It was suggested that John 13:35 is the only sign… of the true church. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." NIV This is good but we must define love. Love in this verse means to seek the other’s highest good. This love does not necessarily include affection as Matthew 5:44 “Love your enemies…” “Correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience…” (2 Timothy 4:2) This is tough love. I would add that the true church is made up of people who have truly become Christians, (John 3:5) and keep Christ on the throne of their heart (Hebrews 10:26; 1 John 1:7).

Since God created everything full grown Eve was a mature woman at creation. It would have taken her nine months to naturally produce her first child and if she lived as long as Adam (women generally out live men) she would have lived 930 years or 11,160 months. It takes nine months to produce a child. 11,160 divided by 9 equals 1,240 children she could have produced. Since many people at that time lived over 900 years, we have the answer to how Cain could have built a city. It is possible that there were more people on earth when the flood came than there are now.

Testimonial evidence is the way all court rooms prove the cases before them. If it works for every court in the world we should have no problem with it in proving God’s existence.

Shubee said, “…Look for how they interpret the bible.” I say amen! But then he/she went on to say, “Look for the church who sees the real meanings (metaphor) of the bible, not literally orientated. I have big trouble with this part of his recommendation. The Bible says “prove all things…”1 Thess 5:21 KJV, “Test everything…” NIV. 1 John 4:1 “…do not believe every spirit but test the spirits…” HOW COULD ANYONE TEST ANYTHING IF NOTHING WAS LITERAL? There is a rule in communication that goes like this: “Take everything as literal unless it involves an absurdity or a direct contradiction of another clear statement.” If no one recognized this law we could have no hope of communication. There are three types of speech; literal, figurative and a lie. If there is no indicator that a statement is figurative (a metaphor) then we MUST take it as literal!

• It has been said that both God’s existence and evolution are religions which require faith to believe. • It takes no more faith to believe in God existence then it takes to believe in a house a tree an ocean or a fact from history. We say, “We know that’s a tree!” Because of the mountain of evidence we can also say, “WE KNOW THERE IS A GOD!” • Evolution is a fantasy just like “The Three Pigs” and “Alice in Wonderland”. • God’s existence is a clear, solid, scientific fact that as God says, only a fool can denied it. Psalms 14:1; Psalms 53:1.

The Ten Commandments form the core of the Old Testament law, as our Constitution and Bill of Rights form the core of the American law. This Old Testament law... 1. Contained the written (codified) moral principles that God places in all of us at the age of accountability. (Rom 2:12-16) 2. Contained the national law for the people of Israel. 3. Contained a ceremonial (worship) law which foreshadowed the New Testament. WHY DID GOD HAVE THE MORAL PRINCIPLES WRITTEN DOWN? Gal 3:19 It was added because of transgressions… 1 Tim 4:1-2 …whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” Some people became callused to the laws of God because of their refusal to obey (1 Tim 4:2) and others because they were taught that right was wrong and wrong was right. (Gal 3:19) The result was confusion. By God having His law written down, the people could always refer to the written law to make sure what was correct. Nine of the Ten Commandments are moral laws, one is ceremonial-“Remember to keep the Sabbath holy.” Today the Old Testament /Covenant/ /law is… • Old Heb 8:6 • Aging Heb 8:13 • Will soon disappear Heb 8:13 • Changed Heb 8:13; Heb 7:11-12 • Set aside Heb 7:18 • Weak Heb 7:18 • Useless Heb 7:18 • Was only a shadow Heb 10:1 • Canceled Col 2:14 • Was against us Col 2:14 • Taken away Col 2:14 • Nailed to the cross Col 2:14 • We are not under it any longer Gal 3:24-25 • Destroyed Eph 2:14-15 • Abolished Eph 2:14-15 We are under none of the laws of Moses but are under the laws of Christ which contain the basic moral principles that were in Moses’ law. We are under these principles not because they were commanded by Moses but because they are commanded by Christ. We need to be reminded, that much of Moses’ law was not basic moral principles and we are under none of Moses’ law. Before Jamestown and Plymouth this country was ruled by Indians. The Indian nations had their laws. When the Colonial government was set up it had its laws. Today we are under the law of the United States. We are not today under the Indian laws or the Colonial laws even thought in some cases they required the same thing as does the law of the United States. In the New Testament all of the moral laws have been restated. The only exception is the one ceremonial law, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” (which is not a moral law but ceremonial.) This law has not been restated in the New Testament and we are not under this law today.

Robertgrist, Thank you for answering my question. May I respond to your comment? You said, “COMPARING THE PRESENCE OF GOD AND EVOLUTION? THESE ISSUES DEMONSTRATE NO CONFLICT IN MY MIND.” I don’t understand how you could have no conflict. In my mind if we accept the God of the Bible we must accept his words which conflict drastically with the evolution theory. In Ex 20:11 God shows us that the creation process took only one week. “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and ALL THAT IS IN THEM, but he rested on the seventh day.’ This of course begs the question, “How long was the creation days?” If the days of creation were a million years long, and Adam was created on day 6 as stated in the Bible, and evidently lived through day seven. This would make Adam at least 1 million years old. Gen 5:5 NIV “Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.” Gen 1:14 “And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky mark…days… the fourth day.’ If each day equaled a thousand years the purpose of his creating the stars failed. If each day equaled a thousand years, each nigh would have equaled at least 500 years which in turn would have killed all of the life on earth. Heb 4:3 “His work has been finished since the creation of the world.” I think we need help to understand these verses differently that what the literal meaning shows them to be.

Rev 4:11 KJV “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Since we were created in God’s image I think if follows that He wanted a companionship with people of His equal.

If I were an atheist would I go to church with a friend? I am not an atheist so cannot answer this from his perspective but I can certainly tell why they should go to church. There is more proof that God exists than that our atheist friends exist. Atheism wraps itself around a fantasy world much like the tooth fairy and Santa Clause. Just because they wish God away that doesn’t make is so. I could spend many hours showing the concrete proofs that there is a God. Now that He does exist where does that leave the atheist? When I was a small boy I took a hose after by big sister. It wasn’t but a second or two that the hose was taken from my hand and she began using it on me. I learned a lesson; DON’T PRETEND THAT YOU ARE BIGGER THAN GOD, you’ll end up on the wrong end of the hose.

Thanks Bafuphd for a great question!