Dan Reynolds PhD

The Bible teaches that the Earth and its climate were designed by God for our benefit. There are several remarkable things about our planet that make it habitable for human beings including the Earth’s mass, distance from sun, axial tilt, atmosphere, magnetic field, rotational speed, orbital shape, and the presence of a large moon. Our solar system possesses a unique and special star and has a gas giant like Jupiter with a larger orbit. Even the location of our solar system in the Milky Way galaxy is special. Many of the aforementioned properties of the Earth and solar system make Earth’s climate suitable for us. The habitability of the Earth requires that liquid water be present because all biochemistry requires water.

Prepare to Thrive: A Survival Guide for Christian Students (Answers in Genesis, 2021) is a must-read book for any Christian student bound for a secular university. Engler discusses what students will likely encounter in the culture and classes of college and how to keep the faith despite the opposition. She explains in detail how students can grow strong spiritual, intellectual, and interpersonal foundations against anti-Christian propaganda, faulty assumptions, logical fallacies, and self-defeating secular philosophies promoted on campus. She explains how to develop critical thinking skills for analyzing false claims about Christianity, the Bible, and evolution. She shows how students can separate fact from interpretation.

Once again it is the time of year that we remember and celebrate the first coming to Earth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, came to save sinners and give us eternal life (John 3:16). Sinners are people who have a sin nature, naturally rebel against God, and break his commandments. Everyone who descended from Adam and Eve, which includes all of us, has a sin nature (1 Cor 15:20–22). The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). Jesus came to live the sinless life we could not live (Heb 4:15), pay the just penalty for our sins by dying in our place (Heb 2:17, 1 John 2:2, 1 Pet 3:18), and then, being raised from the dead (1 Cor 15:1–11), give eternal life to those who would trust Him (John 10:10, Rom 5:17).