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Saturday Selections – Aug 15, 2026

You need to be bored (6 minutes)

A psychologist did experiments where people had to sit in a room for 15 minutes with nothing to do. They could sit there and be bored, or there was a button in the room they could push that would give them a painful shock. Bored or electrocuted. A vast majority picked the electric shock.

Why?

Because otherwise their bored brain might start thinking about things that would make many of us uncomfortable. Like, What am I even doing with my life? Or, What is the point of all of this? And rather than think on those bigger things, we will do anything to keep ourselves from being alone with our own thoughts. Most of the time the choice isn't boredom or electrocution: it's between boredom and our phones. So our phones have saved us from the search for meaning.

We really do need to be bored.

Paul shows us how to confront others with the Gospel

"...Many of us are not nearly confrontational enough in presenting the claims of Christ to those around us. We are far too willing to soften the message..... But Paul did not flinch from proclaiming a message that he knew would be utterly offensive to his hearers."

We have a playbook for college. How about one for marriage?

When it comes to a good college, parents know good marks might not be enough, so they know how they can help their kids build "a compelling résumé and what to put in their application essay." They can help plot a course. But marriage doesn't just happen either; not like it did. So do we need to help with a playbook for that too?

As Aaron Renn writes, he didn't prioritize marriage, but mostly because he just wasn't thinking of the future.

"For a long time I said I didn’t want to have kids. What that might mean for me down the road as I got older didn’t really register. It wasn’t a consideration.

"I was in my early 30s when my grandfather died. I was sad, but it didn’t cause me to reflect on my own mortality. Then, when I was about 40, my grandmother got sick and was hospitalized. My mother called to ask me to come down and take shifts staying with her. Several family members did likewise, so she had someone staying with her in the hospital 24 hours a day.

"When I was with her and looked at her lying in that hospital bed, for the very first time in my life it hit me. When I’m old and lying in that hospital bed, who is going to come stay with me? The answer was, nobody. Nobody would be coming to stay with me. That was a sobering thought."

Ignoble savage: what the Bible says about Ancient Man

The world pitches us a primitive-cave-man-advancing-to-sophisticated-modern-man narrative. But the Bible presents us with Adam, our first man, already smart enough to name all the animals. Quite the contrast...

5 myths about Deacons

I don't know if the 4th and 5th myth are all that applicable in any of our churches, but 1 through 3 do pop up sometimes....

For more, Real Talk did a great episode about Deacons with Dr. Van Dam.

How God brought Nabeel Qureshi to his knees (3 min)

Nabeel Qureshi was a Pakistani-American Muslim who, in university, befriended a Christian fellow university student, named David Wood. And they went at it. For months. Nabeel later went on to write Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus.

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Saturday Selections – July 25, 2026

When they mock the Bible, question the question One of my friend's university professors had, as a clear goal – if I recall right, he even stated it to his class – to convince his conservative Christian students to stop believing in a literal 6-day creation. His tactics involved undermining their trust in the Bible's accuracy, scientifically-speaking. So, in one of his tests he asked students to explain why the Bible only applied the word "barren" to women. After all, we know today that men are as responsible for infertility as women. The answer he wanted students to give? That back in biblical times, they just didn't know better, so they presumed that it was only and always women who were the cause and never men. Thankfully, in our more modern scientific age we, of course, know better than the Bible writers did. That, then, was an example of why we shouldn't trust the Bible over science. My friend found this compelling – though she still believed Jesus was her Savior, the professor's question seemed to convince her that when it came to origins, we should go with the millions of years over the Bible's six-day account. But what if we questioned the question? His students presumed the question was fair, but the prof had an agenda, so why would we simply take his word for it? Does the Bible only speak of women as being barren? And if so, might there be a reason for that, other than that the Bible is unreliable? How might we approach this question if we weren't trying to undermine the Bible? Well, we might ask at least three questions: 1. Do we think the human authors of the Bible were idiots? The question presumes that in OT times, people didn't know men could be responsible for infertility. But these were farmers, raising stock, so they would have known about bulls and rams that couldn't breed. We also read about eunuchs – males made deliberately infertile. Or what of Ruth, whose had no children by her first husband, Mahlon, but had a child, Obed, when she married Boaz? Do we think nobody knew that males could be infertile? 2. If the Bible does only use it with women, why might that be? There are only about a half dozen women in the Bible specifically described as barren, or not able to have children: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, Elizabeth, and Manoah's wife. Then of these six, half – Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah – were in polygamous marriages where their husbands had at least one other wife who was able to have children. So in three of these six we know the man is fertile. Of the other three marriages, is it possible that the woman was infertile and the man was fertile? It could be, couldn't it? So, then, one possible answer to the prof's question – an answer that doesn't concede the Bible's reliability – is that these women might have been described as barren because they were barren. 3. Is the prof's question even true? Does the Bible only describe women as barren? There is at least one instance in which the Bible speaks of males as among those who won't be barren. In Deut. 7:14 Israel is told that if they keep God's commands in this new land “You shall be blessed above all peoples; there will be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle" (NASB). The professor's question wasn't fair and instead of answering it straight up, his students should have challenged the premises. And as this video below highlights, there's other instances too, where Christians really need to question the question. Seventeen babies born alive — and then left to die in Alberta "Seventeen babies were born alive in Alberta following labour-induced late-term abortions in 2025 and left to die..... As a columnist more than 25 years ago, Danielle Smith called such second- and third-trimester abortions a 'horrific practice,' describing how 'nurses used to induce labour then withhold fluids from the baby until it died.'” But now they are happening under her government. Social media pushes pornography on children within minutes, report finds "Social media is now one of the primary pipelines to porn addiction for both children and young adults." 3 thoughts on how to choose your career John Newton, and Tim Keller had this trio of questions: Affinity: Do you enjoy it? Ability: Do others think you can do the job well? Opportunity: Is there an open door? Transgenderism - why we need Logic 101 in our schools "Would you rather have a live son or a dead daughter?" Parents around the world, wondering and confused about whether they should let their daughters "transition," got hit with this question. But was the only way to keep their daughter alive to allow the doctor to put her on experimental drugs to derail her puberty? Did they have to let the surgeon remove her healthy breasts? Dead, or drugged and disfigured? Were there any other possibilities? A false dichotomy is when someone presents an either/or situation when there are actually more than just two choices. Here it's being used to push people in one direction, by highlighting the only other possibility as even more unattractive. But it can show up in other ways. Rick, an abortion advocate, thinks pro-lifers can only speak up for the unborn if they're willing to adopt the children. Shut up, or adopt, he says, those are the only two options. But if someone attacked Rick, would he only expect people to come to his aid if they were also willing to provide food and housing for him? Nope – he'd be happy for any help, even if it didn't come with room and board. Beethoven's wig is very big (Symphony #5) Our school's music teacher had my youngest listening to selections from Beethoven's Wig, a clever musical group who sings lyrics set to the classical music you already know. If you liked this one, be sure to check out their Beep beep beep, also known as Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. ...

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Ontario’s “conservative” gov’t opposes bill that would have banned gambling ads

Ontario is awash in new gamblers. As ARPA Canada reported earlier this year: “A recent study found that since iGaming Ontario was introduced, total monthly wagers increased by 654% between April 2022 and August 2025, and the number of active player accounts rose 239%. Calls to Ontario’s mental health and addictions helpline rose at an accelerated annual rate (7% above the previous trend) after iGaming Ontario was introduced in 2022. The highest increase in calls was among young men aged 15 to 24.” The province’s iGaming Ontario reported that in the 2024-25 fiscal year, it oversaw $82.7 billion in total wagers. That amounts to an average of $5,000 being bet, and $180 being lost, by every man, woman, and child in the province. How much revenue does the government get out of this? It’s surprisingly low: a little over $181 million, with the rest going to the private gaming operators. That means the government is overseeing an enormous expansion of gambling, but making only a smidge over $11 per man, woman, and child from it. These iGaming Ontario numbers don’t even account for the billions more spent on the government’s own Ontario Lottery and Gaming. While it’s hard to know just how much is being gambled through its lotteries and other offerings, what is clear is how much it contributes to government coffers: $2.25 billion in 2024-25, or $140 from every man, woman, and child. Earlier this year, billionaire investor Warren Buffett characterized sports gambling as a tax that the rich like because “they don’t have to pay it.” Why don’t they have to pay? Because it is an entirely voluntary tax – if you don’t want to give the government your money, you can simply choose not to gamble. That’s why he also agreed that it was “a tax on stupidity.” But, of course, some people have a hard time not gambling. Various estimates put the number of problem gamblers at 1.1 to 11 percent of Ontarians, or between 160,000 and 1.6 million Ontarians getting hurt by a product their government is pushing on them. As Buffett put it: “I don’t like things that make a sucker out of people. I particularly don’t like them when the government sponsors them. I don’t think the function of the government is to play its people for suckers.” So when a bill was proposed, earlier this year, to ban gambling advertising in Ontario, it was a reason to celebrate. Gambling advertising has gotten inescapable – as ARPA Canada shared, “one analysis in 2024 estimated that Canadian viewers of live sports broadcasts were exposed to 2.8 references to sports betting per minute” (emphasis added). This bill wasn’t going to undo all the damage being done, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. And, all the more remarkably, the bill was being proposed by four members of Ontario’s opposition Liberals. Things are bad indeed when even the Liberals see a need to rein things in. But the ostensibly “conservative” government said no. While they offered up reasons to oppose the Liberals’ bill, what the Conservatives didn’t do was propose an alternative to it – they spoke of the need for moving “thoughtfully and methodically” but in the meantime Ontarians are left with the destructive status quo. What’s wrong with gambling can perhaps be best understood in contrast to other ways we can make money. Gamblers make bets that, should they win, are covered by those who bet the other way and lost – your gain only comes via others’ pain. Meanwhile, if you make money any other legal way, your wealth will come by benefiting others. Whether you are a housepainter or an accountant, the money that you thankfully receive comes from others who are thankful too for what they’ve gotten from you in exchange. Your gain is also their gain. God calls us to love our neighbor, not exploit him, so wealth gained at our neighbor’s expense is an unacceptable way to take in money. More could be said, but for those who think gambling is harmless entertainment I’ll offer up just one more objection. Even if you’ve got your gambling under control, every bet you make is that little bit more motivation for the government to keep at this… to the great harm of many, who aren’t in control of their gambling. If you love your neighbor, you should be lobbying the government to stop pushing, and just simply stop running, such a destructive enterprise....

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Saturday Selections – July 11, 2026

If only Steve Jobs had pitched it this way back in 2007... Back in 2007, if Steve Jobs had pitched the iPhone for everything it helps us do, would we have wanted it then? So how about now? To get a little balance restored, why not sign up for RP's 2026 Screen-fast and log out and look up from July 13 to 22. 5 ways your words can be verbal cyanide This is the sort of article that folks who most need to read it won't read it. So, if you don't think this could possibly apply to you, that might mean it is for you :) 5 questions for parents to talk with teens about AI This article begins with a wallop – an account of a teen who, after talking with an AI chatbot, committed suicide – and while I don't think that's the pressing danger we're facing with our kids and AI, these 5 questions seem helpful conversation starters. How does the local church deal with addiction? Tim Challies: "Of all the pastoral issues a church can face, I think one of the trickiest may be addiction..." Pushing euthanasia for organ transplantation A Spanish woman was, reportedly, prodded towards euthanasia by a medical system that wanted her organs for transplants. If this is the direction of organ provision, Christians are going to have to choose death over having any sort of hand in these murders. Don't know it all? Neither do they. When it comes to any sort of discussion or debate, God's people shouldn't always feel the need to do the heavy lifting. Especially when someone, ignorant of the Bible, tries attacking it. Highlighted here is a great tactic – put the onus back on them for them to show what they claim to know. If they know the Bible doesn't make sense because of... well, whatever, ask them to dig into it for you. ...

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Nearly 60% of violent crime cases now being stayed or withdrawn

“Justice delayed has become justice denied,” concluded a recent report from The Hub about the amount of time it is taking for criminal justice cases to be completed. Digging into the most recent data available across Canada, the report found that the median amount of time it takes to complete a case – from first appearance to a final decision – has increased 60 percent in just eight years. It’s gone from averaging around 4 months – varying from 121 to 124 days – for the 8 years preceding 2016, to now being well over 6 months, or 198 days for 2023/24. There are many costs to delaying justice, with a big one being guilty people set free because they haven’t been offered a trial within the “reasonable time” promised in the Charter of Rights. The same report found that over the same time period, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of cases that have been stayed or withdrawn. That means no finding of guilt or innocence has been reached. As The Hub’s David Snow reports: “Focusing on Canada outside Quebec , the proportion of criminal cases that were stayed or withdrawn increased from just under 35 percent in 2007/08 to 40 percent by 2019/20. The increase accelerated sharply after the pandemic, to the extent that more than 50 percent of criminal cases outside Quebec now end without a determination of guilt or innocence.” This is particularly the case for violent crimes, where now nearly three in five cases are stayed or withdrawn. As a result, fewer people are being found guilty, dropping from 63 percent to 46 percent. This isn’t because there are more acquittals. In fact, of the 228,425 adult court cases in 2023/2024: • 105,371 were found guilty • 118,265 were stayed or withdrawn • only 2,442 were acquitted God, who is perfectly just, calls us to image His justice. “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act" we are instructed in Proverbs 3:27. And as we read in Jeremiah 21:12, it must be done promptly. “Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed.” So the Charter of Rights’ call for trials in a “reasonable time” is good – we don’t want people who’ve never been convicted, languishing in jail for years on end before they even have a trial. Imagine if you are innocent, and you’re made to wait in jail for even “just” 4 months. This needs to be fixed....

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Saturday Selections – June 20, 2026

Calvin vs Arminius: the predestination rock battle Though they never met in real life, what if John Calvin and Jacob Arminius would have gone head to head.... with a driving rock rhythm backing them? Thanks to AI, now we can know! What Christians need to know about Islam and the Quran (10 minute read) Muslims' sacred text has mistakes: "the Quran includes Mary in the Trinity (5:72–75; 116) and also confuses her with Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron (19:27–28)." Inside the climate cult: former climate activist Lucy Biggers Lucy Biggers helped get plastic straws banned, she interviewed Greta Thunberg, she pushed the Green New Deal, and she got 100 million views. I don't know if the former climate activist is now Christian but this interview highlights how secular ideology can blind people to reality – it can stop them from asking obvious questions. A time to dance? There's an old revealing joke about why Dutch Reformed folk are against premarital sex: "Because it might lead to dancing." Such was the opposition to dancing, more so in decades past, and still to a degree today. And not without reason. What reason? Well, a lot of the dancing done then and now is, in a word, sleazy. Dance programs on TV feature men and women in revealing outfits, and trying out moves that are sexually charged – bedroom material put out for public consumption. So no wonder that some good godly Reformed parents and grandparents didn't want the next generation engaged in these kinds of contortions. But is that what dancing has to be? No, it really doesn't. The Bible speaks specifically of how dancing can be done in God-honoring ways (2 Sam. 6:14, Ps. 149:3, Ps. 150:4, Eccl. 3:4). So there are both dances to avoid, and dances to embrace. And one good reason to dance is to teach young people rules of etiquette, like how a gentleman would approach the opposite sex and ask for a dance, and how a young lady might say yes to most such initial requests, but also feel very welcome to say no to a second. This would require some education and coaching – every kid is born knowing how to wag their booty – so if we're going to do this right and refined, they'll need to be taught. 5 myths about C.S. Lewis Even when these myths get it wrong about Lewis, they are still interesting, like that he never read a newspaper because if anything important happened someone was bound to tell him. Turns out not to be true, but it did still highlight how Lewis wasn't a reactionary – very unlike today's hot take culture, he responded to trends that went back centuries, not seconds. Something changed in 2010, and don't we all know it? There might be some hype to this – this is one man's testimony and should be taken as that – but doesn't it match with your own experience? Don't you, as an adult, feel stupider than you used to, more distractible than you used to, less able to concentrate on the sermon than you used to be? It's worth noting too, that he attributes to evolution what we can attribute to God's intent – that we learn relationally. I didn't post this to promote RP's July 13-22 screen-fast, but I can't help but mention it now. It's an opportunity to put away the tech for 10 days, if only to be able to assess its impact on you and your family. ...

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Saturday Selections – June 13, 2026

Brandon Lake's That's Who I Praise Here's a whole bunch of people having a whole bunch of fun praising God! I, Smartphone Nearly 80 years ago economist Leonard Read made the point that the central planning necessary for socialism to succeed is beyond anyone. No one can possibly know enough to be able to understand what everyone is capable of, and interested in producing, and then plan for what everyone wants and needs. He made his point with an essay called I, Pencil, about how even something as simple as a pencil is beyond the abilities of any one person to make and produce – as he put it, no one on earth knows how to make a pencil. So how then do pencils get produced... and without government planning? By everyone acting in their own self-interests, and in accord with God's law not to steal. The way this can, miraculously, produce what we want and need, and for prices far below what any government production would output, is sometimes credited to "the invisible hand" of the Free Market. But we know Whose hand it is, and, again, we know Who to attribute miracles to. In this new take on Read's I, Pencil essay, Lawerence Reed makes the same point about the production of something we take for granted today – the smartphone. Even among Christians, support for suicide is growing (10 min. read) That's both sad, but means we have yet another reason to argue against euthanasia with overtly Christian, God-glorifying arguments. What budding apologists can learn from Charlie Kirk "Let me offer a ten-second overview to this piece: If I were asked what the best books or resources are available for the eager young Christian apologist, I would simply point them to any number of excellent videos of the late Charlie Kirk interacting with often hostile and pugilistic critics, atheists and others." "Happy wife, happy life?" or, how passivity can destroy marriage Headship can be twisted two very different directions, and the one we most often hear warnings about is the domineering husband who treats his wife like his own personal slave. I'm sure that's a warning worth sounding, but in my denomination, at least in this generation, the opposite error seems the more likely. In response to domineering men of the past, many a male – and this is among those who believe in male headship – will let his wife's wishes dominate family life. It's sacrificial leadership with an emphasis on the sacrificial, even to the exclusion of the leadership. This bird is super cool Think you should be praising God more? Then watch the cool birds He made and it'll just happen. (Its head just stays stock still - crazy!) ...

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Saturday Selections – June 6, 2026

When a famous apologist dismisses the Bible... William Lane Craig is such an acclaimed apologist that many a conservative Christian has heard him praised. But when it comes to Craig's thoughts on the opening chapters of Genesis, Donall and Conall have some problems with him. Why wokeness is a Christian heresy "First... critical theory misunderstands who we are by assuming that the only relevant fact about us is where we fit within the various categories of oppression. We are the group we belong to, which serves a social role as either oppressor or oppressed. As such, this theory rejects any universals that unite humanity, including the image of God. "Second, the understanding of sin, or what’s wrong with the human condition, is limited to oppression. In this view, oppressors are guilty and the oppressed are innocent." Push for mandatory abortion for pregnant minors highlights what's going on behind the scenes One mistake frequently made in the abortion battle is that we forget what the other side wants. If we were debating Nazis, we wouldn't forget that they want to gas Jews. But when we discuss abortion, we regularly forget that the people we are talking to want babies murdered. We forget that the other side isn't just wrong, but is evil. I don't say that to foster hatred, or anger, but rather to highlight that this isn't some polite debate between two parties looking to each score their points. This is a spiritual battle that needs a spiritual response. We need to speak not just logic, but preach the gospel. When a monstrous wrong is called a right, people shouldn't get told to reconsider, but need to be called to repent. And if you have any doubts about the spiritual aspect of this battle, then read this article, where the evil is even more unvarnished, with a British Columbia (what is it about BC?) philosophy professor pushing for mandatory abortion for pregnant minors. Tim Challies: Go ahead, bring a knife to a gunfight "You may wish you had the sword of compelling argument, the rapier of sharp and thrusting wit, or the spear of the perfect put-down. However, God may not have gifted you in any of these ways. Yet there is always something you can do, and there is always some weapon you can wield. Don’t sit around pining for what you don’t have, but resolve to use what you do have...." End supply management – for the sake of Canadian consumers Why do Christians want a free market rather than socialism? Well, one good reason is, we know only God is omniscient, so the government simply doesn't have the capacity to know how much of everything should be produced, and who should get how much, and for what price. Meanwhile, Canada's supply management operates under just those presumptions. In the name of helping farmers, it limits what farmers can produce to deliberately drive up the price of their goods. And who pays that price? "According to a Fraser Institute estimate, supply management adds roughly $375 a year to the average Canadian household’s grocery bill. Because lower-income families spend a much higher proportion of their income on food, the burden falls most heavily on them." Another solid biblical reason to oppose socialism? We are called to "Do unto others as you would want done to you" (Luke 6:31). If it doesn't strike you as wrong that poor families are being forced to support farmers by being required to pay artificially higher prices, imagine if the same was happening to your own favorite goods: your car, your house, or your jeans. Have you thought about how helpful it would be for those goods' producers if they were making more money off of your purchases? So why not get the government to restrict production there too, so that prices will rise? Wouldn't such government intervention be good for every producer? So why not make it universal? Because it would hurt consumers enormously. And it would hurt producers too – anyone who had any inputs in their production process would be paying higher costs for everything, making their own goods less competitive on any international markets. It would hurt consumers and it would hurt productivity. So why would do we think it a good idea for eggs and dairy? A presuppositional rock song This could make a good final exam for our Christian schools – to graduate you must be able to understand and apply what this rock song is talking about. ...

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Saturday Selections – May 30, 2026

When John MacArthur visited a philosophy class In this clip John MacArthur starts off sounding quite arrogant – he says he sees everything clearly. but he isn't boasting about himself and his intellect. He's boasting about what he – and what we – have been given. And Christians should not be humble about the greatness of our God! "As a Christian, you and I share this in common: I see things clearly. I see the world clearly. In fact, I often wonder why I'm not on more programs giving the right answer to everything. It's all very clear to me. Everything is clear to me. I understand where the world came from, where it's going. I understand all of that. I understand why things happen the way they happen. I understand life and death and life after death and heaven and hell and morality and immorality. I understand it all. I understand why the world is the way it is. Why people act the way they act. Am I particularly intelligent? No. Am I particularly wise? No. I just have the mind of Christ here in this book." 4  reasons Christians should study evolution (10 minute read) "As a science teacher in Christian schools, I’ve noticed a predictable progression when students begin studying evolution. They start with a mocking attitude that 'evolution is stupid.' But when I present the details accurately, a bewildered hush falls over the class. Quizzical looks are followed by raised hands and vociferous objections. They sound betrayed. "Finally, as they discover biblical answers from the creation perspective, light bulbs turn on, and their perplexity is replaced with relief. They then are able to communicate their thoughts about origins more coherently and confidently. "We fall short if we tell Christian youth that the study of origins doesn’t matter or that it’s a side issue. We underestimate evolution’s threat to their faith..." What gives something value? As Christians we generally have a negative view of subjectivity – morality certainly isn't subjective. But whether chocolate or vanilla ice cream is best certainly is. Marx thought that a product's value came from the workers and how much effort was putting into building something. That makes some intuitive sense, because things that take a lot of man-hours to build – like a house – are more expensive than things that take very little human labor, like, say, a candy bar. But products can take a lot of man-hours to produce and still have no value at all – think Google Glass, or that phone Amazon tried to market years back. These are products that had hundreds and maybe thousands of people involved in making them, but no one wanted them. Despite the many man-hours, they weren't worth a dime. So what makes something valuable is dependent on what people think about it. Bitcoin is an example, valuable because people say it is. And diamonds too. This is important because it highlights how markets – the free exchange of goods – help us figure out what people will value. And government interference with markets makes it much harder to know what people value. By way of example, a story is told of how the Soviet Union, for efficiency's sake produced right boots in one factory and left boots in another. But then, one day the right boot factory burnt down, forcing the left boot factory to offer pairs of two left boots. And you know what? Demand didn't drop. Because if your choice in a wintery climate is no boots at all, or two left boots, you'll go with two left boots. So, from the Soviet government's perspective, they'd have no feedback telling them that people actually hate their product. "Sales" would seem to show that it is still popular indeed. The documentary hypothesis – an attack on the books of Moses dismantled A friend who went to Calvin Seminary was taught there that the books of Moses might not be by Moses, and were instead by 4 others – this was known as the documentary hypothesis or the JEDP theory (each initial standing for one of those four "editors"). I don't know that this registered with him as an attack on the Bible – it might have seemed just trivia at the time. But those behind the theory didn't see the Bible as God's Word. They saw it as a work of men, revised, edited, corrected and reworked. Some years later that friend now doubts what the Bible says about homosexuality and I wonder if his slip into liberalism is connected with what he swallowed about Moses so many years ago – after all, if he believed the Bible was edited then, why couldn't he edit out the parts he doesn't like now? But the JEDP theory was always wrong, and has become all the more clearly so now. This isn't an article for everyone, but it caught my eye because of my friend, and because this is from the folks behind "The Patterns of Evidence" film series, and relates specifically to their documentary The Moses Controversy.  Math from a Christian worldview? "Math can be a challenging subject to teach from the Christian worldview. But consider looking at it through the framework of Truth, Hope, Identity and Calling." This three-page resource could be a help to any Christian math teacher you know... and intriguing to anyone who might be math-minded. What if the Bible was right about sex? Christians, we need to be bold about the truth God has entrusted to us in His Word. When it comes to sex, as this video shows, it can be as simple as pitching the fruit of the Bible's sexual ethic vs. the fruit of the sexual revolution.  ...

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Homosexuality, News

Opposing rainbow crosswalk results in human rights trial

Ronald Reagan once shared a quip about the difference between his country and the totalitarian USSR. “Two Soviets… were talking to each other. And one of them asked, ‘What’s the difference between the Soviet Constitution and the United States Constitution?’ And the other one said, ‘That’s easy. The Soviet Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of gathering. The American Constitution guarantees freedom after speech and freedom after gathering.” Here in Canada, we still have freedom of speech, but, it seems, no guarantee of freedom after speech. An Alberta woman is facing a two-week hearing before the Alberta Human Rights Commission for distributing flyers opposing the Town of Westlock’s plan to paint a rainbow crosswalk. Benita Pedersen created the flyers in June of 2023, in an effort to encourage other citizens to reach out to their elected officials and oppose the crosswalk. “Based on my personal experiences in interacting with parents and children, I have learned that the practice of ‘gender affirmation’ harms kids more than it helps,” she explained to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF). “When I composed the flyer, one of my objectives was to warn parents about the potential consequences of children pursuing the pathway of transgenderism.” She added that the way to solve problems is “by having open conversation.” Others disagree, and human rights commissions make it easy to shut down speech they don’t like. In this case, fellow citizen Laurie Hodge took offense and filed a human rights, stating that the flyer discriminated on the basis of gender, gender identity, and gender expression. Hodge has since become a member of the Westlock Town Council. The wheels of “justice” turn slowly. In October of 2025, the Director of the Alberta HRC referred the complaint to the province’s human rights tribunal, finding that there was a sufficient basis to proceed with the hearing. Human rights commissions and tribunals were under the public eye 15 years ago, in light of complaints against high-profile figures like Ezra Levant, Mark Steyn, and against Maclean’s magazine. Complaints were made on the basis of hurt feelings. Even if there was no conviction, the process of responding to a complaint – involving tens of thousands of dollars in legal bills and years of hassle – was itself a punishment. The passage of a private member’s bill in 2012 to reform the Canadian Human Rights Act seemed to settle the commissions down. But the recent decision from the BC Human Rights Tribunal to fine school trustee Barry Neufeld $750,000 for speaking against “sexual orientation and gender identity” (SOGI), as well as this case in Alberta, suggest that the sleeping giants are awaking. Let’s not be caught sleeping ourselves. ARPA Canada took a lead in responding to the challenges 15 years ago, and continues to speak out today. We care so deeply about freedom of speech and expression not because our opinions are so important, but because God’s truth is. We love our neighbors, so we want and need to be free to share what God says is best for them and everyone. Find Pedersen's flyer at the end of the human rights complaint shared here....

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Saturday Selections – May 9, 2026

Morality is just preferences? In this exchange Andrew Wilson fully embraces the "devil's advocate" role, adopting his opponent's worldview fully, only to then drive it into the ditch. This isn't a "gotcha" moment (okay, maybe a bit of one) so much as, what other response can she have? Elders are competent to counsel Christians underestimate the wisdom God has given us in His Word. Christians also overestimate the wisdom of the world. We think we need to turn to the "experts" in matters of counsel, even though these are the folks who say that boys can become girls, sex before marriage is fine, homosexuality is just another lifestyle (and doesn't lead to incontinence), and life doesn't begin until you are born. Pop music seems to be getting sadder each year An analysis of the Billboard Hot 100 had "heartbreak" songs doubling from 30 percent in 2015 to 58 percent in 2025. As this article notes, that doesn't mean there isn't upbeat music being made – it's that what's moody is more popular these days. The dying advice of Ben Sasse Ben Sasse was welcomed onto 60 Minutes because he is a former US senator and he is dying and very willing to talk about it. And that includes sharing where, or rather with Who, his hope is found. Jonathon Van Maren shares his dying advice, well worth hearing: "He wishes he had honored the Sabbath more. He didn’t skip church but was consistently tempted to excuse work in the afternoon. 'I wish I’d treated the Lord’s Day differently over the course of my life.' He added that he wishes he had guarded better against 'digital intrusions into the Sabbath.' "Family dinnertime should be prioritized. 'Dinnertime is precious,' he said. 'Man, lock up your devices and keep them away from the table and prioritize that time.' "....People should live in 'thick communities'—especially, if possible, near family. 'Family compounds,' Sasse said. 'Like, have more cousins and figure out how to live thick with them. There are so many times when we optimize around things that are not nearly as important as family thickness. Boy, I wish we lived down the block from my folks.' If he had more time, he said, he would be brainstorming how to create a family compound with his own children and their families." 5 myths about Heaven A couple of the big ones tackled are that Heaven is our home where will live forever more, and nothing we do here on earth really matters because it will all be forgotten. For more, Real Talk did a great podcast on Heaven with Dr. den Hollander. Crowder's Grave robber Can a dead man respond to God's call? No, he needs to first be made alive! ...

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Federal spending increases under Carney

To make a diamond dazzle, a skilled jeweller will slip a black cloth under it. The federal government pulled a similar tactic with its Spring Economic Update, setting the current state of the economy in the context of the ongoing instability in the world. In spite of trade disruptions with the USA, conflict in the Middle East, and fragile global supply chains, the government was keen to showcase that Canada’s economy grew by 1.7 percent in 2025 and is expected to have the second-fastest growth in the G7, next to the USA. But a careful examination shows a less dazzling picture. The deficit for 2025 is a staggering $66.9 billion, with no end to deficits in sight. The federal government is already $1.3 trillion in debt, and is on track to pile up $309 billion more in total debt by the end of this decade. Our cost to service all our debt is projected to increase from $54 billion this year, to $81 billion by 2030-31. History backs up the instruction from Proverbs 22:7 that “the borrower is a slave to the lender.” Just like family debt handcuffs a household from pursuing opportunities they might otherwise want to pursue, the same is true for countries. We severely limit what we can do when we have to pay billions, not even to pay off the debt, but just to pay the yearly interest.  But the federal government emphasizes that we are doing better than most G7 countries. After 9 consecutive budget deficits under Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister Carney promised: “what we will do is to focus on reducing spending, if I’m elected…. The essence of this is to spend less, and invest more.” When we hear our government wants to spend less to allow for more investment, we might conclude that means spending cuts will be accompanied by tax cuts to leave the private sector with more of their money. They can then invest those newly available funds in their businesses. But that’s not what Carney means by “spending less.” His plan is to have the government spend much more overall, but label some of it “investing.” Neat trick, but let’s not fall for it. His new Economic Update reveals a plan to increase spending by $83.2 billion more than the Trudeau government planned from 2025/26 through 2029/30....

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Radicalized and Reformed? Someone we know tried to kill the president.

The news traveled in Reformed circles like wildfire on a Saturday evening: the young man who tried to kill President Trump and members of his cabinet was one of our own. 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, who traveled across the country by train from California to Washington DC with a plan to murder dozens, was a long-time member of Grace United Reformed Church in Torrance, California. How could a young man raised in the church and living under his parents’ roof have become so radicalized that he would attempt such a heinous, violent crime?  Allen’s written manifesto, sent out to family members and friends moments before his attack, gives some clues of what type of news and opinions he had been consuming: “I am a citizen of the United States of America. What my representatives do reflects on me. And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.” National Public Radio reported on statements Allen’s sister made to the Secret Service and Montgomery County police. She said he was involved with a “No Kings” anti-Trump protest recently, and was influenced by a group called “The Wide Awakes,” a self-described “open source network who radically reimagine the future… Disruptive, visionary, accountable… We believe liberation is a game and all of us can play now and forever.” It should be noted, however, that “The Wide Awakes” also declare that “we can emancipate ourselves without violence.” No doubt we will learn more about the type of influences that radicalized Allen as he stands trial on two charges related to the assassination attempt. We can wonder how someone who sat under faithful preaching of the Gospel could ignore all the teachings of the Bible and turn to violence and hatred. Because Allen seemed to believe terrible things about President Trump and members of his cabinet, he apparently thought he needed to take justice into his own hands, without a trial, without a judge or jury. From his manifesto: “Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.” Today’s social media and online world is full of conspiracies, outright lies, and malignant forces. Algorithms are designed to feed us more and more of whatever we’ve shown an interest in, and we may find ourselves over time believing the lie instead of the truth. May we guard our hearts and minds, and those of our children, and look for ways to encourage others in our church family to free themselves from harmful influences. Photo of Cole Allen is from an April 25 post to TruthSocial.com/@realDonaldTrumpDonald, the US president’s own Truth Social account....

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