The Grand Canyon: Monument to an Ancient Earth (2016), edited and written by a number of highly-qualified, predominately Christian authors, is a devastating critique of the geological arguments of young-Earth creationism (YEC). The subtitle of this new book asks the question, “Can Noah’s Flood Explain the Grand Canyon?” which is an appropriate question, being that …
Continue reading Book review — The Grand Canyon: Monument to an Ancient Earth
The Earth. Christianity. They go together. Welcome to The GeoChristian, a blog primarily about the relationship between the Earth sciences and Christianity. My name is Kevin Nelstead, and I have been writing at geochristian.com since 2006. The most important thing about me is that I am a Christian. The passage of Scripture that opened up my …
"And God saw that it was good." — Genesis 1:25. Genesis 1 records the unfolding of God's creative activity, and one thing that is clear from the text is that God was pleased with what he had made. Genesis states that the world was good even before the creation of humans, which is recorded starting in verse …
Continue reading Earth Day 2016 — Links to past GeoChristian articles on caring for the creation
My first experience teaching Earth Science was at a small Classical Christian school in Missouri for the 2001-2002 school year. The headmaster was a young-Earth creationist. She knew that I was an old-Earth Christian, but perhaps being desperate for a science teacher she went ahead and hired me as a part-time teacher for a year, …
AN OLD-EARTH CHRISTIAN AT A YOUNG-EARTH CONFERENCE This is the second in a series of articles about a young-Earth creationism (YEC) conference held in Bozeman, Montana in April, 2016. 1. Bozeman creation conference preview and expectations 2. This article – Does Genesis Really Matter? - Yes Genesis does matter, whether a Christian believes in a young …
Continue reading Bozeman creation conference – Does Genesis Really Matter?
In the early 2000s, a new movement of vocal atheists arose, committed with religious fervor to the propagation of their faith that there is no God, and imagining that the world would be a much better place if religion would just go away. One event that vitalized this crusade of “New Atheists” was the September …
Continue reading Lessons from the friendship between a Christian and an atheist
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." -- Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." -- John 1:1 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish …
It is time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the new year. My basic life priorities have not changed for over ten years: Life Priorities: To live as a disciple of Jesus Christ. To love my wife as Christ loves the church. To raise my children as followers of Christ. To …
I haven't been blogging much in 2015. That may change in early 2016 once I am done writing Earth Science: God's World, Our Home, a Christian middle school Earth Science textbook from Novare Science and Math. I do, however, still make time for daily reading in the Bible. In fact, there was not a single day …
"Can you be good without believing in God?" is a different question than "Can you be good without God?" Clearly, an atheist can do good things and abhor certain evil things. But can an atheist make a case that some things are inherently good, and other things are inherently evil? Or is Richard Dawkins correct, when …
Justin Taylor is senior vice president of Crossway Books, a theologically conservative Christian publishing company. Crossway is best known as the publisher of the English Standard Version (ESV) Bible, along with the ESV Study Bible, perhaps the most comprehensive theologically conservative study Bible ever produced for a general Christian audience. Justin Taylor believes the Bible. …
I wish to expand a bit on the concept of "doubting your doubts." I first came across this phrase in The Reason for God by Timothy Keller. Here is a quote from the introduction (I hope you will purchase the book and read it for yourself): A faith without some doubts is like a human …
Many Christians go through a time when they are troubled in their faith when confronted with challenges from skeptics and unbelievers. Christianity today has posted the testimony of Gregory Alan Thornbury, who almost gave up his faith when challenged by the teachings of people beyond the liberal fringe of Christianity such as Marcus Borg, a member of the Jesus …
Think of some idea that you think is loony that other people believe in and adamantly support. My list would include alien abductions, the face on Mars, conspiracy theories about the Apollo moon landings, and thinking that Che Guevara or Hugh Hefner are cool. Your list would probably differ from mine. That's OK; I hope we can still have …
Continue reading Why the latest Newsweek blast against Christianity is nonsense
I only wrote 23 posts in 2014, so my readership was down a bit. That's OK; I just have a lot of other things going on. Because of this, nine of the ten most-read posts on The GeoChristian were actually ones written in previous years. The top ten most-read posts on the GeoChristian in 2014: …
(This is a re-posting from 12/31/2013) "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4 ESV It is through the Scriptures that we can know God, Christ, ourselves, and how to live in regards to God and our neighbor. I cannot think of any …
One of the best current blogs on the topics of geology, young-Earth creationism, and Christianity is Age of Rocks, written by Jonathan Baker. Today he published his 100th post, and commemorated that milestone with a fantastic article: 100 Reasons the Earth is Old. I liked all 100 reasons, and think he could follow this up with 500 reasons the …
Continue reading 100 reasons the Earth is old — from Age of Rocks
Like their secular school counterparts, many Christian schools offer a full year of Earth Science at the middle school level. These Christian schools, as well as home school parents who wish to offer a year of Earth Science, really have only two sources for curricula: secular publishers, such as Glencoe or Holt, or young Earth …
Continue reading Novare Earth Science — an upcoming middle school textbook by The GeoChristian
I'll break out of my semi-monastic lifestyle for a few moments to pass on some good GeoChristian kinds of links... Old-Earth Classical Christian Middle School Earth Science Textbook -- Novare Science and Math, a relatively new Christian curriculum publisher, has announced that they will publish an old-Earth middle school Earth science textbook in time for the …
Continue reading Around the Web 10/23/2014 — Old Earth textbook, No Ham for dinner, inverted smileys
Today was Earth Day, 2014. For many, it was a day to celebrate the Earth, to give thanks for its fruitfulness, and to express concern about threats to both the planet and we humans that inhabit it. As a Christian, I also rejoice on Earth Day in the Creator, who has graciously placed us both …
Continue reading Earth Day 2014 — Conservative environmentalism — seeking balance
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