nye the Propaganda Guy's claims [ 3 ], belief in evolution has nothing to do with scientific progress. In reality, evolution is of no benefit to medicine [ 4 ], and has hindered scientific progress [ 5 ], and is anti- science [ 6 ]. Atheistic communism has been devastating to scientific advancement [ 7 ], and America is racing in that direction, what with the politicizing of science and all [ 8 ], [ 9 ], [ 10 ]. Do you need to be an atheist to be a scientist today?

When is a Fallacy NOT a Fallacy?

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Simply put, a logical fallacy is an error in reasoning. People have to use logical thinking every day and seldom think about thinking. Ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks and other peoples used geometry, which requires logic. Logic as a discipline became more formalized with people like Aristotle. Some people will say that logical fallacies only apply to debate situations, but such an idea cannot be supported. A twist on Aristotle by Luca Giordano, 1653 On the surface, spotting logical fallacies seems rather easy. Sometimes it is. Other times, the lines blur because fallacies share different names, different fallacies resemble each other, people combine them, and more. Those times are like a social media relationship status: it's complicated. We cannot be clinical all the time, and some fallacies appear in our everyday speech. For example, reification (assigning a characteristic to something that is abstract) happens frequently. No, your car d

Nobel Pieces Prizes

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by Cowboy Bob Sorensen Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, put in his will that a portion of his estate money be set aside and awarded for five recipients each year who have "benefited mankind". The five prizes are literature, physiology or medicine, chemistry, and peace. (A sixth prize for economics was established in 1968 .) Although most of this activity is in Sweden, for some reason, Alfie wanted the peace prize committee to be in Norway. Derivative from Nobel Prize image , public domain in the United States The prize for peace has come under criticism because it shows a leftist bias, including the award to B. Hussein Obama, who had done nothing to earn the prize except show up for work at the American presidency. (Years later, there is regret over giving Obama the undeserved award .) In 2016, Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos was given the peace prize. From the October 12, 2016 edition of The Briefing by Dr. Albert Mohler : . . .and the controversy this