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Saturday Selections – Nov. 8, 2025

The baptism rap battle you never knew you needed

This is the best of what A.I. can give us. Here's a rapping, axe-playing, Jonathan Edwards rebutting Charles Spurgeon’s case for adult baptism. Hilarious, and downright insightful too.

Old earth vs. young: what are the differences between these two views? (10 min. read)

Is the earth less than 10,000 years, or older than 4 billion? This comparison and contrast highlights where young earth creationism, old earth theistic evolution, and progressive creationism land on things like:

was there death before the Fall?
how was Man created?
was the Flood global?

If you ask A.I. for marriage advice, it'll probably tell you to get divorced

It's vital we understand A.I.'s limitations. What we are getting back from it is oftentimes simply an average of all the answers it finds across the Internet, so if the 'net, as a whole, is wrong about something, that's what you are going to get back. And when it comes to marriage advice, there is a lot of the bad sort.

Crime linked to missing dads

J. Warner Wallace details here, what can happen when dad disappears:

"During my years working the gang detail in Los Angeles County, I met countless young men and women caught up in the world of gangs. Over time, a single theme emerged – one that cut across backgrounds, neighborhoods, and stories. Nearly every gang member I encountered suffered from the same affliction: a profound lack of dad."

Stranger things of the OT: Giants

"The term 'giant' appears only seven times in most modern translations of these two passages (2 Sam. 21:15–22; 1 Chron. 20:4–8), but in the King James Version it appears over 20 times."

(Real Talk recently did an episode that touched on some of the stranger things of the OT too.)

Style vs. substance

Here's a fantastic musical debate about whether it's most important to say things with flair, or say something important. Or, to let the two combatants frame it:

GIRL 1: Who cares if the whole world's watching
If you aren't saying something of meaning

GIRL 2: Who cares what the crap you're saying
If nobody's watching, nobody's hearing

I've been involved in 10+ political campaigns, and this struck a chord – I was involved in a Christian Heritage Party campaign where the candidate seemed content to put out important but blandly-presented materials – stuff that got filed into the recycle bin immediately – and I've been part of campaigns where all the candidate was offering was graphically appealing signs and brochures and even swell sounding speeches, but all of which didn't say much of anything at all. They shied away from the real issues our culture is contending with – they refused to talk about God.

So, what's the answer then to the style versus substance debate? It's about pairing, not contrasting, the two. God crafted His temple (Ex. 31:1–5), His world (Ps. 19:1), and us too (Ps. 139:13–14) – He is all about style. But what does He use His style to declare? His glory!

How's that for substance!

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Government leaves religious and pro-life organizations alone in 2025 budget

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Saturday Selections – Nov. 1, 2025

Luther vs. the Roman Catholic church In light of Reformation Day this week: Luther's stand, as a rock opera. A theology of bed Many of us go to...

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Saturday Selections – Oct. 25, 2025

Easiest way to save 175,000 Europeans a year “Every year, around 1,300 Americans die from extreme heat. But in Europe, which has about double the p...

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Saturday Selections – Oct. 18, 2025

Should Christians celebrate Halloween? If we do, we should definitely do it differently. Whatever its historic origins, Halloween today has become...

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Saturday Selections – Oct. 11, 2025

Ray Comfort does a stint at a Turning Point USA event Since Charlie Kirk's murder, his organization has been filling his shoes with quite a variety of stand-ins. His podcast has featured the vice president of the United States, J.D. Vance, guest hosting, followed by the DailyWire crew of Orthodox Jew Ben Shapiro, and Roman Catholics Michael Knowles and Matt Walsh. Then, this past week, Mormon Glenn Beck took a turn too. Kirk's organization Turning Point USA continues to do events on university campuses too, and at at least one event, God's gospel was clearly heard... and not just on campus but in Fox News coverage afterwards. Network television! It's just fun to see God making that happen! What is K-Pop Demon Hunters? A primer for parents It's the latest "thing" – one of those cultural happenings that all the kids are talking about. Here's a quick primer on the Netflix film. It's hardly family-time viewing, but depending on how many of your kids' classmates have already seen it, it's worth considering if you might want to watch it together so you can discuss it with your own crew. A woman has been appointed as the Archbishop of Canterbury In as far as the Church of England has a head, it would be the Archbishop of Canterbury, and now, for the first time in 1,400 years, that is a woman. In addition, Sarah Mullally is pro-choice, and doesn't seem willing to call homosexuality sin. The good news? There are many conservative Bible-believing Christians still in the Anglican Church, especially in Africa, but all over the world. They have found ways to insulate themselves from their denomination's liberal trends, while still remaining a part of it. But when your denomination calls evil good, blessing same-sex unions and countenancing the murder of the unborn, should you want to still be associated with it? Of course, the reason these Christians have stayed is in the hope they could still reverse the course. But if they were unsure before of whether they should stay or go, that their is denomination is now being led by a usurper – Mullay has long been one, taking on church leadership roles God hasn't allowed for women – might grant them now the clarity they've needed to know there is a time to go. When the fallible, the over-confident, and the liars tell us to "trust the science" "Because of disillusionment with the COVID-19 vaccines, more people are refusing to have themselves and their children inoculated with other vaccines, which over a long period of time have proven to be safer and more effective than the COVID-19 vaccines. "This has led to an increase in preventable diseases such as measles, chickenpox, and polio. Rather than criticize such people as ignorant and foolish, governments and public health authorities should perhaps take a long look in the mirror to see what role they have played in this undermining of trust in the public health system." The sad state of Evangelical theology in 2025 This was a survey of folks who actually say the Bible is their highest authority. Two examples: 64% believe that “Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God.” 53% agree that “Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.” Conspiracy or gossip? Candace Owens is not well known in Canada, so why bother sharing a warning against her conspiratorial videos? Well, because she isn't the only one sharing gossip. Aren't our social media pages full of it? The video below spreads a rather harsh assessment of Owens, so isn't it gossip too? That's a good question, and raises another: how can we tell what's gossip and what isn't? Well, if we spread a bad report about someone, it's gossip unless: It's true. This isn't a matter of you sincerely believing it is true – Owens certainly seems sincere, but that doesn't lessen the damage she is doing. If you are besmirching someone's reputation, you need to have grounds. You should have the "receipts." It needs to said (Eph. 4:29). Truth isn't reason enough to share a bad report. Everyone doesn't need to know that so and so was caught up in pornography once, or that this couple had a rough spot in their marriage years ago. In Prov. 20:19 we read, "A gossip betrays a confidence so avoid anyone who talk too much." You can gossip in spreading truth that doesn't need to be spread. Can you prove it, and does it need to be said? Two good questions to ask before sharing the latest report, even if it is about folks you just know are bad guys. That you're slandering Justin Trudeau or Mark Carney doesn't make your slander any less of a sin. What it does do, in the eyes of any non-Christians who might be watching, is discredit your Christian witness. That doesn't mean keeping quiet about the monstrous evils these two have pushed (abortion, euthanasia, transgender mutilation, and more). It does mean, stick to the facts – these important facts. God wants us to stop gossiping! ...

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ARPA condemned in BC legislature

On the very first day of the fall legislative session, British Columbia MLAs debated the “views and policies of Association for Reformed Political Action” for almost an hour. The debate was over a motion tabled by the NDP: “That this House condemns the intolerant views of the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA), including its harmful discrimination against transgender people, its belief that homosexuality is ‘immoral’ and its explicit policy goal of restricting abortion access in British Columbia.” The NDP’s motive for the motion seemed to be to condemn the Conservative opposition for attending ARPA’s MLA reception at the BC legislature back in April. However, the debate never talked about the two issues that ARPA specifically raised at that reception: medical gender transitioning for minors, and euthanasia. By what standard? Several NDP, Green, and independent MLAs rose to condemn ARPA’s positions on gender identity, sexual orientation, same-sex marriage, conversion therapy, abortion, IVF, and surrogacy. They argued that ARPA’s views violate various rights and freedoms and run counter to principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, and tolerance. Now, it goes without saying that ARPA – and all Christians – are in favor of all of these things when viewed in a proper way. In fact, a recognition of rights and the practice of tolerance only really arose in the Christian West. What this debate exposed is what happens when these things are unmoored from their Christian anchors and made our ultimate political goals. If the expansion of freedom becomes the most important aim of politics, then medical transitioning for minors makes sense. If diversity is the legislature’s most sacred value, then opposition to gay marriage is indeed out of place. But orthodox Christians know all of these values – rights and freedoms, equity and tolerance – are not the ultimate basis for morality or justice. Rather, the ultimate basis for just laws is God’s revelation to us in His Word and creation. MLAs spent a whole lot of time talking about rights in this hour of debate. But they spent virtually no time talking about what is right. They refused to acknowledge how removing the breasts of a fourteen-year-old girl in the name of “gender-affirming care” is not in her best interest. They refused to consider whether providing euthanasia to the mentally ill might be a step too far even for them. They refused to contemplate whether pre-born children at 35 weeks of age deserve any protections in law. Calling good evil (Is. 5:20) Instead, MLAs voted 48-3 to condemn ARPA’s “intolerant” views. (The text of the motion uses “intolerant,” but the word “hateful” was bandied about the most.) Here’s how the vote broke down: The entire NDP and Green caucuses, along with independent Elenore Sturko, voted to condemn ARPA. The two MLAs from OneBC, and another independent, Jordan Kealy, voted against the motion and spoke up to defend ARPA. None of the Conservative MLAs opted to be present for the vote. The lone Conservative speaker to the motion accused the motion of being a “political trap.” All of this might remind us of the words of Jesus in John 15:18-21: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.” If Reformed Christians were of the world – if we supported medical gender transitioning, same-sex marriage, or abortion on demand, or kept silent about them all – these MLAs would not have condemned ARPA. Reformed Christians strive to stand publicly for what God reveals to be true. God says that He created two sexes? That’s how it is. He designed marriage to be between one man and one woman for life? That’s our definition too. God created human life to begin at conception and commands us not to murder? Then abortion is wrong. Recognizing and honoring these truths is good for everyone. What true love looks like Our motivation, then, for raising these issues is one of love. Earlier in John 15, Christ says: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my Name, He may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” And that’s what ARPA and all Reformed Christians should intend to do. We endeavor to love our fellow citizens. This includes not just the fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that Jesus has in mind here, but all people, as Jesus taught in the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We call for a law against abortion because we love pre-born children. We love children who are confused about their gender. We love the same-sex couple next door. And yes, we ought to love the MLAs who voted yesterday to condemn ARPA. For, as John wrote later, “we love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). And so, in this condemnation of ARPA in the BC legislature, as Reformed Christians we might feel “afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor. 4:8-9). For we know that “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37). But in light of the fact that few MLAs stood up to defend ARPA – much less defend the bodily integrity of gender dysphoric children or the lives of those threatened by euthanasia or abortion – our provincial representatives need to hear from us. Encourage them not to be afraid to discuss the issues that desperately need our government’s attention, but to boldly hold the government to account. A version of this article was first posted to ARPACanada.ca...

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90,000 legal homicides in Canada since 2016

According to calculations from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC), as of September this year approximately 90,000 Canadians have been euthanized since this form of homicide was legalized by the federal government in 2016. Homicide is defined under Section 222 of Canada’s Criminal Code as an act causing the death of a human being. The staggering number of euthanasia deaths have been steadily increasing, from 1,018 in 2016, to 15,343 confirmed cases in 2023. Based on the reports available for 2024, the EPC projects there were 16,500 euthanasia deaths that year, an increase of 7.5 percent. EPC drilled in on BC’s 2024 data and found that 35 percent of the 2,767 euthanasia deaths were approved based on “other conditions.” Of these, 65.9 percent were related to “frailty.” They noted that “frailty” isn’t defined and can encompass euthanasia for a “completed life” – in other words, an elderly person is not sick or dying but simply wants to die. The increasing numbers, and broad standards for qualifying, are a far cry from what the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Carter v. Canada (2015), when it allowed euthanasia for a competent adult who “has a grievous and irremediable medical condition (including an illness, disease, or disability) that causes enduring suffering that is intolerable to the individual in the circumstances of his or her condition.” Behind each of these statistics is a human being made in the image of God, many of whom left this earth without hope. As ARPA Canada and others communicated to Parliament and to the courts prior to the legalization of euthanasia, as soon as we remove the sacred line of the Sixth Commandment to not murder, it becomes impossible to maintain any other line. Sure enough, Parliament is now considering further expansions of euthanasia for those whose suffering is solely psychological, as well as for children....

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Saturday Selections – Oct. 4, 2025

Bahnsen vs. Hitchens, the Rap Battle Here's AI put to its weirdest and most wonderful –the late Reformed apologist Greg Bahnsen taking on the late atheist apologist Christopher Hitchens. Were dragon stories really dinosaur encounters? Short answer: it sure would seem so! Where do human rights come from, senator? A US senator thought that it was akin to being a fundamentalist Muslim to think that human rights come from God. They come from the state, he insisted. But if they come from the state, how could the state ever violate them? How could we ever complain about any state abusing human rights? Health-care costs for typical Canadian family will reach over $19,000 this year That we don't pay for healthcare directly doesn't mean we don't pay for healthcare. It means, at the very least, that tax dollars that go for that care aren't used for anything else. And the hidden costs of our socialized healthcare system also mean it is really hard for us to tell if we're getting value for our money. Canadian government pushing hate speech law again "Hatred is a real sin. But government and law enforcement cannot discern the degree of hatred in one’s heart, though they can judge and punish the things they do. "That’s why existing prohibitions in the Criminal Code focus on prohibiting particular actions, not emotions or motivations. While Christians should condemn hateful thoughts, words, and gestures, the government cannot regulate the heart." The dangerous logic of Moral Subjectivism "If right and wrong are things outside of ourselves which we can't change, we need to align our behavior with what's right. But if it's the other way around, and morality is just a thing I get to make up, well, I can act however I want." "Huh... that's basically the same as not having a moral system..." **** This video is worth watching for what it gets right, like the above. But where it falls short is in what it settles for – that agreeing there is some sort of objective moral standard outside ourselves is all that's really important. The problem is, ideologies and religions can hold to an objective truth that includes the notion that "conversion by the sword" is a legitimate means of persuasion. So, for example, it isn't enough that an ISIS jihadist thinks a moral standard exists outside himself, he isn't about debate and dialogue. This sort of short-sightedness is what happens when we appeal to the fruits of Christianity without actually holding to the Root of it, Christ Himself. Civil discourse is a fruit of the only real objective standard that exists, God's morality, which teaches us: God has no interest in merely outward observance (Is. 1:13), discouraging any attempts at compelled belief. to treat others as we would like to be treated (Matt. 7:12), prompting civil discourse. to love our enemies (Matthew 5:43-4), prompting civil discourse. it is good to hear both sides (Prov. 18:17), which encourages hearing out things you might disagree with. we are all made in the Image of God (Gen. 9:6), and that hate is the equivalent of murder (Matt. 5:21-22), which both, again, encourage civil discourse. So not just any objective moral standard will do. Civil discourse is a fruit of Christianity, and as we are seeing, a nation that turns from Him will slowly but surely start losing the fruit of the Christian faith, including civility. ...

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Saturday Selections – Sept 27, 2025

Voddie Baucham (1969-2025) spoke to Christian Nationalism shortly before his passing This past week, Voddie Baucham passed away at the age of 56. A R...

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Charlie Kirk’s funeral spreads the Gospel

On Sunday, September 21, an estimated 100,000 people gathered inside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, for the funeral of Charlie Kirk, with an...

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Saturday Selections – Sept 20, 2025

Charlie Kirk one week later The link above heads to Tim Challies' collection of the week's best articles on Charlie Kirk. My favorite was by Barry Yo...

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A renewed hunger for the Bible

Data from the Association of American Publishers reveals that the biggest sales increase among all categories of books being published last year in th...

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Saturday Selections – Sept 13, 2025

On the death of Charlie Kirk American Christian and conservative leader Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on Wednesday. Kirk (1993-2025) wasn't as remarkable for what he said (though he did get things mostly right) as he was for how he spoke up (boldly, as a grateful child of God) and for where he was willing to go. Kirk made dozens and dozens, and maybe hundreds, of appearances – captured as YouTube clips – on campuses across the United States. He'd set up a booth and take on any and all questions from liberal students who, it so often seemed, had never even heard an intelligent conservative Christian speak before. It was at one of these events that he was murdered. The link above goes to a collection of articles, assembled by Tim Challies, reflecting on Kirk's assassination. The video below is of Kirk stepping up for the unborn. May Kirk's courage inspire many more Christian young men to be just as strong and courageous (Joshua 1). Tim Challies, on how to write a great book review... ...which is a great primer for writing a book review for Reformed Perspective too. If you've got a great book you'd like to review, let us know. Organ transplant investigations expose grisly stories of patient abuse This is an American story, but one that should concern Canadians because in our murder-as-medicine MAiD-approving country, wouldn't it be all the more likely that a dying patient might be euthanized for their organs? Taming technology (10 min. read) Some real help on offer here for families who want to rethink how technology is taking over their home. How to face apparent contradictions in the Bible Michael Kruger has three tips to deal with passages in the Bible that seem contradictory: 1) don't be scared of them 2) don't apply today's conventions to yesterday's writers 3) be humble and patient: that we don't have an explanation now doesn't mean there isn't one, or that it won't show up later My Soul Among Lions, Psalm 2 I remain fascinated at the many very different, great treatments that can be given to the Psalms..... ...

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The assassination of Charlie Kirk

A new era has been marked; Christians must tell the truth. Unsurprisingly, on September 11, 2001, I wept. I also wept, unexpectedly, on September 11, 2011. Perhaps it was delayed grief, but mostly, it was a delayed realization. Sitting that Sunday morning with my young daughters, only 6, 4, and 2 at the time, it struck me how different their world was from the one I wanted for them. The same sense struck this week, on September 10. The assassination of Charlie Kirk seems to mark a new era, a world no one wants but may very well be here. Calling the murder a “tragedy for all of us,” U.K. comedian and commentator Konstantin Kisin wrote: "I hope I’m wrong. But tonight feels like some sort of invisible line has been crossed that we didn’t even know was there. … o murder a young father simply for doing debates and mobilising young people to vote for a party that represents half of America? This is something else. "Charlie’s death is a tragedy for his wife, his children and his family. I don’t pray often. I am praying for them tonight. But I fear his murder will be a tragedy for all of us in ways we will only understand as time unfolds. "I hope I’m wrong. I fear I’m not." Kisin is not wrong about lines being crossed, though the Christian must not fear. We must, however, squarely face the sober realities of this moment. Kirk’s murder followed another this week, in Charlotte, of a young woman from Ukraine riding a public train. Iryna Zarutska was stabbed by a man who should have been in prison or at least institutionalized, and she was then left to die by people too engrossed in their screens to notice or too jaded to care. Together, these atrocities reveal realities about our culture and how it has shaped those within it that many will find unthinkable. But we had better think about it anyway. Zarutska’s killer is a terrible example of the mental and social brokenness that permeates modern life. The bystanders who did not come to her defense or to her aid are, like the social media commenters and media personalities who callously commented on Kirk’s assassination, examples of the rabid and pervasive dehumanization that infects the Western world. In a recent Breakpoint commentary, released prior to the atrocities of this week, Abdu Murray argued that this “post-truth world that elevates feelings and preferences above facts and truth has collapsed the distinction between a person’s ideas and their identity. And so, the social erasure of cancel culture has calcified into something darker.” That something darker, he argued, is “assassination culture.” He continued, “Unmoored from that objective standard for human value, we have made gods of ourselves and therefore justify eradicating any who dare to have other gods before us.” This is precisely what Os Guinness warned of in the new film Truth Rising, that the West is squandering a unique heritage. A civilization built upon the ideal of human dignity, with a mixed and troubled history of working out that ideal, has now replaced it with something else. But racialized, sexualized, and politicized conceptions of human dignity only produce victims. George Orwell is often credited as saying, “In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” Charlie Kirk was a committed truth teller, with a remarkable gift for exposing and answering deceit. And yet, as he did this, he treated the deceived with the dignity they had as image bearers of their Creator, recognizing that they too were victims of their own bad ideas. There is a cost to telling the truth. Our Lord has told us to count this cost. If Kisin is indeed correct, that cost is higher than we have imagined. This is indeed a civilizational moment. It is to this moment that we have been called as His people. As His people, we know that this moment is not some fatalistic inevitability, nor does it determine or define the Story of which we are part. In a video circulating on social media, Charlie is asked why he went on campuses to talk with and try to persuade those who disagree with him. Charlie responded, “Because when people stop talking, that’s when violence happens.” It was a prophetic moment, but Kirk also demonstrated that we need not accept that. He showed that the conversation can be had; that it must be had. He showed that the truth still wins hearts and minds, and that lies can be opposed. And that it can all be done with a big smile. It takes courage to tell the truth and to, as Paul wrote, “regard no one from a worldly point of view.” As Murray wrote, only the “ancient biblical truth about what it means to be human can heal our contemporary malady.” It can be healed. This is not wishful thinking. This is the hope Christ secured for us all. As the banner on the Turning Point USA website proclaims, Charlie Kirk has been “received into the merciful arms of our loving Savior, who suffered and died for Charlie.” For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to Breakpoint.org. This is reprinted with permission from the Colson Center. Picture by Gage Skidmore and used under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license....

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Quebec to ban public prayer and advance secularism

The government of Quebec announced in August that it intends to introduce a law this fall to outlaw public prayer in the province. As Jean‑François Roberge, Quebec’s “Secularism Minister” explained in a statement on X: “The proliferation of street prayers is a serious and sensitive issue in Quebec. Last December, our government expressed its unease with this phenomenon, which is becoming increasingly common, especially in Montreal. The Premier of Quebec has given me the mandate to strengthen secularism, and I firmly intend to fulfill this mandate diligently…. This fall, we will, therefore, introduce a bill to reinforce secularism in Quebec, notably by prohibiting street prayers.” Roberge was indirectly referring to how Muslims have been gathering in prayer for months outside the Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal, leading to a growing counter-protest. “In recent months, Islamic prayers have also spilled into parks and downtown streets, with worshippers rolling out mats outside shopping districts and public offices,” explained Leslie Roberts, writing for the National Post. “What began occasionally has become a regular source of tension.” All government laws in Canada are required to align with Canada’s highest law, our constitution, which enshrines the freedoms of religion, expression, and assembly as “fundamental freedoms” in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As such, it is expected that Quebec will make use of Section 33 of the Charter, also known as the “notwithstanding clause,” which allows a legislature to override some of the rights in the Charter, though for only five years at a time. However, this override can be renewed indefinitely. Quebec already made use of this clause in 2019, when it banned public employees from wearing religious symbols while on duty. Roberge's announcement came on the heels of a report from a Quebec government committee tasked with providing advice on how to strengthen secularism. The committee gave 50 recommendations, including to phase out funding of private religious schools, eliminate religion as a charitable purpose, prohibit religious symbols in government advertising and create a National Day of Secularism. The definition of secularism is that the state is neutral in matters of religion. The Quebec government isn’t actually interested in neutrality. It is interested in using the power of the state to undermine religions that it disagrees with. This is simply another example of one religion (secularism) opposing other religions. As the Preamble of the Charter reveals, our rights and freedoms are based on “the supremacy of God and the rule of law.” Quebec, and Western society in general, is experiencing tension in the streets because the religions of secularism and Islam both fail to respect this. The constitution doesn’t work so well when the foundations beneath it are ignored or denied. The inevitable result is conflict, with one religion warring against another. The very concept of rights and freedoms did not, and could not, originate from a Muslim or secular worldview. Our "rights" come largely from God's prohibitions – we have a rights to property and life because God forbids theft and murder. Freedom of conscience finds a foundation in God's hatred for hypocritical worship (Amos 5:21-24) making legislated, compelled worship not just pointless but blasphemous. A biblical understanding of freedoms brings with it, however, a corresponding set of responsibilities. So, in this case, we ought to be able to pray both publicly and privately, but that also means that our praying shouldn’t cause a public disturbance that prevents others from exercising their rights and freedoms....

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Were the 215 soil abnormalities actually graves? 37% of Canadians think we should just presume so.

Allegations of mass graves outside of Canadian residential schools was one of the top news stories in the world in 2021. Ground-penetrating radar was said to have found evidence of the remains of as many as 215 children on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. But these soil anomalies have not been investigated since, and no exhumation has been done, and consequently, no actual bodies have been found. And today, for many Canadians, the lack of proof is seen as irrelevant. The results from a survey released by Angus Reid this summer revealed that 63% of respondents would only accept the initial claim if further information from exhumation was made available. However, more than a third of respondents will accept these are unmarked graves, even if nothing is done to verify whether these are actually graves. Among indigenous respondents, 44 per cent accepted the claim without more evidence. The numbers who don’t need evidence increases to 56% of young women, aged 18-34. A few years ago, Christian apologist Abdu Murray argued that we have transitioned from a post-modern world to a post-truth world. “Post-Modernism says there’s no such thing as truth, but Post-Truth mindsets say, ‘Truth is important, but only in so far as it feeds and satisfies my feelings and my preferences. So truth exists, but I don’t care unless it happens to conform with what I like.’” How do we engage with a world that acknowledges that truth exists but is happy to ignore it? In his book Saving Truth: Finding Meaning & Clarity in a Post-Truth World, Abdu Murray concludes that “the answer is Jesus – the truth who is personal. He is the Saving Truth.” In other words, Christians must communicate truth, but we must also introduce our neighbours to the person of Jesus – the “way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Christ alone speaks to the head and the heart....

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Saturday Selections – Sept 6, 2025

Casting Crowns' "Nobody" 'Cause I'm just a nobody trying to tell everybody All about Somebody who saved my soul Ever since You rescued me, You gave...

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Saturday Selections – Aug. 30, 2025

Great illustrations of the government's limits Big government presumes that its bureaucracy is omnicompetent, able to manage for its citizens the job...

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Why join an ARPA Club?

One mom shares how signing up has helped her high schoolers stand up for others High school is busy. Course work, extracurriculars, sports, catechism...

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Saturday Selections – Aug. 23, 2025

Distinguishing between Soft and Hard Christian Nationalism Because certain Reformed folk support a form of Christian Nationalism, others will be stro...

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Saturday Selections – Aug. 16, 2025

Life's building blocks: everything, everywhere, all at once (1 minute) You can build some of the basic elements of a cell in a lab. But there's no process that can build them all together, which is what you need for life. In other words, even with a blueprint at the ready – scientists have cells they can observe – and refined materials and supercomputers and skilled geniuses, they not only can't make life in a lab, they demonstrate how it could never happen by accident out in the wild. The amazing ways fathers matter "Involved fathers made an especially big difference for girls’ mental health, with 10 times the number of female students being diagnosed with depression and risk of self-harm when they had disengaged or absent fathers." 6 ways that Christianity answers the "problem of pain" ... and also worth noting, the world doesn't have much of any answer at all. Should we ban smartphones from our schools? Jonathan Haidt thinks so. Here are five key quotes from his book, The Anxious Generation... On "replacement theology" Rev. Witteveen on God's plan for Israel today... What's wrong with censorship Prov. 18:17 is known by some as the journalist's proverb, but its value extends to far beyond just reporters. It says: "The first to present his case seems right, until a second comes and questions him." This, in a nutshell, is the Christian case against censorship. What we know of fallen human nature means that we don't trust any one person or institution to have the necessary brilliance or character to always be right. The Christian case for free speech is also, essentially, the freedom to pursue God, and His Truth. All sorts of questions and skeptical arguments could be allowed in this pursuit.... though blasphemy need not be. We have good reason to be for free speech... but not without restriction. After all, God is our god, not free speech. ...

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Saturday Selections – Aug. 9, 2025

Four guys, one piano, doing a One Direction cover The Piano Guys, getting clever... Anything can be an idol "I have worshiped an hour of uninterrupted sleep. I have worshiped a number on the scale. I have worshiped a number in my bank account. I have worshiped a pregnancy test, a tidy to-do list, a stocked pantry, a nicer vehicle, a certain number of social media followers, my reputation, positive book reviews, the way I look or didn’t look, perfect obedience from my kids, a certain home aesthetic. And on and on the list goes. I have a heart that loves to produce idols, and unfortunately, so do you..." Keep our kids from the public school Kool-Aid "The world wants our children to buy into poisonous ways of thinking. These ways of thinking are destructive and dangerous. They’re Satanic." How voting with your feet helps "You vote every day when you go to the grocery store or the gas station, pay your rent, purchase a washing machine or buy a latte. You are voting with your feet and sending important messages about your preferences and desires to the folks who are trying to give you what you want... The private voting we do through economic exchange is possibly the most important voting that we can do: It brings about change, it helps us express our values and it serves the public good in awe-inspiring ways." AI and the threat of Mutually Assured Boredom "The great danger is that we increasingly find real, flesh-and-blood people boring. It’s already the case that many ordinary human interactions, filled with quirks, annoyances, and complexities, struggle to compete with nonstop entertainment from our devices. AI promises to exponentially expand our options for distraction, drawing us even further from genuine relationships, but this time by successfully imitating human conversation." Union leaders oppose family and life values Reformed church leaders have, over the years, had several different reasons to oppose union membership, including the Marxian ideology that underlies adversarial negotiations, and the claims that are made on employment that amount to theft – i.e., when strikers prevent others from doing the work they've abandoned, they are acting as if they (and not their employer) own the job. Then, as the article above highlights, in Canada, compulsory union dues have been used to promote "abortion, euthanasia, special rights for LGBTQ, same-sex marriage and transgenderism." Fortunately, in some jurisdictions in Canada, there is an option – on the basis of religious conscientious objection – to have your union dues redirected to an agreed-upon charity. What about the higher wages that are supposed to come with unionization? That happens. But as the video below highlights, that often comes with a cost, too. ...

News

Canada just about had a ballot as tall as you

On August 18, voters in the riding of Battle River–Crowfoot will go to the polls to elect one of the 214 candidates on the ballot. This is the largest number of candidates in Canadian history to compete for a single parliamentary seat, far surpassing the previous record of 91, which last occurred in the Carleton riding during the 2025 election. Pierre Poilievre was one of the 91 names on the 2025 Carleton riding ballot. Why are so many people running? Well, 201 of the candidates share the same official agent, Tomas Szuchewycz, and seem to be part of a protest group, called the "Longest Ballot Committee” (LBC). While the LBC may have some connections with the old satirical Rhinoceros Party (best known for its pledge to repeal the law of gravity), this time they are at least pretending to make a serious point. I say pretending because if they wanted to make a serious point, you’d think they would try to get the word out. But only 24 of their 201 candidates bothered to submit a website to Elections Canada, half of which linked only to YouTube music videos about the candidate. Another candidate's page stated, “I’m doing this out of spite” and said little else. Only a half dozen or so attempted a policy statement. And the LBC’s Bluesky page vaguely stated they wanted “decisions on election law” passed on to “an independent, non-partisan body, such as a citizens’ assembly to decide.” And how might someone get onto such a body? Appointed? If so, by who? Or elected? By what process? No ready answers could be found. The real reason for this flood of candidates can be traced to a 2017 ruling that struck down the $1,000 deposit requirement. The government defended the requirement as a way of heading off frivolous candidates, but Justice Avril Inglis rejected that argument. She pointed to the 27 Rhinoceros Party candidates who had run in the 2017 federal election and “apparently caused no harm to the integrity of the electoral process.” But 27 joke candidates spread across the country is very different from 200 running in one. The 2025 Carleton riding ballot, with 91 candidates (see picture), was one meter long. With the prospects of a two-meter long ballot this time, Elections Canada has gone with a write-in ballot. As a National Post article put it, “what would have been Canada’s longest-ever ballot has become its shortest-ever.” Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, running in this riding and now up against Long Ballot Committee candidates for the second time this year, made three suggestions that would stop the LBC from running hundreds of candidates again: Raise the bar for candidate nominations by requiring 0.5% of the population in any given riding to sign, not just 100 people (that would work out to about 400 people on average) Require that each signature in support of a candidate be exclusive, with no signatory permitted to endorse more than one candidate in the same election Restrict official agents to representing only a single election candidate at any given time While the LBC’s fuss is worth reining in, we shouldn’t want a lot of restrictions on who can run – too many restrictions could become a means for already organized big parties to squelch any smaller challengers from getting off the ground (like the Reform Party back in the late 80s). The third suggestion could hurt the Christian Heritage Party, which has a serious message to share, but not a lot of staff to go around. So, what’s the smallest change that could be made and still be effective? What could help, but not squelch? All that would be needed is Poilievre’s second suggestion. The 201 LBC candidates likely used the same 100 voters’ signatures again and again, but this change would have required them to get a total of 20,100 different people to nominate their candidates from a riding in which there are only 85,000 eligible voters. Ballot photo is adapted from a photo by Harry Kusumah Hidajat, and is used under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Editorial cartoon at the top was created with ChatGPT...

News

Can you track all the ways you’re taxed?

Each year the Fraser Institute observes a “Tax Freedom Day” – this year it happened on June 8 – that tracks Canadians’ total tax burden when you add up all the municipal, provincial, and federal tax burdens. Across the country, the average Canadian spent up until June 8 earning money to cover their taxes, and it was only June 9 going forward that what they earned was what they could keep. So Canadians need to work nearly half the year just to pay our taxes. The average Canadian family with two or more individuals (i.e., this isn’t tracking individuals living on their own) is said to earn $158,533 a year, and pay $68,266 in taxes, or 43% of their income. This Tax Freedom Day differs from province to province, depending on their tax burden. In Manitoba, it arrives May 17 (37.5% of their income), the very earliest date in Canada, with the latest occurring in Quebec, on June 21 (47%). Do those figures strike you as higher than expected? They did to me, so I dug a bit deeper. The biggest tax we’re all hit with is income tax, but it is far from the only one. The government taxes us all sorts of niggling ways, which has the result of hiding from us the cumulative total. Just consider all the different ways you get taxed when you earn a dollar. The amounts below are based on the Fraser Institute’s purported $158,533 average family income. Payroll taxes: $16,199 – Before you even get your cheque, both you and your employer will have to contribute to the Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance, and some provincial Health Taxes. Income taxes: $23,100 – The federal and provincial governments each have their own income tax on the money you take home. Sales taxes: $10,091 – When you spend any of your remaining income, both the federal government, and all provinces except Alberta (and the territories) will charge you a sales tax. Capital gains tax: $6,656 – If you invest your money hoping to make it grow, you’ll be taxed on any gains you make. Property taxes: $2,310 – If you used your money to buy property, then every year you’ll be taxed on that too. Sin taxes: $2,310 – All taxes make things more expensive, but sin taxes are specifically geared to do so, to discourage consumption. They are placed on alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis. Tariffs and fuel could fall under this category too – both are meant to punish consumption – but the Fraser Institute placed them in other categories below. Fuel/vehicle/carbon taxes: $2,267 – There are additional taxes placed on gas, and while the Trudeau carbon tax is now hidden from consumers, it is still applied to industry, which will, of course, have to then pass it on to their consumers. Other miscellaneous taxes: $1,136 – These include import duties (i.e., tariffs), amusement taxes, natural resource fees, etc. and etc. So, that’s how it all adds up. And, to make matters worse, the Fraser Institute figure doesn’t even include what we should call the hidden inflation tax. Over the last 4 years, prices in Canada have risen, cumulatively around 17.5%. If our average Canadian family spent what income remained, that rise in inflation would amount to another $13,000 worth of impact from this “tax” – their $90,267 of remaining income would now have only $77,000 worth of purchasing power, compared to just four years previous. But to a fiscally profligate government that’s piled up a huge debt, inflation can be attractive. It not only deflates the value of the dollar, but deflates the value of the country’s debt too, easing the pressure on the government to curtail their spending. In other words, inflation really is a tax, raising revenue of a sort for the government, at the expense of citizens. And we’re still not done tallying yet, because our governments are planning on spending more than they even collect, which, if that additional sum had to be paid now, would require another $5,500 from our average Canadian. Instead, our federal and provincial governments are borrowing it to a cumulative projected deficit of $84.9 billion in 2025, saddling future generations with repayment, making this a tax on our children. Why so many different and even hidden taxes? Well, if everyone knew just how much we’re paying, would we stand for it? The more important point might simply be the enormous amount. God says that where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also (Matt. 6:21), and the amount of treasure we’re investing in our government – half of everything that families make – shows where Canadians’ hearts are turning. We’ve made a god out of government, and that needs to stop (Ex. 20:3). So next election, when the politicians come knocking, we need to demand less from them. And we need to explain why they don’t need nearly so much money, because, after all, God has called on other levels of government, including the Church, families, and even self-government, to fill so many of the roles that our political leaders have tried to take over....

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Canada just about had a ballot as tall as you

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Can you track all the ways you’re taxed?