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Internet

On becoming tech-savvy Christians

Technology changes so quickly that we can become bewildered over what to think about all the new products, services and platforms that appear and disappear. A new technology can be hyped to the sky one moment, and fall into disuse the next month. (Case in point: who still uses Clubhouse?) But some technology has a profound ability to change our world. We wonder, how do we approach these? What should we think about them, from a Christian point of view?

Here are a few pieces we’ve published in the past that can help us with several new technologies that seem to be sticking around a bit longer. Click on the titles to go to the linked articles.

CHATGPT AND OTHER AI

Demystifying ChatGPT

The latest thing being hyped is artificial intelligence, and the most well-known example of AI is ChatGPT. What is ChatGPT and how does it work? If you feel confused, Thomas VanDrunen breaks it down in simple terms.

3 things we need to tell our kids about ChatGPT

It’s one thing to understand technology such as ChatGPT, it’s another to know what we should teach our kids about it. Here are some pointers about what kids might need to know.

Is AI just another tool, or something else?

New technologies often appear to be useful tools that make life easier, and their negative consequences can take more time to reveal themselves. Artificial intelligence is one of the latest technologies to catch attention, but we should be aware of these potential drawbacks.

CRYPTOCURRENCIES

Christians can’t “invest” in cryptocurrency

For a while, “investing” in cryptocurrencies looked like the newest and greatest way to make money. Here’s why Christians shouldn’t “invest” in these projects.

THE SOCIAL WEB

Our dangerous diet of clips, tweets, memes, and headlines

This article doesn’t even mention TikTok, but it illustrates a trend that’s gotten far worse. Our tendency to absorb information in bite-sized chunks has decreased our ability to know much about any one thing in depth, even while we might have a larger number of things we know a little bit about. When navigating the online world, it’s good to keep this in mind. What might we be missing? Where should we be more humble about our understanding of an issue?

TikTok passes 2 billion downloads

Speaking of TikTok, what is TikTok? Here's a quick summary of this incredibly popular app.

One week in: Facebook isn’t for everyone

What is it like to give up Facebook? It can reveal a lot about our dependence on so-called “social” media.

REST OF THE 'NET

Is our curiosity controlling us, or are we controlling it?

The answer to almost everything is a quick internet search away. Anytime we wonder about something, or have a friendly debate over a piece of trivia, we can easily settle the question. But curiosity, while often a force for good, can also become an endless search for something “new” and interesting. Our brains thirst for the next intriguing bit of information. Then we should consider whether it’s really us in control, or our curiosity.

Solomon on smartphones and the pull of pornography

Speaking of the online world, we should all be well aware by now of some of the dangers of the shadier corners of the internet. That doesn’t mean we always navigate the internet wisely, especially with devices in our pockets that offer us 24/7 temptation. In this article, Ryan DeJonge walks through the guidance that the book of Proverbs offers Christians and how it can help with the battle against pornography.

…the Internet can pervert anything

Pornography is the obvious danger when it comes to the Internet, but it’s not the only thing to watch out for. The internet can pervert anything. Emily Arend gives some examples of how innocent interests can lead down a darker path.

Wikipedia: reader beware

Wikipedia is one of the most well-known and well-used websites on the internet, and it’s been around for a long time (by tech standards). But its limitations are becoming more apparent. Sure, there’s a chance Wikipedia can be inaccurate, but a bigger issue is the potential for bias, especially in topics that venture into the realm of controversy or opinion.

SMARTPHONES

Reflections on “12 ways your phone is changing you”

We know cellphones have changed our world drastically, but they might have a bigger impact than we realize. Author Tony Reinke has written a book on exactly this, which we review here. Our phones’ always-available distraction, disconnection from face-to-face interaction, sense of privacy that encourages temptation, and one-sided algorithms can lead us away from the Christlikeness we’re called to.

The smartphone stack

There are many suggestions to increase face-to-face interactions and get off our phones, and it’s worth trying a few to figure out what works for you. Here is one simple yet practical suggestion to try with a group!

TOWARDS A POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP WITH TECH

Technology and our anxious hearts

As a pastor, Reuben Bredenhof has noticed more and more people dealing with a sense of unease, and feeling unsettled, fearful and restless. A lot of this anxiety can be traced back to our use of technology. Here he addresses some of the common anxieties that technology brings out in us, and counteracts these messages with a Christian response. God can give us peace even when it comes to technology.

Elon Musk and visions of the future

Elon Musk has a vision of the future. Christians should have a vision of the future as well, but do we know what it is? In our tech-obsessed world, we should have our eyes fixed on our ultimate hope!

CONCLUSION

The cycle of new technology will continue to turn, and we will keep being confronted by innovations, and new decisions about how to interact with these new things. But ultimately “there is nothing new under the sun” – the creations of humankind will be influenced by our sinful nature as well as our God-given creativity. It will take a lot of wisdom and prayer to navigate our changing world, but we can rest in the security that ultimately every tool is under God’s control.

Full Article

News

Saturday Selections – August 24, 2024

Abe Lincoln with a lesson on lying The smartest politicians don't break promises; like Abe here, they try not to make any promises at all. Pro-lif...

Assorted

Let the little children come

Children can’t be sheltered from the death of a loved one. But they can be comforted. ***** Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and...

News

Saturday Selections – August 17, 2024

Click on the titles below to go to the linked articles... The wrong folk think God, the Bible, and Christianity are relevant in the political sphere ...

News, Pro-life - Euthanasia

State-sanctioned murder now the 5th leading cause of death in Canada

News

Saturday Selections – August 10, 2024

Click on the titles below to go to the linked articles... Red Green's pit crew "You know when a flatbed gets ahead of you in a race it's not going well..." India turns to coal The solar panels installed in a village in India are being put to good use... as shelter for their village cattle. Vijay Jayaraj makes the case that climate change motivated policies are the "real existential threat to billions across our planet" because they force the poor to rely on unreliable power sources. Can a Christian date an unbeliever? "Who you marry will likely shape who you become more than any other human relationship. If your husband runs from Jesus, you won’t be able to avoid the undertow of his lovelessness. If your wife runs from Jesus, you will live in the crossfire of her unrepentant sin. You may survive an unbelieving spouse, but only as through fire..." Daniel’s 3 tips for surviving university Christian young people who are not able to resist peer pressure will need to steer clear of university, because standing out is an absolute requirement. Screentime in schools "In recent years, groups of Christians, including families, have joined together to take the 'Postman Pledge,' a year-long commitment to raise kids without phones and in community with one another." But is more needed? Do we need the State to help? Springtails do their own stunts They jump the equivalent of 6 stories, exploding upward 150 times faster than the blink of an eye! ...

News, Sexuality

Transmutilation defender comes to regret youthful tattoo

A young lady who goes by the online moniker of “emo hag” was such a fan of the Harry Potter series that she got a Harry Potter “sleeve” tattooed on one arm. But then the series’ author J.K. Rowling refused to give full-throated approval of transgenderism. Rowling is happy to support men wearing dresses, but she isn’t willing to pretend they are actually women. That has many on the Left (including actors who’ve made millions off her movies) denouncing her, and “emo hag” decided the only thing to do was black out the Harry Potter sleeve she’d spent years, and thousands of dollars, creating. The irony here was expressed by Gene Parmesan in a comment on her tweet. He wrote: “wait so in your youth you made a permanent change to your body that you grew to regret???” She still didn’t catch the irony, tweeting back: “yes it’s amazing how right my dad was about this whole thing 😂“. Christians can appreciate Parmesan’s clever question, but we also need to understand where it falls short. He addresses regret, but that’s not the real issue. The devil’s play here is to blind the world to God’s created order, and the fact that He, and not we, decides what gender a person will be (Gen. 1:26-27). Gene Parmesan didn’t start with God, and as a result his point isn’t standing on a firm foundation. In fact, it can be easily rebutted. After all, kids regularly make decisions in their youth that they come to regret. A kid might choose to take Dutch instead of French, or Physics instead of Chemistry. And any hours they put into basketball can’t also be put into piano. As an adult, they might come to really regret those decisions. So the transgender lobby could readily grant that, like course selection and basketball practices, some kids might come to regret their choice. But whatcha gonna do? Choices have to be made, right? And that’s the real issue: whether this is a choice. Our real argument is that when it comes to gender, there are no options to explore because God has already made the choice for us. Christians will sometimes avoid mention of God when they make arguments in the public square in the hopes of being heard and being more effective. But, like “emo hag,” we’re missing out on some irony here. Godless arguments aren’t actually effective because they aren’t firmly grounded. It’s not a coincidence that Parmesan’s argument could be rebutted. That’s true of every Godless argument, because they don’t stand on a firm footing. We can appreciate Gene Parmesan’s point but should think of it as a great plank – it’s not strong enough to stand on, but stacked on the solid foundation of God’s Truth, it can be put to constructive use....

Assorted

A funeral is a community event

Your presence alone can be a comfort ***** Not long ago I was directing a funeral, and the service was about to begin. The doors to the sanctuary opened to myself and the pastor, and, most importantly, the grieving widower and his family. Waiting for us were 400 guests in attendance. There was an audible gasp and fresh tears from the family, followed by a brief pause as they took in this overwhelming show of support. We walked down the aisle to the reserved pews, surrounded by a sea of compassionate faces, an earthly cloud of witnesses. I was struck by the visible comfort this community gave the family simply by showing up. Their presence was a gift I don’t think the family will ever forget. An experience like this highlights how funerals are community events. It also shows us the opportunity, and with that the responsibility, we have to be a support system. We can learn here, too, some practical ways we can care for the grieving family among us. Practical advice In our church tradition, it is typical that a family would choose to have a time of visitation prior to the funeral event. The visitation is often our first opportunity to show up for the family. This is a time where you are invited to share in the family’s burden of missing their loved one. It is a time to mourn with those who mourn, but also an opportunity to reflect on God’s faithfulness in their loved one’s life. In many ways, it is a sacred time. Maybe you have found yourself at visitation for someone with a particularly tragic circumstance surrounding their death: perhaps a child has died, or a sudden accident or illness has occurred, rocking the community and stirring your heart to express your condolences. Especially in those circumstances you may find you don’t have the right words to say. Know that first and foremost, your presence alone can be a comfort to the family member. Second, you may be at a loss for words, and that is okay. At times we don’t understand why God gives and takes away, and we can be tempted to overcompensate with our words, even though that may do more harm than good. While it may be tempting to say, “they’re in a better place” or “all in God’s timing” – even though these might be true – I find it more effective to keep things simple and say something along the lines of, “my condolences to you,” and maybe share a short memory about their loved one. If words escape you, do not be discouraged. Consider Job’s friends, who sat with him in silence for seven days and seven nights upon seeing his grief-stricken state. A grieving family needs your constancy and listening ear, not your ability to take their pain away. A visitation gathering is a visual representation of one’s community. It can be a vulnerable position for a family to receive visitors, while they are mourning and processing their grief, whatever that may look like, but it is healthy for them to see and experience that visible show of support. While your presence can provide comfort to the family, there are also benefits for the community that attends the visitation. Often times at these events, the casket is present and open for the public to pay their respects to the deceased. In this moment, we are encouraged not only to reflect on God’s faithfulness to this individual, but also His great promises to us in our mortality if we have surrendered our lives to Him. We can be reminded that when we ourselves suffer a great loss, this is the same community that will serve as a hand and foot to us in our time of need. Our gathering together becomes an illustration of something much greater and eternal! Our responsibility to the family does not necessarily stop at showing our support at the visitation. Attending the funeral also allows you the opportunity to experience the family’s memories shared in eulogies, as well as hear about God’s promises for His children through the words of Scripture read and meditated upon at the funeral service. Typically, you are also invited to share in a meal after the funeral events. Just as Jesus shared food and fellowship with many during His life leading up to His death, you are invited to break bread with the family, ensure they are nourished physically, and perhaps share stories about their loved one and offer words of encouragement for the days ahead. Mutual encouragement In my experience, I have noticed that our seniors in the community show up to visitations faithfully. I would encourage our younger generation to continue this tradition. While perhaps standing in line, or taking a night off from watching a show after work and coming to visitation instead may not sound appealing, this is a calling and responsibility we have as brothers and sisters in Christ. It is equally encouraging for the children and grandchildren of the deceased to have their friends share in their loss. Often these family members will comment to us how appreciative they were of their friends taking the time to show up for them. I remember a basketball coach being particularly moved when her whole team of grade 9 and 10 students came to the visitation for her late father. You may be thinking that these practical ways to support the family sound daunting and beyond your abilities. Perhaps you are anxious and don’t know where to begin in supporting the grieving. While I encourage you to attend the events, there are many roles behind the scenes that we witness at every funeral as well. There are individuals such as childcare providers at the church to support little ones in the grieving family, the livestream/AV technicians for the service, the individuals who make food and serve it for the reception, and the list goes one. Be encouraged then, to find your role when it comes to funerals and visitations in your congregation and your community: “As it is, there are many parts but one body” (1 Cor. 12:20). I would like to leave you with an excerpt from a prayer in Douglas Kaine McKelvey’s Every Moment Holy (Volume II). The title of this prayer is: “A Liturgy Interceding for Those Who Will Gather to Grieve for Me.” And so may the fellowship of those who assemble to grieve my passing become a sharing of sorrow’s burdens, and a celebration of your long faithfulness in my life, and still more a warm recollection of the gifts we were ever intended to be to one another. Kayla Ruggi is funeral director at Kitching, Steepe & Ludwig Funeral Home in Hamilton, Ontario. You can email her at [email protected]....

Media bias, News

Canada's news ban one year later

It's been a year now since Meta banned Canadian news from its Facebook and Instagram platforms, in response to Canada's 2023 "Online News Act." This Act required large "digital news intermediaries" – only Google and Meta met the criteria – to compensate Canadian news outlets for news articles the social media giants shared on their platforms. Instead of paying up, Meta instead chose to stop sharing these news links. Now, a year later, a report from the Media Ecosystem Observatory (MEO) highlights how the ban has hurt Canadian media's online presence. The report estimated that pre-ban, Canadian news outlets' social media engagement amounted to more than 19 million a day, but post ban that has dropped by 8 million or roughly 43%. It has hit local news particularly hard because many were only on Facebook, and not other platforms. The results also include almost a third of Canadian news outlets going effectively dark on the social web, no longer posting to it. 770 outlets were posting prior to the ban, and a year later that's down by 215. So in some pretty significant ways the Online News Act is hurting, rather than helping, Canadian news outlets. The premise behind the Act was always flawed. It was built on the presumption that by linking to news articles, these two companies, in some way, owed the news outlets something. Google and Meta were making money off of sharing these news links, as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram rank one, two, and three among the places Canadians turn to for their news. Being a home to these links brought more traffic, which meant more ad revenue. But Meta and Google were helping their bottom line by also helping these news outlets. Any online creator, big or small, wants their content shared – that's how we can reach further. No shares means no reads, watches, or listens. That's why companies will pay Meta and Google to share their posts – so we can reach more people. The idea of penalizing these companies for sharing links to news articles is akin to penalizing them for giving out free promotional ads. Both Google and Meta threatened to simply stop carrying any Canadian news – if what they were doing was going to be viewed as theft, then they would stop "stealing." However, shortly before the Act came into force, Google negotiated an agreement with the Canadian government, giving it $100 million a year to be distributed as the government so decides. The Act becomes yet another medium for the Liberal government to direct dollars to the media outlets it wants to support. Meta held firm – it would not pay – so it chose instead to stop allowing Canadian news shares on its platforms. The government backed them into a corner, and they decided to show just how helpful (and not harmful) they were to Canada's news outlets... by no longer helping them. A year later, and the point has been well made. Canadians are still turning to Facebook and Instagram for their news, but there isn't much to find. The Online News Act has effectively prevented many Canadians from being able to access Canadian news coverage. So, will the government learn its lesson and back down? Or is the Liberal government happy with Canadians being limited in their access to Canadian news? If that first doesn't happen, it only makes the second seem quite plausible....

News

Saturday Selections – August 3, 2024

Click on the titles below to go to the linked articles... Are memories stored in the brain? History shows that the deeper we delve into how wondrous...

In a Nutshell

Tidbits – August 2024

English is a funny language Have you ever seen: • a shoe box? • a kitchen sink? • a ball park? • a home run? • a hot dog stand? • a...

News

Saturday Selections – July 27, 2024

How questions can help you offer a good answer (7 min) In the New Testament, Jesus asks as many questions as he offers answers. Why? Maybe because qu...

News

Saturday Selections – July 20, 2024

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

Assorted

7 articles on aging well

Our society is uncomfortable with aging, but as Christians we know every year is a blessing – not just to ourselves, but also to others. Here are some articles on aging well that we’ve shared throughout the years, and they’re all worth sharing again! To read any of them, just click on the title. 1. Seniors: Florida does not exist The Christian faith depends on transmission from older to younger, which means “Florida” (ie: a life of leisure without responsibilities) does not exist, even if you happen to live there. Here’s how seniors can pass their wisdom on. 2. How important is “nothing”? How many of us plan to do “nothing” in retirement, and what other options are there? We're made for more than nothing, and shifting gears is different than stopping. 3. Aging in hope! When we realize we are aging, we don’t need to deny it or cling to our youth. Here’s where our hope lies. 4. Older women have much to give What roles can older women specifically take on? There are many, as Titus 2 lays out! 5. Older men still have a job to do What roles can older men specifically take on? Find out what Titus 2 has for older men to do as well. 6. What my grandma taught me The impact one grandma had on her grandchildren's lives is incredible, even as her body and mind grew weaker. 7. Getting old(er) Growing older is often difficult, but here is how God continues to carry His people through the years....

News

The attempted assassination of a President

The roles of divine providence and the human condition **** Saturday marked the end of the longest span between domestic assassination attempts of U.S. presidents and presidential candidates since President Lincoln was killed at Ford’s Theatre in 1865. President Garfield was killed in 1881; Mckinley in 1901. Attempts were made at Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, Franklin Roosevelt in 1933, and Truman in 1950. President JFK was killed in 1963 and candidate RFK in 1968. Candidate George Wallace was shot and survived in 1972, and two attempts were made at President Ford in 1975. The most recent domestic assassination attempt prior to Saturday was over forty years ago, when Ronald Reagan was shot and survived, and afterward quipped to his wife Nancy, “Honey, I forgot to duck.” While the frequency of this violent history may be surprising, it does not diminish the horrific and evil nature of Saturday’s shooting nor the tremendous loss experienced by the family of Corey Comperatore. According to the New York Times, Comperatore died when he “threw himself over his family members to shield them.” A former fire chief, Comperatore was also, according to his daughter, "he best dad a girl could ever ask for. My sister and I never needed for anything. You call, he would answer. … e could talk and make friends with anyone, which he was doing all day (at the rally) and loved every minute of it. He was a man of God, loved Jesus fiercely, and also looked after our church and our members as family." Questions abound about this attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, from the motivations of the shooter to the seemingly unfathomable reality that the 20-year-old was able to reach an elevated position with direct line-of-sight only 130 yards or so from the President. There’s also the many “what might have been” questions, about the President personally and about the nation, questions that have only shudder-inducing speculative answers. And there are the worldview questions that arise in historic moments like this, about the reality of God and the role of divine providence in national and international affairs; and about the human condition, especially the frailty of life and the moral significance of our actions. As Dr. Al Mohler helpfully articulated in The Briefing, “ife and death can come down to the matter of seconds and to a matter of a millimeter.” The former President seems to also recognize that his survival was due to that level of precision, acknowledging to the New York Post, “I’m not supposed to be here. … By luck or by God, many people are saying it’s by God I’m still here.” That it is by God and not luck, Christians know for sure (and it seems, so does the President). At the same time, this clear teaching of Scripture, that God oversees the affairs of men particularly in raising up and casting down those in power, is not easy to understand. Why would God spare the President’s life but not Mr. Comperatore? By all indications, Mr. Trump turned his head to a chart on a screen and was somehow saved. Mr. Comperatore made the decision to throw himself between his family and an assassin, and it cost him his life. How does that make any sense? “Here,” Mohler continued, “Christians understand we have nowhere to go but the Doctrine of Providence. … It is essential to our Christian understanding of the world.” God’s providence extends to every moment of human history, not just the seemingly exceptional ones. The world is never outside of His control, even when the outcome is not as we hoped. Put differently, the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 was providential for both England and Spain. The fog that enabled the Dunkirk rescue was providential for the British, the Germans, and the entire world. And yet, just as essential to the Christian understanding of the world is the moral capacity of human beings and the meaningfulness of human actions. A Hindu leader once noted to theologian and missionary Lesslie Newbigin, "I find in your Bible a unique interpretation of universal history, the history of the whole of creation and the history of the human race. And therefore, a unique interpretation of the human person as a responsible actor in history. That is unique. There is nothing else in the whole religious literature of the world to put alongside it." There is no conflict between God’s sovereignty and man’s moral responsibility. In fact, the alternatives would be far worse. If no sovereign God exists, then life and all that happens is random and meaningless, except for some preferred interpretation we choose to impose on it. If all is predetermined, either by “nature” or by some heartless deity, we have no cause to expect better behavior of ourselves or others. The meaningfulness of our actions and the constant presence and oversight of our loving Creator may be difficult to reconcile, but it is a far better scenario. Thus we can say, both truthfully and meaningfully, that God graciously spared the former President, that the shooter’s actions were evil and heinous, and that Mr. Comperatore was heroic to protect his family. We can also, truthfully and meaningfully, judge the words and the actions of ourselves, our leaders, and our press in response to this tragedy. We can act so that, by God’s grace, this kind of thing will not become normal. We can pray that, having lived through this attempt on his life, President Trump is brought to a place of gratitude to God and a sense of responsibility, rather than to a sense of entitlement. At the same time, we should pray that God’s grace and mercy covers the Comperatore family and that He will use His church to do so. We should know also that our moral actions matter as well, as citizens and voters who follow Christ. How God’s people respond to this telling and troubling political moment will either point this world to Christ or not. So, here’s a prayer for us all: O Lord, we beseech thee mercifully to receive the prayers of thy people who call upon thee, and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. If you’re a fan of Breakpoint, leave a review on your favorite podcast app. 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. Photo credit: rblfmr/Shutterstock.com...

News

Saturday Selections – July 13, 2024

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

In a Nutshell

Tidbits – July 2024

7 debunked evolutionary “evidences” As Dr. Jonathan Wells has documented in his books Icons of Evolution and Zombie Science, there are long discredited “evidences” for evolution that keep popping up in science textbooks. Why do evolutionists use these bad examples? Because, as lies go, these are pretty compelling ones, especially to high school and college students who don’t know better. And they use them because they don’t have any better evidences. Click on the links below to learn more. Galapagos finches – Darwin though changing beak sizes was a great proof. But the back and forth change only showed a built-in adaptability. Junk DNA – Evolutionists presumed the majority of our DNA was just non-functioning remnants of our previous evolutionary stages. Wrong. Vestigial organs – Evolutionists presumed that parts of the body they didn’t understand were just useless remnants of previous evolutionary stages. They were wrong again. Backward retina – Our eye isn’t designed the way evolutionists would design it, so they thought that was evidence of bad – i.e. unguided – design. But it’s not bad; it’s brilliant. Haeckel’s embryos – Embryos of different species were drawn to make it look like we all start life looking the same. But reality is quite different. Miller-Urey experiment – This intelligently-designed experiment done in a controlled lab setting is often cited as proof that the building blocks of life could come about by sheer luck, in the great outdoors. Homology in vertebrate limbs – Both frogs and humans have five digits, so does that show we evolved from a common ancestor? Well, no, as we now know very different genes can be at work here. Go to Creation.com, AnswersInGenesis.org or ICR.org to find out more about each of these. Education is never neutral There is a quote circulating the Internet, commonly attributed to Dr. R.C. Sproul and which certainly reflects his views, but that I haven't been able to trace directly to him. Regardless of whether he said it or not someone certainly should have. “There is no such thing as a neutral education. Every education, every curriculum, has a viewpoint. That viewpoint either considers God in it or it does not. To teach children about life and the world in which they live without reference to God is to make a statement about God. It screams a statement. The message is either that there is no God or that God is irrelevant. Either way the message is the same.” One paraprosdokian deserves nine others A paraprosdokian is a turn of a phrase that might seem to be heading in a certain direction, only to then take a sudden twist. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian, any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. Always swim or dive with a friend. It reduces your chance of shark attack by 50%. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate. Don't let the village raze your child. Everything comes to those who wait… except a cat. Two guys walked into a bar; the third one ducked. I used to play piano by ear. Now I use my hands. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. – Groucho Marx Last night I removed all the bad food from the house. It was delicious. Tim Keller on Anglo-Saxon warriors and their feelings It is for the sake of “authenticity” that we now have men saying they are women. It’s how they feel, so the world has to take them as they identify. But what this supposes is that we are our feelings, and these emotions define us more certainly than anything else. It also assumes those feelings are so set in stone, so utterly unchangeable, that if our body runs counter to our feelings, it is our body that needs to be changed and not our feelings. To clear up this confusion, Tim Keller uses a thought experiment (from his book Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Scepticism) to demonstrates that our feelings don’t define us. “Imagine an Anglo-Saxon warrior in Britain in AD 800. He has two very strong inner impulses and feelings. One is aggression. He loves to smash and kill people when they show him disrespect. Living in a shame-and-honor culture with its warrior ethic, he will identify with that feeling. He will say to himself, That's me! That's who I am! I will express that. The other feeling he senses is same-sex attraction. To that he will say, That's not me. I will control and suppress that. “Now imagine a young man walking around Manhattan today. He has the same two inward impulses, both equally strong, both difficult to control. What will he say? He will look at the aggression and think, This is not who I want to be, and will seek deliverance in therapy and anger-management programmes. He will look at his sexual desire, however, and conclude, This is who I am.” This highlights how there is something outside us that defines us. The unbeliever may just attribute it to “culture” but even he’ll have to admit that he is more than his feelings. Keller continues: “…we receive some interpretive moral grid, lay it down over our various feelings and impulses, and sift them through it. This grid helps us decide which feelings are ‘me’ and should be expressed – and which are not and should not be. So this grid of interpretive beliefs – not an innate, unadulterated expression of our feelings – is what gives us our identity. Despite protests to the contrary, we instinctively know our inner depths are insufficient to guide us. We need some standard or rule from outside of us to help us sort out the warring impulses of our interior life.” So what the world needs to hear from Christians then, is: Your feelings are answerable to a standard that is outside of yourself. Your culture can only offer an ever-changing, baseless standard. Your Maker made you for a purpose, and we can only be our most “authentic selves” when we yield to the One who knows us better than we know ourselves. A tribute of sorts Reagan once shared a quip about a teacher who had: “…taught her class about magnets and all their properties and then several weeks later gave a test and asked them what it was that was spelled with six letters, began with an M, and picked up things. Eighty-seven percent of the class said, ‘mother.’” Reason to pray For those who find prayer difficult, there are many reasons to persist, one of which Willem J. Ouweneel lists in The Heidelberg Diary: "There is a peculiar element in the Catechism's answer that we should not overlook. God gives his blessings 'only to those who pray continually.' Here, a direct causal link is seen between our prayers and God's answers. Some people feel that God's sovereignty implies that he cannot make himself dependent on what humans ask. If God would depend on humans, in whatever small way, they argue, this would ruin his sovereignty. They overlook the fact that, apparently, God has sovereignly decided to involve human actions and decisions as well as prayers in his ways with the world..." SOURCE: (h/t Jan Broersma) On the value of one plus one “…there are no words to express the abyss between isolation and having one ally. It may be conceded to the mathematician that four is twice two. But two is not twice one; two is two thousand times one. That is why, in spite of a hundred disadvantages, the world will always return to monogamy.” – G.K. Chesterton 11 things to do instead of screens Summer is here and as blogger Arlene Pellicane noted, “more free time usually morphs into more screen time.” While the pull of screens might persist, there is so much your kids can get up to. Here are 11 suggestions, but a 12th might be to have your kids create their own activities list. Play ultimate frisbee, or create your own backyard frisbee golf course. Wash your car… and your neighbor’s or grandparents’. Take an online course (programming, logic, Dutch, etc.). Have a yard sale for a good cause. Canvass for donations, make posters, etc. Create a list of books, with your parents’ help, that you should read before you leave home… and then read some of them. Play a board game. Change some of the rules to invent your own version. Do a chore, unasked, every day. Design and create a pro-life chalk picture for your driveway. Write, and draw, a series of stickman comics. Recruit a friend to do it with you. Get outdoors, swimming, biking, rollerblading, paddleboarding, or whatever. Compliment three people a day. Are you interruptible? If it ain’t an emergency your kids shouldn’t interrupt, right? That’s a good general rule, because we want our kids to be patient, and not think the world revolves around just them. But we also want them to understand God gave them parents to be there for them. So it can be overdone. As I heard noted on a podcast, even Jesus was “interruptible” – the woman who reached out to touch Jesus (Luke 8:43-48), and the men who lowered their friend through the roof (Mark 2:1-12) weren’t waiting patiently. Busy parents need to note that it is often the unplanned conversations that really matter. Yes, your daughter might already be late for bed, but if she’s sharing now, right before you’re heading out her bedroom door, maybe you’re the one who needs to learn some patience… so you can stop and listen. There is a balance to be had, but if you want your kids coming to you with their troubles – and you should want that – then you need to be interruptible. Not just a G-rating You have three kids wondering what they can do, and meanwhile laundry still needs to be folded, and you haven’t even begun figuring out what dinner will be. “What about a movie, Mom?” That sounds like just the idea, an animated classic, with a nice safe G-rating of course. But wait just a second! The authors of a 2014 study called “Cartoons Kill” compared death in kids’ films with adult dramas and found that main characters were more likely to die in the kids’ movies! If you find that hard to believe, consider what happens in just a few of Disney’s biggest hits: Bambi – Bambi’s mother is shot by hunters The Lion King – Simba’s father is murdered Frozen – Elsa and Anna’s parents are drowned Tarzan – Tarzan’s parents are killed by a leopard Finding Nemo – Nemo’s siblings and mother are killed by a barracuda The Fox and the Hound – Tod’s mother is shot The researchers concluded: “There was no evidence to suggest these results had changed over time since 1937, when Snow White’s stepmother, the evil queen, was struck by lightning, forced off a cliff, and crushed by a boulder while being chased by seven vengeful dwarves.” While “effects of exposure to animated depictions of death have not been studied,” one experimental study showed an impact: “…children who watched a movie about drowning were less willing to try canoeing than other children.” The study’s authors wanted parents to understand that while animated films may have a G or PG rating, they can still have a death count comparable to adult films. Hay mon! My hearing isn’t quite what it was, and I’m determined to have as much fun with it as I can. So I shared the joke when I couldn’t figure out what it was that my neighbor’s dad was up to that day. This 60-something gentleman has his own karaoke machine, so when his wife said he had left “to reggae,” it at least seemed possible. It turned out, however, that the retired farmer had gone “to rake hay.”...

News

Saturday Selections – July 6, 2024

How social media keeps you poor (10 min) Though the two commentators here aren't Christian, the warning they offer may help us better resist social m...

News

New Brunswick still isn’t banning smartphones in school

News

Young men building a home for the Reformed confessions

News

Saturday Selections – June 29, 2024

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

Interview with an artist

Simone Bos’s calming cubes of color

Ahmic Lake Island II30x40”"This painting features a bird’s eye view of the island just outside of Bells Bay on Ahmic Lake in Magnetawan, ON. This particular island finds itself in many of my lake paintings. The walleye fishing near this island is pretty good too." Thank you, dear readers, for all your suggestions of artists to profile in this column. One name that has been shared repeatedly with me is Simone Bos – a landscape painter from Cambridge, Ontario. Simone Bos has been painting seriously since 2017 and has been showing her artwork in local galleries since 2019. She currently works full-time as an artist, a dream she has had for over a decade. Simone admits that making her dream a reality has also meant accepting certain challenges. Working as a full-time artist involves long hours, significant risks and learning new skills required to successfully operate a business. All this “pushes me out of my comfort zone,” says Simone, “but I am growing and learning!” Simone is also grateful for the meaningful help she’s received along the way. Simone’s parents recently gifted her space in an extra garage which she transformed into a beautiful artist studio complete with plenty of natural light. Her new garage-studio is now used as a workspace, a showroom for her artwork and, at times, a classroom. Like many other Canadian artists, including some of those profiled in this column, Simone has been influenced by the Group of Seven and finds her inspiration in the wild Canadian landscape. She is particularly drawn to scenes in and around Ahmic Lake in Magnetawan, Ontario, as well as the local fields, farms, and country roads near her home in rural Cambridge, Ontario. “I paint places I know/love, which helps me to pull the feeling of the place from the photograph references I work from.” Simone uses “layered cubes of color” to evoke emotion. She explains: “the intentional use of brushstrokes as cubes and shapes gives rhythm and interest to the paintings, and allows for a calming, art-making experience.” Simone follows a rather structured process expressing her understanding of the “Master Artist’s” love for beauty and order. “The finished paintings capture the essence of the landscape featured in a unique, energetic, and yet orderly way. I believe that the viewers who connect with my artwork see this and the sense of calm that comes with experiencing a beautiful scene in nature is evoked also.” How Majestic30x40”"The sunsets on Ahmic Lake are always spectacular, but this one was particularly dramatic. A peaceful lake, with heavy clouds scattering the final sun rays. As the song of the same name by Citizens & Saints recognizes, 'how majestic is Your (God’s) name in all the earth.'” Simone has also been exploring art on a deeper level – understanding the structure and source of beauty and asking what it means to “engage with God in a meaningful way through .” A verse from Ecclesiastes is of particular interest to her. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecc. 3:11) Simone believes that all beauty is from God and wants to encourage viewers of her work to reflect on this too. “The more I paint, the more my observational skills grow. I am able to notice more and more beauty in the natural world around me, which points back to a detail oriented, creative God. I am also learning to trust that God is the Lord of my business and has full control over it: over my sales, my opportunities, my successes, and failures. He is teaching me to trust Him.” You can see more of Simone’s beautiful work and connect with the artist on her website SimsArtStudio.com, and you can follow Simone at Instagram.com/SimsArtStudio and Facebook.com/SimsArtStudio. If you have a suggestion for an artist you’d like to see profiled in RP please email Jason Bouwman at [email protected]. In the picture above, Simone is displaying "Beauty Untamed" which she details is: "Old Man’s River Falls is a beautiful waterfall in Magnetawan, ON, near Ahmic Lake. In Autumn this scene is particularly spectacular, with white water rushing over black rocks, all framed by orange maples. I could sit and stare at this view for hours!...

Science - Creation/Evolution

Optically Excellent

How could evolution craft something as complex as the eye in the first place? And how could it do it again and again and again? ***** Everybody knows that our eyes are wonderfully designed, even those who don’t acknowledge their Designer. All the parts are special and each is important for vision. So many parts The bulging cornea consists of clear material that not only lets light penetrate, but bends it toward the pupil. The iris consists of a thin circular muscle which acts like a camera diaphragm, controlling the size of the pupil opening. The iris expands or contracts the pupil opening in order to control the amount of light entering the eye. Behind the pupil is the lens which focuses light onto the retina (composed of light sensitive cells and nerve cells). The lens is a particularly important component of the eye. This oval shaped object is made up of water soluble proteins, many of which are very large molecules. These proteins are tightly packed together in such a way that they are not only transparent, but they bend the light so that the rays are focused into a sharp point. This provides a clear image. Ideally the lens focuses on the retina (the receiver), but if the focal point is in front of the retina (or behind it) then corrective lenses are required to adjust the focus onto the retina (ie. you’ll need glasses!). It is also most important that the proteins in the lens retain their special tightly packed arrangement, otherwise the lens becomes opaque thereby disturbing vision. The other particularly important component of the eye is the retina. It consists of certain receiver cells which contain light sensitive pigments called rhodopsins. These are composed of a form of vitamin A and a large protein molecule called opsin. Different precisely shaped opsins are sensitive to specific wavelengths of light. In humans there are opsin molecules sensitive to blue light, or to green light or to red light. Cones are cells which contain one or other of the specific color sensitive opsins. Other cells called rods are sensitive only to more or less light. These rods and cones point backward to the back lining of the eye, but the light is coming from the front direction. Before the light gets to the rods and cones, it passes through the nerve cells which lie on top of the light sensitive cells, between them and the incoming light. Some people suggest that this is backward wiring – they say the nerve cells should have gone behind the rods and cones for a more efficient arrangement of parts. But what do they know? Others suggest that having the nerve cells in front, lying on top of the rods and cones, protects these sensitive tissues from getting too much light. When light is sensed an electrical pulse is generated by the rods and cones and conducted by the nerve cells to the optic nerve and to the brain. The brain, for its part, puts the electrical signals together into images which are communicated to the person's consciousness. There are other important components of the camera eye too, like the dark choroid layer lining the inner eyeball, which prevents light rays from scattering inside the eye, and jelly-like material which allows the eye to keep its shape. When we consider the special properties of all these component parts, we have to conclude that the camera eye is indeed a wonderful organ. Other eyes Among living creatures there are other eye designs as well. Some single-celled animals and even some much larger creatures make do with mere concentrations of light sensitive proteins or clusters of pigmented cells. In the many-celled animals, these are often associated with nerve cells. Some animals feature recessed eyespots to better focus the light. Creatures with jointed outside skeletons (exoskeletons) like insects, crustaceans, spiders, millipedes etc., are famous for their composite eyes. These bulbous structures are made up of many tiny eyes all of which focus on a central point. While these eyes are very good at detecting motion, they probably do not have the same sharp focus as the camera eye. Before we become too proud of our fancy eye design however, let us reflect on a biological riddle. It sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it isn't one and it's not funny, not even mildly amusing. I can well imagine the groans from you the reader when asked, “What does a single-celled animal, a highly poisonous jellyfish, a bristly marine worm, an octopus and a fish or dog all have in common?” The question seems so totally meaningless! What could a single-celled animal and a dog have in common beyond the obvious characteristics all animals share? The surprising answer is that all these creatures share a common design in the eye! Now, most of us have likely heard that all creatures with backbones (vertebrates) enjoy “camera-style eyes.” But what about a jellyfish, octopus and a single-celled animal which closely resembles algae that cause toxic red tides in the sea? Do they have camera-style eyes too? Yes, yes and yes! Octopus and squid Octopus and squid are perhaps the best-known animals without a backbone (invertebrates) that enjoy the benefits of a camera-style eye. We have all seen pictures of these creatures with their large eyes. Octopi are particularly intelligent, some say as intelligent as a housecat. Be that as it may, octopi make very good use of their eyes as they navigate their environment and catch food. The term cephalopod means brainy foot and it denotes a subgroup of mollusks which include squid and octopus. The cephalopod camera-type eye includes an iris, circular lens, gel filling the eyeball, pigment cells and photoreceptor cells that send an electrical signal to the optic nerve which is connected to the brain. In the case of the cephalopods, the light sensitive rods and cones are in front of the nerve cells (not behind as in vertebrates). Moreover the crystal proteins in the cephalopod lens act the same way as our lens does, but the proteins are not the same. Since cephalopods have a body design (plan) that is radically different from that of vertebrates, and since the chemical components of the eye are different, not even mainstream scientists see any kind of evolutionary connection between us and the octopus. Underwater worms Most of us have handled earthworms in the garden or as fishing bait. These creatures have a complete digestive tract with a mouth at one end and an anus at the other end. They have strong muscles and a few projecting bristles, but no obvious sense organs although they react strongly to odors and the drying effects of light. This body plan possessed by a group called the annelids, does not seem promising for fancy sense organs. However there are marine annelids called polychaetes (meaning many bristles) which lead more vigorous lifestyles. Among the polychaetes is an obscure group called alciopids. These are slender swimming creatures with conspicuous eyes. They actively pursue and catch prey. Most surprisingly, the eyes of these worms are camera-style eyes complete with cornea, lens and retina. And like cephalopods, the wiring of the retina features the light sensitive cells first with the transmitting nerve cells behind. Obviously there is nothing in the body plan of these annelids that is at all similar to vertebrates. So nobody imagines that there is a shared evolutionary history between the two groups. So where did the fancy plan for these eyes come from? Box jellyfish As we move next to jellyfish consider this: these marine annelids don’t have much that could be called a brain, but they do at least have some small concentrations of nerve cells at the front end of their body. If there is going to be any interpretation of the images detected by the fancy eye, it would be in this "brain." Jellyfish however have no central nervous tissue (which could function as some sort of brain). These creatures therefore do not look like promising candidates for any benefit from camera-style eyes. Nevertheless box jellyfish do indeed possess camera-style eyes. The great differences with other creatures of similar eye design mean that no evolutionary relationship is imagined between eye-possessing box jellyfish, polychaete worms, octopi and vertebrates. It was in some other way that they came to possess the fancy eye blueprint. Warnowiid dinoflagellates If camera-style eyes in a jellyfish are unexpected, how weird would it be to see the same design in a single-celled animal? A July 1, 2015 Nature article communicated the astounding news that there are some single celled protozoans – Warnowiid dinoglagellates – that have a sensory structure "so complex that it was initially mistaken for a multicellular eye." The component parts include a cornea, lens, iris and retina. It is these parts, which, declares Gregory Gavelis and colleagues "so resemble the camera-type eye of some animals that they have been speculated to be homologous ." In a July 9, 2015 followup, also in Nature, Thomas Richards and Suely Gomes rhapsodized that: "evolution has stumbled on similar solutions to perceiving light time and time again." Different bodies, same eyes In the course of this survey of creatures with camera-style eyes we have observed that obviously there was no line of descent linking them all – these creatures are too different to even contemplate such an idea, and everybody agrees on that. Instead mainstream scientists contemplate the separate surprising appearance of the same blueprint/design for an eye in wildly different organisms by means of an unguided evolutionary process. In the cases that we have discussed, the lifestyles are not even remotely similar, so it would be surprising to see similar solutions, especially through chance processes. Christians can conclude that, rather than any sort of common process, these common designs came about by the conscious choices of a Creator – the same Creator, rather than the same ancestor. God can bestow what features He likes on whatever creatures He so desires. There does not have to be a pattern or a reason why these creatures are the way that they are. When we see these examples as the work of God, our appreciation of the creation becomes much more profound. A version of this article first appeared in the Sept 2015 issue. Dr. Margaret Helder also writes for the Creation Science Dialogue ...

News

Saturday Selections – June 22, 2024

What's wrong with marijuana This is the practical case against marijuana. For the Christian case, check out "Is recreational marijuana sinful?". Mothers' milk is amazing If you believe in evolution, you have to credit everything to the interaction of time and chance. That includes something you may never have considered before: the origin of mothers' milk. We know God designed moms to be specially able to care for their babies this way, so Christians shouldn't be surprised to learn that the closer we look at mothers' milk, the more amazing we find it to be. But if you think it evolved from "a glandular skin secretion in synapsids" then you might think that the human-designed substitutes available on store shelves would be the superior product. You might think that; it'd be a logical conclusion based on evolutionary presuppositions. But it ain't so. If Satan was a marriage counselor... ...he'd sound a lot like a newspaper advice column. Your family needs you (and you need them) My kids make me happy, but when they don't, can I abandon them? And what of my parents? If they become a burden or trouble to me, isn't that a reason to cut such "toxic people" out of my life? That's what the world would tell you. But as John Stonestreet explains (in this older piece), God says something very different. Baptists come out against IVF At their annual meetings last week, the US's largest protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, passed a resolution formally opposing the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF). While the majority voted for the resolution, many of the delegates opposed it, and spoke to how they believed IVF was a pro-life procedure, since it created life. But as IVF is practiced, it leads to the creation of "excess" embryos – "excess" children – that will either be destroyed (ie. killed) or frozen, which treats the child as a thing, not a human being. Some of these frozen children will then be given away via "snowflake adoptions" where the embryo is implanted in the adoptive mother's womb. But while the couples doing the adopting are rescuing these frozen children, it is still wrong for the biological parents to have engaged in a procedure that would leave them with "excess" children. Adoption is a rescue, but parents should never deliberately create a situation in which their children would need to be rescued. Homosexuals & some professing Christians redefine "love" It's been said that the opposition shares our vocabulary, but not our dictionary – they define words like marriage, hate, gender, tolerance, pride, and love very differently from how God defines them. With Pride Month in full swing, Christians need to be able to share that it isn't love to celebrate what God hates for the very same reason it isn't love to affirm anorexia – we wouldn't be doing the person any good to affirm as right the wrong they are struggling with. It's for their sake and for their good that we don't want to encourage their rebellious lifestyle. ...

Parenting

What’s the purpose of family devotions?

A friend who was adopting two toddlers asked two of my adult children how we did our family devotions and what they appreciated about them. To my horror, my children described how “most of the time” they just complied as expected – singing, being quiet, and looking as if they were listening intently. They added that they had pretty much sat through church services the same way. There I sat, thinking that we had done a “good job” overall, and discovering that the kids were often just tuning it all out and biding their time until they were freed. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Many parents, including us, remember the fruitful times of good singing, contemplation, long discussions, and prayer. But we can also remember flying through the format – bing, bang, bong – done, only because we were supposed to. If the dinner conversation unfortunately ended up including arguments, or sibling rivalry, one of the sinful selves may even have shouted: “Settle down – we have to read the BIBLE!” PURPOSE Was it still worthwhile to “read and pray”? Yes. But it could have been done better. Even though our kids have all grown and established their own homes, this conversation gave me reason to think about how we might have improved those times, and might do so even now. When we’re setting aside any regular, large amount of time for something, we should consider the why. What’s the purpose of setting aside time for Bible reading time, or devotions? Why do we do them? The answer is found repeatedly through the Bible. It coincides with the very purpose for which we were created: to glorify God. As David wrote in Ps. 63: … earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. As great as God is, we can and do regularly overlook Him. So, in Colossians 3:1-3, the Apostle Paul certainly encourages us to really think on what God has all done for us: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Do we have food to eat? A roof over our heads? Breath? Acts 17:25 tells us that “he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” The purpose of reading God’s Word and praying at a meal or any other time ought to be to take some time to reflect on the fact that He continues to do so! SUGGESTIONS If our family devotions aren’t going the way we’d like them to, it can be very challenging to change our current patterns. But we are told in Hebrews 10:24 to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,” so let’s take a look at four questions a family can think through and talk about: 1 - How do we really teach love for God in our Bible reading sessions and prayer? We ourselves must first love God and express that love and honor to God verbally, and by our actions throughout the day. If we’re not patient and we shout angrily over small matters (perhaps even at the meal!), we won’t teach our children to use self-control. And if we won’t ask forgiveness, we won’t teach them to do so. Family devotions should demonstrate that love of God. We must genuinely glorify Him when we pray, not just rattle off words. 2 - If we rush through “just to do it” – is it still worthwhile? How useful is it to shout, “Settle down – we have to read the BIBLE!”? On the other hand, if we wait until life is perfect, we’ll never read or pray, because we sinners do get out of sorts. But how much better it could be, if we teach our children by example to quiet themselves and then read a short amount of Scripture and pray for forgiveness and strength. That’s exactly what is needed to get everyone back on track. Consider letting young children leave the table when they are finished and then re-convening in the living room for devotions. This can provide a helpful transition, instead of taxing their patience and making everyone want to rush through and just get it over with. An alternate idea might be to use pre-bedtime moments as a time when they will be happier to give attention to Bible stories and learning to pray. In this case, it might be the parents who must stay patient if they are eager to have their parental duties over for the night. 3 - Should we incorporate the children into reading the text and leading in prayer? A rote prayer may or may not be a way to teach reverence for God. There are two kinds, actually. Kids might learn a short poem-prayer which they might pray sincerely or might say it robotically or in a goofy manner so as to make their siblings laugh. They will not initially understand the reverence that our Lord deserves. But we want them to learn that this is an important activity that is not just for parents. So to learn by doing, let them take a turn as soon as they can speak, read and sing. But let them know that they must also consider to Whom they are speaking or singing. 4 - How might we vary our prayers? Adults also often fall into such a pattern that we pray our own rote prayer as well. We must take care not to become robotic. How many times have you heard a head of household repeat the same words in the same cadence and wondered if much thought went into that prayer? Having a prayer list of family, friends, and church members to go through 1 or 2 at a time on a monthly basis can help to keep prayers “fresh.” The children can add requests and items of thanksgiving as well. Using the prayers in the Book of Praise or in the Book of Common Prayer can aid us in saying words that we mean but just haven’t initially thought of. It can be helpful to use a prayer that Calvin or Luther or another Christian has written because it moves us out of our usual comfort zone. Some people think that written prayers aren’t as meaningful because we ourselves didn’t create them. But if our own prayers become rote and robotic – looking to someone else’s carefully thought-out prayers can add fresh perspective and remind us of previously unmentioned requests and items for thanksgiving. Praying part or all of a Psalm or using a New Testament passage is also a stellar idea. TEACH THEM DILIGENTLY Deuteronomy 6:6-9 teaches us to tell our children about the Lord at all times. … these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Throughout the day, we should read God’s Word and pray on our own, that we might have the wisdom and patience and love to lead our family members to do the same. We are the chief example that our children will follow. May our souls thirst for God as in a dry and weary land where there is no water! A version of this article first appeared in the Sept/Oct 2017 issue....

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