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Saturday Selections – July 27, 2024

How questions can help you offer a good answer (7 min)

In the New Testament, Jesus asks as many questions as he offers answers. Why? Maybe because questions can be a helpful way to cut through people's obfuscations, as Greg Koukl also shows here.

Counsel the bitter person

A bitter person can't forget the wrongs done to them, but can only do so by forgetting the vast registry of wrongs they've committed against their great God. This article presses hard on the need to forgive, noting that God even makes it conditional for us to forgive if we expect to be forgiven by Him (Matt. 6:12, Matt. 6:14-15). That's not a requirement to do so perfectly, but it is a requirement to try, however falteringly.

Read like a Christian

Samuel James offers up 5 principles to help Christians dive into a book. I think the first one here might be key: reading can be done just for fun, and that can include reading light, fluffy "candy" books... but don't get stuck on vanilla ice cream. Have you tried salted caramel?

Read whimsically, not wastefully
Read personally, not performatively
Read with generosity, not grievance
Read with wonder, not weariness
Read for eternity, not ephemera

How breastfeeding changed my view of God

Rebecca McLaughlin reflects on a favorite verse she understands very differently after her first child:

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you.”

Why don't electric eels shock themselves, and other remarkable design solutions in biology

Here are some biological features – that you've probably never heard about before – which require precise design and which therefore evidence a precise Designer:

"Snakes should be immune to their own poison. Electric eels should not shock themselves. And protection from self-generated noise requires a preplanned noise cancellation system."

The astonishing human egg!

The link above is a part of a series of Intelligent Design articles on the amazing complexity of the human reproductive system. The video below is brilliant 10-minute overview from conception to birth. If high school students actually learned this, in detail, I don't know that any of them could fail to recognize themselves for the special creation that they are. This really is a must-see for our older kids.

That said, while it is not graphic, it is detailed, and could prompt younger children to ask questions you might not want to answer quite yet, so be sure to preview it before sharing.

Full Article

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BC finally declares Covid emergency is over

Fired healthcare workers can now apply for work ***** Over four years after declaring a public health emergency over Covid-19, BC’s provincial hea...

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Former cop, coroner and mayor does a 180 on drug policy

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Saturday Selections – July 20, 2024

Reagan's deeply personal argument for a Creator (10 min read / 1 min video) It was an analogy he returned to frequently, with students at an evangeli...

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The attempted assassination of a President

The roles of divine providence and the human condition **** Saturday marked the end of the longest span between domestic assassination attempts of U...

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Saturday Selections – July 13, 2024

Click on the titles below for the linked articles... One thing Trump and Biden agree on: tariffs Both Trump and Biden want to protect American producers by imposing tariffs (i.e., fines) on foreign goods. Their approach would make those foreign goods more expensive for Americans. If the fine is high enough, it will also make American-made versions of those same goods look comparatively attractive.... which is then supposed to save some American jobs. While tariffs do save some local jobs, they can do so only at the expense of other local jobs. Any American company that uses a tariffed good to make their own products, will have to pay these inflated prices, which in turn will make their own products more expensive... and less competitive in the international marketplace. Thus the tariff will cost them jobs. Tariffs also help some local producers by hurting local consumers, who have to pay more now. The overall impact of tariffs, then, is to help some domestic producers... but only at the expense of other domestic producers and domestic consumers overall. That leaves us with the question: why should the government be picking winners and losers, giving advantages to some citizens at the expense of others? How the US Republicans became pro-choice This is a US article but with real relevance to Canadian voters for its explanation of "median voter theorem." As Joe Carter outlines, it is only when a block of principled voters are willing to abandon a party that they gain influence over that party. If all their voters will always vote for the slightly lesser of two evils, then that is what their party will give them. The party only takes more extreme positions to appeal to voters who won't otherwise vote for them. Southern Baptists take on IVF Last month, the US's biggest protestant denomination passed a resolution on IVF. As Albert Mohler shares: "Far too many Christians say they believe in the sanctity and dignity of human life at every stage, from fertilization to natural death, but when the issue turns to the massive ethical issues related to IVF, many evangelicals, including far too many Southern Baptists, have refused to connect the dots." Jack Phillips still won't bake the cake After 12 years of legal battles and a Supreme Court victory, a Colorado baker is being dragged to court yet again for the same supposed crime – he will not decorate cakes to celebrate depravity. John Stonestreet explains that Baker Jack Phillips won't live by lies – it would be easier to bake the cake, but he will not call good what God calls evil. So, Phillips is working out his theology of getting fired. Forget grocery store boycotts - to lower food prices end supply management instead "...regulation that restricts supply and controls imports... shields Canadian producers of milk, eggs and poultry from competition, allowing them to maintain higher prices for their products than would otherwise exist in a competitive market.... due to supply management the average Canadian household pays an estimated extra $300 to $444 annually for groceries." Don't fall for projection Projecting is a particular form of hypocrisy in which you accuse others of the sin you are guilty of. A recent example is Kamala Harris accusing Donald Trump of planning to use lawfare on his opponents. Paul has an answer to the vice president in Romans 2:1: "Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things." A recent, particularly blatant, instances of projection happens is this commercial below from Australia's Victoria State government below – they accuse a smaller woman of making a big guy in a dress feel "unsafe." The Left uses projection as a weapon to deflect, much like when one of your kids is called to account and wants to talk about what their sibling, neighbor, classmate, or even you did, rather than facing accountability for what they've done. Projection works on the soft-hearted, so it's a particularly effective tool against Christians. But there is a time and place to acknowledge your own sins, and a time when it isn't about you. When the prophets confronted God's people, they didn't do so as perfect representatives of God. Sinful though they were, they brought His Truth. So, if a homosexual accuses you of being unloving – if they are screaming it in your face, OR TYPING IT IN ALL CAPS – then now is not the time to acknowledge how you could have said things better, parsed your words more carefully or expressed the grace of God more clearly. Think like a parent, and realize that if you let their projection deflect you from expressing the truth they need to hear, you aren't doing them any good. ...

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Saturday Selections – July 6, 2024

How social media keeps you poor (10 min) Though the two commentators here aren't Christian, the warning they offer may help us better resist social media's siren call. Spider silk might be ideal for nerve repairs Spider silk may be a great medium to regrow severed nerves in people, and that's just one of its amazing properties. If Man could make it, he would, but despite all our genius and equipment, we can't duplicate what a spider, with a brain the size of a pin, can make all on its own. Motherhood myth busting Feminists have women fearful of having children, with fertility treated more as a problem to be solved than as a gift (or if they deny God, an ability) specific to women. They look to children from a cost/benefit perspective and don't see how the pleasure derived from children can outweigh the bother. And from that self-absorbed perspective, it will be hard to enjoy any kids you might have. But, "if life has meaning beyond comfort and pleasure, then something can be difficult and worth pursuing at the same time. " Parents' guide to smartphones (10-minute read) The folks at Axis cover the highs and lows. It's a longer read but there is so much helpful material in here that this is a must-read for parents with teens. Communicating about sex in the first years of marriage "How can you have meaningful conversations about sex with your spouse? You should be sure to address wants, worries, ways, and why's..." When the government bets your house Like previous installments in this "Unintended Consequences" series, these are well-intentioned plans going wildly awry. While this is a secular presentation, the lesson being pitched is one Christians can get behind: there is an overall need for humility, because even (especially?) experts can get things really, really wrong. This humility wouldn't simply mean leaders, and the experts they follow, need to double-check their work. What it means is that our leaders and these experts need to admit to not being able to do many of the things they are currently trying to do now.... and they need to stop meddling in them. Just consider if, in the Sri Lankan case presented below, only some of the farmers had tried organic pesticides. Maybe they would have tried it as a marketing effort – get your organic rice from us! It would have been an experiment, but the farmers would have been gambling with their own land, money, and work. That's high stakes for them, but they are betting on themselves, their own smarts, and their efforts. And because it is only some farmers, win or lose, it isn't a high-stakes gamble for the whole country. If they had succeeded, they would have gotten the benefit and they would have been an example for others to learn from and copy. And if they'd failed, then others could also learn and avoid their mistake. However, when the government made the decision to ban inorganic pesticides for everyone, they were gambling with land, money, and work that wasn't theirs. And they were forcing everyone into just the one experiment. If it succeeded, wonderful, but the problem is, were it to fail, they were taking everyone down with them. That makes it a much, much higher stakes gamble. And anyone who has any humility shouldn't even think to bet someone else's house on their best guess. ...

News

New Brunswick still isn’t banning smartphones in school

According to Paige MacPherson and Alex Whalen of the Fraser Institute, cellphones’ negative impact on students has been especially apparent in New Brunswick. The Maritime province has not banned cellphone in school, and has seen math scores among 15-year-olds plummet between 2003 and 2022. Worse than that, these scores trail the national average significantly. Other provinces, including British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta and Quebec, have introduced, or will introduce, smartphone bans in schools. And surprisingly, a large majority of Canadians seem to favor bans like these (one poll listed it as 54% completely in agreement and 26% somewhat so). Rather than seeing it as a restriction on student freedom, Canadians seem to recognize there is wisdom in taking these devices away during at least part of the day. Maybe that support comes from grown-ups recognizing how hard it is to regulate their own phone use, how difficult it is to resist the urge to look at it after just a few seconds of boredom. Maybe responsible use of phones during focus times isn’t possible, especially when these phones are designed to be used as often as possible. If the world around us is starting to reassess their relationships with their phones, it’s time for us as Christians to be more confident in the boundaries we draw with technology. Especially when young developing minds are concerned. After all, with everything tempting us to use our phones more and more, fighting that temptation will take the support of a community to reduce our dependence – and our children’s dependence – on them. As parents, we will have to agree to be comfortable with phoning the school instead of reaching our children directly. As adults whom children look up to, we’ll have to demonstrate how to handle those moments of boredom. And as a community, we can prioritize face-to-face interactions and social connections in the real world, enough to make the virtual world look much less attractive....

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Young men building a home for the Reformed confessions

Some ambitious young men can fix their own vehicles, and others can help frame a home or build an impressive app. But two young men from Southern Alberta, who have impressive tech and video skills, have channeled their energy towards advancing something else entirely – the Reformed confessions, including the Heidelberg Catechism, Belgic Confession, Canons of Dort, and Westminster Standards. The Reformed creeds and confessions aren’t owned by any particular person or church. That is a good thing, but it comes with a challenge for those looking to read and understand them better online. Although there are many sites that list the text of the confessions, or provide commentary on various aspects of these confessions, it can be a dizzying experience. “These documents are at the core of our Reformed faith and yet they have no true home. No location with everything you could want on our confessions,” explain David Visser and Kyle Vasas, the men behind Faith to Film which is working to change this with an impressive new project: ReformedConfessions.org. Not only does the site include the confessions in an easy-to-navigate layout, it also provides extended commentary and sermon libraries on these confessions. The project is just the latest from Faith to Film. They have also done a documentary on Calvinism and a large video series on the “essential truths” of the Christian faith. As well, they have produced some excellent videos for Reformed Perspective. And this website is just the start of their vision for the Reformed Confessions project. Faith to Film’s next goal is to create a high-quality video series on the Heidelberg Catechism, with one short video introducing each Lord’s Day, utilizing animation and featuring different pastors from different denominations. The two young men behind Faith to Film have the ability and the drive and but rely on others who have the financial means to sponsor these videos. If you are interested in helping, check out ReformedConfessions.org or FaithToFilm.ca....

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Saturday Selections – June 29, 2024

Click on the titles below for the linked articles... Presidential debate was between a pro-choice candidate and a pro-abortion one Two US presidents...

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"It's wrong to mutilate minors," says governor

Both Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis and Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith have backed bans on transgender “treatments” – breast and genital ...

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Saturday Selections – June 22, 2024

What's wrong with marijuana This is the practical case against marijuana. For the Christian case, check out "Is recreational marijuana sinful?". ...

Economics, News

Premier Ford calls on the feds to make EV cars more expensive

News

Mortgage delinquencies up more than 20%

Increased spending and costs are catching up with Canadian households, according to the latest figures from the credit agency Equifax Canada. Mortgage debt makes up a whopping three quarters (74.4%) of total consumer debt, even though the number of new mortgages hit an all-time low in the first quarter of 2024. More than a third (37.1%) of consumers extended their mortgage amortization as the effects of increased mortgage rates began to take hold. Particularly troubling is the increase in delinquencies, i.e. missed payments. In Ontario, the balance of mortgages in “severe delinquency” – 90 or more days without payment – increased to over $1 billion, or twice the level of severe delinquency before Covid. Rebecca Oakes, VP of Advanced Analytics at Equifax Canada, explained that “mortgage stress testing,” introduced back in 2016, helped prevent even more delinquencies. This “test” gauged whether or not a borrower would still be able to handle their mortgage payments if rates were to take an unfortunate bounce upward. “ has helped to mitigate against the full effect of sustained high interest rates, but we still saw more than 34,000 consumers missing a payment on their mortgage in Q1, which is up 22.7 per cent compared to 12 months ago.” In recent years our federal government has led the charge in running massive debts, with many provincial governments following suit. Although political parties used to campaign on the promise of balanced budgets, Canadians have rewarded parties who promise increased spending and large deficits. And especially since 2020, Canadians have followed their example, racking up massive debt from both home purchases and other big expenses. A few thousand years ago, a wise teacher taught us that “the borrower is a slave of the lender” (Proverbs 22:7). Our government acts as if it is possible to incur debt and not pay for it, but we mustn’t let their example mislead us. Solomon’s ancient warning remains every bit as relevant to today, so take on debt with great caution!...

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We aren’t alone! 1,000+ converge in Texas for courageous faith

In 1 Kings 19 we find Elijah lamenting to God that the Israelites had rejected God’s covenant and that he alone was left, and Queen Jezebel was out to kill him too. God informed Elijah that he had it wrong, and that God had reserved a throng of 7,000 others who had not bowed to Baal. I recently assembled with a couple dozen Canadians and over a thousand others in Arlington, Texas for the 2024 Colson Center national conference. Listening to the stories and seeing this throng of believers, it was very evident that God continues to preserve His people through each age, and that He also calls us to stand firm in the face of the Jezebels of our day. As I’ve shared before, the Colson Center equips Christians to apply their faith to the cultural moment where God has placed us. This particular conference was focused on equipping attendees for “courageous faith.” As the organizers explained: “Faithfulness to Christ is not possible when we capitulate to profane cultural narratives, no matter how often or loud they are repeated…. The clash between the sacred and the profane is no longer ‘out there’ and the pressure to compromise is not merely hypothetical.” Courage past and present In the opening session on “courageous citizenship,” the Colson Center’s John Stonestreet interviewed Rod Dreher, the author of the well-known book Live Not by Lies, and also Kamila Bendová, who was featured in Dreher’s book. Dr. Bendová and her family live in the Czech Republic. Along with her late husband Václav Benda, they raised six children while holding underground seminars in opposition to their communist government, all while having their home bugged. Dr. Bendová shared how she didn’t protect her children from their resistance efforts but rather involved them. Now, many decades later, she reflects that all of her children and grandchildren have remained faithful. We can learn from the past, but need to live in the present. Doctor Kristin Collier spoke about the courage to change your mind, recounting how her journey from unbelief to faith in Christ resulted in 180 degree changes to her convictions about contentious issues like abortion. God then forced her to make a choice to follow Him in her public work as well, which came at a cost. She pointed us to Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one,” noting that at the core of courage is listening to and obeying the Word of God. Reverend Calvin Robinson, a broadcaster and commentator from England who himself was cancelled for his faith, challenged participants “we are called to be cancelled for our faith. We should embrace it rather than be afraid of it.” He proceeded to outline how our spiritual enemy is trying to divide and conquer by having Christians look to each other as moral compasses rather than looking to the teachings of Christ. Other speakers bravely and compassionately shared their stories and lessons about critical theory, cultivating a healthy identity, artificial reproduction, transgenderism, palliative care, and encountering suffering, all through the lens of living faithfully for our Lord. Conference connections It is one thing to read articles, listen to podcasts, or watch videos about these matters and another to be physically present with hundreds of other followers of Christ, growing in our walk together. We don’t all get the privilege of doing that at a conference like this, but we do have the ability to gather with our brothers and sisters in church weekly, in addition to Bible studies and fellowship in our homes. Let’s not miss these opportunities to spur each other on to godliness in this present age! If it interests you, the next Colson Center national conference is scheduled for May 30 to June 1, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky, and we heard that Reformed authors Carl Trueman and Rosaria Butterfield are both scheduled to speak there. Pro-life apologist Scott Klusendorf will also be there. You can find out more at ColsonConference.org. Although Canada isn’t blessed with a conference like this, Reformed Perspective hopes to help change this with something similar (though much smaller and simpler) in the years to come. As valuable as a magazine, podcast, newsletter, website, and apps are, there is no substitute to gathering with others to worship God together and spur each other on in our walk. Mark and Jaclyn Penninga were just a couple of the Canadians at the Colson Conference. Other Reformed Christians included Rev. and Mrs. Slomp, and RP contributor Mark Slomp and his wife Jennifer....

News

Should government try to boost fertility?

In his article, “We are not taking Canada’s fertility crisis seriously enough,” economist Tim Sargent highlights that a society with fewer couples and children will have more loneliness and depression, and will struggle to afford pensions and healthcare. His solution? For governments to create incentives that make it easier to have and care for children. This could include making housing more affordable, offering financial incentives through the tax system, helping with childcare costs and reducing education requirements so young people can enter the workforce earlier. The trouble is, there’s very little evidence that government incentives can increase the birth rate. According to The Economist, since 2006 South Korea has been spending just over 1% of their GDP a year on incentives such as tax breaks for parents, maternity care and state-sponsored dating. And yet they continue to have the lowest birth rate in the world. Hungary has also put a lot of effort into increasing its birth rate, with some success, but they have not yet succeeded in raising the number of births to a “replacement rate” of 2.1 births per woman. The best a government policy seems to be able to do is to slow down the population decline. And this makes sense – birth rates tend to be higher not in richer countries with more incentives but in poorer countries with low GDP. Money alone is unlikely to be the solution. While people instinctively feel a lack of money is a major factor, other areas of life (that government has less control over) play a significant role in the low birth rate as well – like the fraying social fabric which puts people at odds with each other, the lack of community support that makes potential parents feel insecure, and the pressure to establish a career before a family. Other challenges include the struggle singles who want children experience in finding a like-minded partner to settle down with, the pervasive cultural messages that raising children is stressful and burdensome, and the looming sense of despair that a large number of young people feel about their future. These are not simple challenges for a government policy to address! In contrast, the Church may be able to play a more effective role in providing social support, encouragement, and hope in the face of despair to potential young parents....

News

Saturday Selections – June 15, 2024

Dr. Matthew Wielicki: I refused to stay silent about climate change (8 min) One silver lining to the COVID-related censorship that happened on social media was that everyone got to see it. Mention the "lab-leak" theory and your post would be banned or have a warning label assigned to it... no matter that the case for the theory was always obvious. This "shut up the critics" tactic has long been employed in origins research too – 6-day creationists and even Intelligent Design proponents were excluded from publishing in the mainstream science journals, no matter how high the quality of their research. It shouldn't surprise us to learn that this same sort of censorship and pressure is being exerted on the climate front. As Dr. Matthew Wielicki shares, "This isn't about truth. This is about silencing people who disagree with you..." Hopeful amillennialism How is God going to bring this broken world to an end? That's a much-debated topic in Reformed circles, but maybe not all that hotly, simply because we don't think it a "salvific" issue. That's why we can more easily leave it as a matter where we might be a bit muddled. That said, one thing is clear: if you are a pessimistic amillennial, you need to repent. 3 core beliefs of the transgender movement It's no coincidence that these three beliefs run almost exactly opposite to what God has said. As Samuel Ferguson explains, the transgender movement affirms that: My identity is self-determined My feelings, not my body, determine my gender We find wholeness through external, not internal, change Transgenderism isn't primarily an attack on logic, but rather a specific assault on God's Truth. Any godless argument against transgenderism is, then, going to be akin to standing up for your favorite athlete when the guy you're talking to has just spent the last fifteen minutes talking about your mom's weight. You're not addressing the real fight! This is a spiritual battle, and God's people need to defend Who is really being attacked. We need to give the world what it really needs to hear: that God has assigned us our gender, and given us an identity, and we can mar and mutilate, or receive and celebrate, what He has given us. Beating bullies with a compliment Kids will often have fun at another child's expense by insulting them – one child can feel big by making another feel small. Sometimes teachers will have to be involved. But as Prov. 15:1 notes, "a gentle answer turns away wrath..." and what's proposed in this article is a version of that: try giving the bully a sincere compliment. What are they teaching kids about sex in public schools? This is a US article, but there's no reason to think it any different in Canada – mention of "alternative lifestyles" is going to be affirming. How eating out keeps you poor (7 min) Even if you don't eat out nearly as often as these people, this will still be "food" for thought for most of us. ...

News

Oh deer! Government paying non-Canadians to hunt

Like many Canadian regions, Sidney Island has a deer problem. The small island, not far from Victoria, BC, is home to European Fallow deer, whose grow...

News

Saturday Selections – June 8, 2024

Looking deeper at tiny, extraordinary engineers Hives have been called the pinnacles of biological engineering, and we're only now learning just ho...

News

Ticked-off hockey fans, and 1.4 billion other reasons to defund the CBC

News

Saturday Selections – June 1, 2024

If there is a common theme to this week's edition it might be government overreach. For Christians, who know God has set up different governments for ...

News

Saturday Selections – May 25, 2024

Click on the titles for the linked articles... Annie Wilson: Songs about Whiskey We've all heard country songs about drinking whiskey, but this one is of a very different sort. Why the best gift for your child is a brother or sister God says children are a blessing (Ps. 127:3-5), and, as this secular article shares, that blessing doesn't just extend to their parents. Is the transgender movement collapsing after the Cass Review? Parents with confused boys were sold this bill of goods: "Would you rather have a dead son or a living daughter?" This false dilemma has been exposed with the Cass Review, the world's largest overview of these surgical and chemical mutilations. The Cass Review is good news, but Jonathon Van Maren is more optimistic than I am that the transgender movement might now be collapsing. I am less so because of how the reversal came about – there is no return here to God's Truth and no submission to the reality that He made us male and female. One lie has been toppled, but the world is ready with many more (see Matt. 12:43-45). What the world needs are not more common-sense conservative commentators, but a clear Christian witness. And to turn to God's Truth, they first need to hear it, from us. Why is Canada (and the US) short of doctors? When I ask my kids why this-or-that major problem has occurred, experience has taught them that there's a likely culprit: the government. In both Canada and the US, the government has overseen a deliberate restriction of the number of positions available for medical students so our current doctor shortages can be laid squarely at their feet. The Canadian situation is described above and the US here. So what's the solution? Some might think it a matter of firing the incompetent bureaucrats and replacing them with better ones. But what human being is ever going to be smart enough to know precisely how many doctors we're going to need in 10 or 20 years' time? The problem isn't so much a lack of competence, as a failure to, in humility, acknowledge a lack of omnipotence – we shouldn't expect our government to have this sort of know-how, and they should stop pretending they possess it. Consistency matters on IVF too In the US, after Roe vs. Wade was overturned, the IVF industry was threatened, because if embryos were recognized as precious human beings, then that industry would no longer be allowed to continue their inhuman freezing and disposal of any of the embryos they produce. But with more and more people having fertility difficulties, IVF has grown in popularity such that a very confused, supposedly pro-life senator is now trying to effectively enshrine a right to IVF. But, as Rachel Roth Aldhizer writes, if we are pro-life then that logic should extend to IVF too. What Christians just don't get about LGBT folk (3 min) Rosaria Butterfield: "Being a lesbian wasn't my biggest sin. Being an unbeliever was." ...

News

Millions spent and still no graves

According to a report from the Western Standard, the federal government has confirmed that it had given $7.9 million dollars to uncover the “heartbreaking truth” surrounding claims of a mass grave next to a former residential school near Kamloops, BC. In spite of this funding, no bodies have been discovered on the site to date, and there also has been no disclosure of how the funds were used by the First Nation. In 2021, media outlets around the world shared the story of the “mass grave” of 215 indigenous children that was detected near the former residential school. Hundreds more “plausible burials” were reported at numerous other sites following then, prompting an outcry that has continued till this day. As Reformed Perspective previously detailed in an extensive article on this topic, it is critical to determine whether these plausible burials are actual graves, because when truth is verified, trust is built, and a foundation exists for genuine justice and reconciliation. To this point, all we still have are questions. Undated photo is of Kamloops Indian Residential School, from the Oblate Fathers Ontario collection at the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (10a-c000432-d0007-001)....

News

Saturday Selections – May 18, 2024

Gray Havens: See You Again (3 min) This Gray Havens' song is an attempted answer to a question that many a married couple has wondered: how can there be no marriage in heaven (Matt. 22:30)? In my head I understand that as a part of the Church we will all be the very bride of Christ, and what we had here with our spouse was only a pale shadow of this perfected bond we will have with our Saviour. But if you were in a good marriage how can you help but wonder, what about the wonderful special relationship you've had with your spouse for so many years? How can that just be done? The answer, I think, is that it won't be. We won't be married, but that doesn't mean we'll be strangers. As the song puts it: Gonna see you again On the gold streets Standing next to me, I know I'm gonna see you again Darling, won't be long Till every trace of trouble is gone We'll be together And I'm not sure what that means But I know it'll be better than we ever dreamed When I see you again I'm not sure what that will mean either, but I can trust my good and gracious God that it will indeed be better that any of us dreamed. 25 ways to provoke your children to anger "How much of the anger in my home is caused by me? That’s a painful question. As parents, fathers in particular, we must heed God’s Word from Eph. 6:4 Of course, this is not to say that all of our children’s anger is caused by us. Each of our children is personally responsible for his or her own sin. However, this warning from God is here for a reason. One of the ways our sinful flesh manifests itself is by provoking others to anger. And the easiest place to do that is in our own home." DeYoung: homework on Sunday? In his book The 10 Commandments, Kevin DeYoung shares how he has never regretted deciding to make Sunday a homework-free day. Green hydrogen: a multibillion-dollar energy boondoggle (10-min read) When ethanol-from-corn-production first started it probably took more energy to produce a unit of ethanol than that unit could then produce. So why did governments push it? Because it looked good, even if it didn’t do good. Increased farm efficiencies since then may have changed that net negative into a positive but the return is, at best, still modest, with estimates of 1.5 units of energy created for every unit of energy used in corn-ethanol production. By way of comparison, in the US, one unit of energy used in gas production returns 15-30 units of gas energy. Now the US is ramping up production of hydrogen, but a unit of hydrogen takes more energy to produce than that unit of hydrogen then contains. And according to this article, that’s a matter of physics, and no manner of technological advances will change that net negative result. We should not be surprised that a world that has rejected God isn’t concerned with doing actual good, even as it still wants to look good. Thus this showmanship instead of stewardship. Preparing our children to suffer well (10-min read) There are things we can do to better prepare our children for the challenges and pains they will inevitably experience. Pulling the reverse card on a woke feminist (1 min) When a feminist is offended by a guy wearing a "feminist for Trump" shirt, he reverses it on her, questioning why she presumed his gender. Think of it as an addendum to the Golden Rule (Matt 7:12) – we aren't supposed to do to others as they do to us, but what about when a little tit for tat would be highly educational? Then that could be the best thing for them... which is what we should want others to do to us, right? But turnabout is all this fellow's got. Meanwhile Christians can do one better by finishing the argument. As Paul writes in 2 Cor. 10:5, we should want to "demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God," but note what comes next: "we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, Pierre Poilievre and others can tear down the other sides' arguments. But if that's all they do, then they're leaving the world in the same state as the man in Luke 11:24-26, who after being freed from an evil spirit, replaced it with nothing, only to have that spirit return with seven others "and the final condition of that man" was even worse than before. Merely dismantling a lie leaves a person vulnerable to the infinite number of others lies out there. So we should learn how to tear down false idols, like we see many conservative commentators doing. But we need to offer the alternative too, doing what only God's people can do – pointing people away from the lie and towards God, and the truth that He made us male and female (Gen. 1:26-27). ...

News

Albertos Polizogopoulos: lawyer for the Lord

On May 9, 2024, the LORD called Albertos Polizogopoulos to Himself, completing his task on earth at the age of 41. Not long after starting law school, Albertos was introduced to his wife-to-be Faye Sonier, a follower of Christ. Albertos decided to investigate the Christian faith for himself and was convicted by God’s Word. He proceeded to dedicate the rest of his life to his Lord Jesus Christ, who drew him closer and closer. Unlike the United States, Canada doesn’t have many Christian lawyers devoted to upholding constitutional freedoms. Albertos has been one of the few exceptions. He regularly defended life and freedom in Canada’s courts, including ten appearances before the Supreme Court of Canada. When I first met Albertos, through our mutual friend and colleague André Schutten, he jovially compelled us to stay up well into the early hours of the new day. He loved to tell stories and debate, while enjoying a good cigar. But as the years progressed, he changed his priorities and devoted his time to his family. ARPA Canada worked with Albertos regularly through the years, either by retaining him or intervening alongside him. He also wrote for RP recently about the coming battles over church property. His obituary testified to how the LORD continued to change Albertos and draw him closer, especially since he was diagnosed with cancer three years ago. “Albertos frequently spoke about how Christ changed his life. He exhibited peace about his terminal diagnosis and a profound trust that God was sovereign…. Days before his death, he looked at his wife from his hospital bed and said, ‘I don't think I know anyone more blessed than I am.’" There are very few lawyers who have the willingness and ability to devote their full-time career to upholding the value of human life, and our fundamental freedoms. I thank God for Albertos. His earthly race has completed, and I pray that more young Christians will pick up his baton and keep running....

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Albertos Polizogopoulos: lawyer for the Lord