Free Republic

Using the method described by Friedrich Huebler on his blog, and using estimates of the WHO / UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme on Water Supply and Sanitation, and with advice from my friend Srini, I created an open defecation map of the world.

“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14). Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis(AiG) sees the newly opened Creation Museum contributing to the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophetic words in Matthew 24:14: The remarkable international media buzz surrounding the opening of the Creation Museum on May 28 [2007] reminded me of the verse above from Matthew 24. In many ways, reporting by the secular and Christian media (from around the world) has certainly greatly contributed to seeing the gospel “preached in...

If you want to know when an event in the Bible is to happen, look for time indicators. Some of them are very specific: after three days, in 40 days, after 40 years, at the completion of 70 years. There are less specific time indicators like “near,” “shortly,” “quickly,” and “at hand.” These time words are at the heart of the debate between those who claim that certain prophetic events have already taken place and those who maintain they are yet to be fulfilled. The division between these two views is deep and wide, and yet the implications for interpretive...

The Myth of "Consistent Literalism" Jack Van Deventer iteralism is considered by many a test of orthodoxy--the only hermeneutic by which one may correctly interpret and understand the Bible. Dispensational premillennialists who reject other eschatological views in the belief that they tend toward "spiritualization"[1] and "allegorizing"[2] claim the distinction of being consistent literalists. One author who holds that literalism is a superior method of interpretation writes, "I am a dispensationalist because dispensationalism generally understands and applies Scripture--particularly prophetic Scripture--in a way that is more consistent with the normal, literal approach I believe is God's design for interpreting Scripture."[3] What is...