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Tidbits – April 2025

Trying to have your cake and eat it too

A carving on a Cambodian temple built around 800 years ago seems to depict a stegosaurus. Christians know that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time, so this is no surprise for us. The artist might have seen a stegosaurus himself, or perhaps only heard a description passed on through the generations.

But evolutionists say that dinosaurs died tens of millions of years before man appeared, and if that’s true then there is no way this artist could have seen a stegosaurus or had an accurate description of them passed on by word of mouth from one generation to the next – not if the span was millions of years! So evolutionists need to explain how this carving could have come to be. In an article on Smithsonian.com Brian Switek offers two possibilities that can be summed up as:

1. It doesn’t really look like a stegosaurus

“If viewed directly, the carving hardly looks Stegosaurus-like at all. The head is large and appears to have large ears and a horn. The ‘plates’ along the back more closely resemble leaves, and the sculpture is a better match for a boar or rhinoceros against a leafy background.”

2. It looks so much like a stegosaurus it must be a hoax

“There are rumors that it was created recently, perhaps by a visiting movie crew (the temple is a favorite locale for filmmakers), and it is possible that someone created something Stegosaurus-like during the past few years as a joke.”

Watts was a wonder

Isaac Watts (16-74-1747) was a gifted poet and hymn writer, perhaps best known for Joy to the World and O God, Our Help In Ages Past. When he was a young lad, his gifts were already in full bloom, but they weren’t yet fully appreciated by those closest to Watts. In fact, as Douglas Bond recounts in his biography The Poetic Wonder of Isaac Watts, the poet’s mother didn’t even believe that the poems she was finding around the house were actually Watts’ own compositions. Sure, the boy said they were his, but what seven-year-old child could write like this? She assumed they must be poems he had memorized and then written down as his own. So, to put him to the test, she sat the boy down at the kitchen table and asked him to write her a poem. This is what he came up with.

I am a vile polluted lump of earth;
So I’ve continued since my birth;
Although Jehovah grace does daily give me,
As sure this monster Satan will deceive me.
Come, therefore, Lord, from Satan’s claws relieve me.

Wash me in Thy blood, O Christ,
And grace divine impart.
Then search and try the corners of my heart,
That I in all things may be fit to do
Service to Thee, and sing the praises too.

After he showed it to his mother, she thought her suspicions were confirmed. This, clearly, was a copied piece, showing a theological depth far beyond the insight (let alone poetic ability) of any mere child. But then Watts told his mother to look at the first letter of each line for proof – the boy has crafted an acrostic that spelled out his own name, “Isaac Watts.” As Bond writes,

"This was, no doubt, one of those moments that a mother cherishes and hides up in her heart. Imagine Sarah Watts’ wonder at her son’s gifting, but still more, the gratitude to God any Christian mother would have for so obvious a working of grace in her son’s heart."

Credit card 101?

Earl Taylor is an American high school principal who thinks it is vital our kids learn how to use credit cards responsibly while still at home. He proposed a two-step method that involved giving a son or daughter getting a card as soon as possible (16, 17, maybe 18) with two stipulations:

1) It has to be paid off in full each month
2) If there was ever a time when it wasn’t paid off in full, then the card would be cut up.

And then the whole process could be tried again 6 months later.

Let’s not whine

John Piper wants us to know that sins aren’t something to complain about – whining isn’t the proper response. No indeed. As Piper puts it:

"I hear so many Christians murmuring about their imperfections and their failures and their addictions and their shortcomings, and I see so little war! 'Murmur, murmur, murmur… Why am I this way?' Make WAR!"

Great horrible puns

• Class trip to the Coca-Cola factory. I hope there’s no pop quiz.
• I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.
• Broken pencils are pointless
• They told me I had Type A blood, but it was a Type O.
• It’s hard to beat a boiled egg in the morning.
• The bride got a new name and a dress
• It’s hard to explain puns to kleptomaniacs because they always take things literally.
• Someone left a pile of plastecine on my doorstep. I don’t know what to make of it.
• Never trust an atom. They make up everything.
• You want to know the key to being a successful mime? I’m not talking.
• Can you think of anything nice about Switzerland? Well, their flag is a big plus.
• While I usually refrain, I prefer to sing songs without their choruses.

You can’t trust Hollywood?!?

Hollywood tells us that there is one special someone, one soulmate, one person out there who, as Jerry Maguire put it, completes us. Blogger Matt Walsh sums up the Christian position in one sentence: “I didn’t marry my wife because she’s The One, she’s The One because I married her.”

Why was Jesus silent?

After he was arrested, Jesus replied to some of Pilate’s questions, and responded to a question by the high priest, but to their many false accusations he gave no reply – he stayed silent (Mark 15:5). The late Dr. D. James Kennedy, a popular American Presbyterian pastor last century, had an unusual thought as to why Jesus didn’t speak up.

"Why was Jesus silent? Is it not often the case that a person is silent because he is giving tacit consent? Could that be the case? Many accusations were made against Him, and yet He denied none of them. Was He perchance guilty? In the answer to that lies the very heart of the Christian faith, and we must uncompromisingly declare that Jesus was silent precisely because he was guilty! He was guilty of everything with which He was charged. And He was guilty of many crimes for which He was not charged. He was guiltier than any man who had ever stood before the Sanhedrin. He was guiltier than the vilest miscreant who shall ever stand before the judgment bar of God. He was the guiltiest man who ever lived! But the guilt He bore was not His own. It was yours, and it was mind. 'The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6)' God hath made Him to be sin for us. Guilty – as charged (2 Cor. 5:21)."

Ouch! But…yeah

“If any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him, for you are worse than he thinks you to be.”
- Charles Haddon Spurgeon

G. K Chesterton on repetition

To a dad’s distress, kids never tire of being thrown in the air. G.K. Chesterton thinks that, as we’re in the midst of doing it again, and again and again, we might not be properly appreciating the wonder of it all. Might our son or daughter be reflecting something of God in their unending enthusiasm?

"….children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, 'Do it again'; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical ENCORE."

Full Article

Internet

Will AI replace reading?

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News

Saturday Selections – Mar. 29, 2025

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Adult non-fiction, Book Reviews

On comforting suffering Christians

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News

Saturday Selections – Mar. 22, 2025

One question to confound the evolutionist Which came first, the chicken or the egg? It's a famous enough conundrum but quite the dilemma for the evol...

Science - Creation/Evolution

The "Watchmaker argument"

Two hundred years ago a bishop, by the name of William Paley, wrote a book in which he used a watch to illustrate how clear it was that God is real. He pointed out how many intricate parts a watch had; and how only a skilled watchmaker could put these parts together. He described how the watch was designed so that each small part had a purpose. He then argued that the watch, because it had so many parts, had to have a planner and that, because the watch had a purpose – to tell time – it had to be an intelligent planner. And then Bishop Paley also pointed out that there were many creatures much more complex and wonderful than the watch. Consider the woodpecker One of these creatures is the woodpecker — a bright, feathered hammerhead, whom we often nickname Woody. And if we look at the complex, awesome parts of the woodpecker, we cannot help but stand in awe of our Creator. 1. Shock-absorbing beak The woodpecker, is a marvelous bird and far from ordinary. Take his bill, for example. Isn't it amazing how he can ram it into a tree thousands of times a minute without having to replace it or getting a terrific headache? Well, his head is equipped with shock absorbers. And these shock absorbers cushion the blows so that the skull and brain of the woodpecker do not suffer. 2. Feet that grip Now consider his feet. Have you ever wondered how this bird could stand sideways against the tree for such a long time without slipping off? Well, God equipped the woodpecker with very stiff tail feathers with which he can brace himself. Also, his feet have four claw-like toes. Two toes point up and two point down — so that he can get a good grip on bark. 3. Glue the grips Now, once he's drilled his little hole, how does he manage to reach inside the tree for his supper? Again, our God and his Creator has equipped him well. The woodpecker has a wonderful tongue. It's long, with special glands on it which secrete a substance that bugs stick to like glue. When the woodpecker pulls his tongue out of the drilled hole it's covered with a smorgasbord of insects. 4. Tongue that curls The woodpecker's tongue is worth even closer scrutiny. Most birds have tongues that are fastened to the back of their beak. The woodpecker would choke if this was the case because his tongue is far too long. So do you know where God fastened it? In his right nostril. Yes, when the woodpecker is not using his tongue, he rolls it up and stores it in his nose. Coming from the right nostril, the tongue divides into two halves. Each half passes over each side of the skull, (under the skin), comes around and up underneath the beak and enters the beak through a hole. And at this point the two halves combine and come out of his mouth. You have to agree that the woodpecker's tongue is a most intricate and complicated piece of equipment. Blind to the wonder Not everyone believes that God created "every winged bird according to its kind." (Genesis 1:21b) Some evolutionists believe that birds were first reptiles. A 1980 Science Yearbook states that "paleontologists assume that the bird's ancestors learned to climb trees to escape from predators and to seek insect food. Once the 'bird' was in a tree, feathers and wings evolved (grew) to aid in guiding from branch to branch." Isn't it funny to think of so-called scientific men who believe this? If evolution were really true, why don't we see lizards sitting in trees today sprouting little feathers? Doesn't the thought alone make you chuckle? Actually, some evolutionists themselves are even aware that this is not really true. In 1985 an evolutionist named Feduccia said, "Feathers are features unique to birds, and there are no known intermediate structures between reptilian scales and feather." So why do people continue to believe and teach evolution? Romans 1:18-20 tells us why. Some people choose to suppress the truth. They have no faith in God's marvelous creation, even though it is all around them, and these people are "without excuse" (v. 20) before God. No, we are wise to stick to our faith in Scripture. The complexity of birds, certainly including the woodpecker, point to an intelligent Creator. And Bishop Paley's argument is good because today, 200 years later, we can point to many other living creatures also, (even tiny microscopic forms of life are infinitely complex), who could never have come about by any chance process of evolution. We praise and thank God for His marvelous creation. With the four and twenty elders of Revelations 4:11 we can say: "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being." https://youtu.be/vKR9vS4df-I?t=10s Christine Farenhorst is the author of many books, including her new historical fiction novel, Katharina, Katharina, about the times of Martin Luther. This article first appeared in the February 1991 issue of Reformed Perspective. ...

People we should know

Wibrandis Rosenblatt: “Bride of the Reformation”

In Your presence there is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:9-11) ***** I can vividly recall how, as a child, I visited people with my father. In Holland I would ride in front of him as he peddled his bike across city and country roads in Groningen; in Canada, I sat next to him in the front seat of the car as he traversed the highways of Ontario. Frequently he took me inside as he spent time with members of the congregation. Often I sat quietly in a corner of the room and waited until it was time to go home again. On one such visit a woman, a godly woman and mother, began to weep as she recounted her fear of going to heaven. This was rather unusual, and unobtrusively seated on a chair in a dimly lit room, my young ears perked up. It turned out that this lady was the second wife of her husband and she was afraid that in heaven he would love the first wife more than herself. My father pointed out that there was no marriage in heaven and that, after all, men and women were souls. He spoke of being too caught up in the present – in our physical bodies, our intimacies, and our friendships – and that the focus of dying was to be with Jesus. Your relationship with your husband, he stressed time and again, will be far better in heaven than it is now, difficult as that may be to understand. The strange thing is that there are many women (and men) who worry about such a situation as has just been described. Another godly woman, Mary, (as a matter of fact, I think she was one of the godliest women I ever met), was quite anxious about meeting her husband and her sister after death. Prior to the Second World War, Mary's older sister, married to a pastor, had contracted consumption. Because she loved her sister dearly, Mary had volunteered to help out with her little nieces and nephews, with the cooking and cleaning, and with the nursing. No matter - in the end her sister died. Consequently, as often happened in such cases, she shortly afterwards married the widower. How else could this single-parent family have survived? Mary loved her sister's husband, who was now her own husband, passionately and bore him two more children. They were married for more than fifty years before he died of a heart attack. When I met her she was an old woman, beloved by her stepchildren as well as her own children and spoken of with respect and affection by all who knew her. She had led a virtuous, unselfish life. Yet this lady was bothered exceedingly by one point – whom would her husband love more in heaven: her sister or herself? Perhaps our concept of love for God and eternal life is often focused too much on individual salvation. The truth taught in Scripture is that everlasting union with our Lord Jesus Christ, as well as perfect unity with all His elect, will be fulfilled in heaven. In this world with our feeble minds and bodies, it is hard to contemplate what it will be like to “shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father” (Matt. 13:43). Here we use methods to try and appear sweet, good-looking and kind to others, but in heaven we will shine in a way that does not come from brand-name clothes, make-up, or vitamin supplements. No, we will have attained a holiness that will reflect the love of God – and we will love all those we see and meet with a most holy, tender and perfect love and they, in turn, will love us. Ludwig Keller Wibrandis Rosenblatt, sometimes referred to as the “Bride of the Reformation,” was born in 1504 in Bad Sǟckingen, Germany and raised in Basel. Her father was in the Austrian army in the service of the Emperor Maximilian. He wasn't home much and perhaps that is why Frau Rosenblatt moved back to Basel with her young daughter, back to the place where her family was quite prominent. Taught the housekeeping arts by her mother, Wibrandis was a lovely young girl, one any man would be proud to wed. She was married before she was twenty to a Basel craftsman by the name of Ludwig Keller. Ludwig Keller was a humanist. But both he and Wibrandis were thrilled when a little daughter, named Wibrandis after her mother, was born to them. Yet God in His wisdom cut Ludwig's life short before the couple had been married two years. Oecolampadius Oecolampadius Before two years had passed, Wibrandis received a second offer of marriage, this from a man twenty-two years older than herself – a man by the name of Johannes Hausschein. Hausschein's hellenized name was Oecolampadius and he was the pastor of St. Martin's church in Basel. In addition to being a pastor, he was also a professor of theology. A scholar, well-versed in Greek and Hebrew, he had assisted Erasmus in the publication of his edition of the New Testament. Oecolampadius was a man set in his ways, a man who liked to have his home run smoothly and his mother had always seen to it that it did. When she died, however, he was urged by other Reformers to marry. After much contemplation, and in spite of the fact that he had taken a vow of chastity early on in his career, he opted in favor of marriage, (although criticized severely for this by Erasmus), for the sake of Protestantism. Wibrandis, a widow with a little girl to raise, accepted the much older man's offer in the spring of 1528. She was twenty-four and he was forty-five. Wibrandis bore her second husband three children, all of whom were given Greek names – Eusebius, Irene and Aletheia – meaning piety, peace and truth. Shortly after his marriage Oecolampadius wrote to his friend Farel: In case you have not heard, let me tell you that in place of my deceased mother the Lord has given me a sister and wife, adequately Christian, not exactly affluent, well-born, a widow with several years experience in bearing the cross. I wish she were older but I see in her no signs of youthful petulance. Pray the Lord to give us a long and happy marriage. A year later he wrote to another reformer and friend, Wolfgang Capito: My wife is what I always wanted and I wish for no other. She is not contentious, garrulous, or a gadabout, but looks after the household. She is too simple to be proud and too discreet to be condemned. Oecolampadius was obviously happy in marriage. Yet his earthly bliss was not to last. He fell ill. In November of 1531 he gathered his very young children around him and spoke to each of them. Someone asked whether the light above the bed was too bright for him. He smiled, struck his chest and said: "Here's light enough within." He died shortly afterwards and Wibrandis was widowed for a second time – this time with four little children in her care, as well as her aging mother. Wolfgang Capito Wolfgang Capito Around the same time that Oecolampadius died, the wife of another prominent Reformer, Wolfgang Fabricius Koepful, (better known as Capito) died also. Capito was advised, even as Oecolampadius had been advised, to remarry. He was at that time the dean of the church of St. Thomas in Strasbourg. There were those who suggested that Wibrandis, the widow of Oecolampadius had been a chaste and suitable helpmeet and would she not be a lovely companion and wife for Capito as well? The counsel of godly men prevailed in the life of Capito and he proposed to Wibrandis who accepted. In August of 1532 she married for the third time. She brought with her four children and her mother. Wolfgang Capito was fifty-four years old to her twenty-eight years of age. Wibrandis bore Capito five children - three girls and two boys. Wibrandis was a good wife for Capito. She balanced his budget, (something which had been a problem), kept the household running smoothly, entertained friends and mended his clothes. There were the occasional bouts of sickness but none were so awful and horrifying as the plague of 1541 when two and a half thousand died in Strasbourg. The son of Oecolampadius, Eusebius, died of it, as well as two of the children of Capito and Wibrandis. Capito himself was also stricken and died. Wibrandis was widowed for the third time. Elizabeth, the wife of Martin Bucer, another reformer who lived in Strasbourg, also succumbed to the plague. On her deathbed she was informed that Capito had died and that Wibrandis was widowed. Elizabeth, a former nun, had borne her husband thirteen children of whom only five were alive at the onset of the plague outbreak. Four of these last five had just died of this disease. Knowing that she would shortly be gone as well, Elizabeth summoned both her husband and Wibrandis to her bedside. Wibrandis, having just been widowed hesitated about being seen in public but could not refuse to come to a dying friend's bedside. She came to the Bucer house in the evening. Elizabeth Bucer, looking steadily at the man and woman standing at her bedside, appealed to her husband to remarry and to Wibrandis to take her place in the Bucer household. Martin Bucer In April of 1542 Wibrandis Rosenblatt and Martin Bucer were married. Martin was Wibrandis' senior by thirteen years. The marriage contract read that they married for: “the furtherance of the glory of God and the upbuilding of the Christian church.” Bucer wrote at this time: Although I am past the age suited to marriage, I have nevertheless, in view of my circumstances and office, decided to follow the advice of my brothers and to marry the widow of Capito. As my response to the illegitimate canon laws about a second marriage, (digamy), I would point to the law from Ezekiel 44 which does permit a priest to wed the widow of a priest. She still has four children: a girl from Oecolampadius, and a boy and two small girls from Capito. The latter, as you know, did not leave her much on account of the tough luck he had with his money loans but thanks to the aid of Wendelin Rihel there is a little money with which to support her. As long as God gives me life and my income, we will keep that money – however small the amount will be – for the orphans and we will treat them as our own children. My motives for taking this step are (1) loneliness and (2) the danger which exists if a person starts a household with someone he does not know. Further, there is the virtuous character of this widow and the love I owe to the orphaned children of the man who made himself so useful to me. Pray the Lord for us so that our plans may be approved by Christ and be of benefit to His church. Later he wrote of his second wife, ...Wibrandis has proven to be pure, honorable, faithful and godly as well as a diligent helper... and has a gift for ministry as for many years she demonstrated in her marriage to those two precious men of God, Oecolampadius and Capito. He compared his two wives and said: I am even a little afraid of my excellent wife's tendency to be overly accommodating in my direction. My first wife felt somewhat more free to admonish me and now I realize that that freedom of hers was not only useful but necessary. Aside from her excessive diligence on my behalf and her accommodating attitude, my present wife leaves nothing to be desired; yet, O how strong still is my yearning for my deceased wife – that first marriage, so reverently contracted struck such deep roots in me. In 1549 Martin Bucer was appointed professor of divinity in Cambridge, England. He traveled down there ahead of his family. It was a cold country and by the end of 1549 the whole Bucer household had arrived. The climate was hard on Martin's health. He updated his will noting that, should he die, Wibrandis would do fine on her own, but that he felt she should remarry. In 1551 Bucer died, worn out by hard work and by the harsh, rainy and damp days of Britain. King Edward VI awarded Wibrandis 100 marks for services rendered to the Church of England. Wibrandis did not remarry but eventually returned to Basel, the place where she had been raised by her mother. Another decade would pass before she died, in 1564, of the plague. And in heaven whose wife shall she be? Is the answer not simple? She always was and also will be there, the bride of Christ. This first appeared in the April 2015 issue under the title “In Your presence there is fullness of joy.”...

Evangelism

Being ready to witness

Acts 26 shows it can be as simple as saying what you’ve seen ***** Our Lord calls us to share the gospel but often we wonder how, when, or if we might be able to witness to others about Jesus Christ. The fear of not knowing what to say, and of therefore saying the wrong words, paralyzes us into saying nothing. And will we be laughed at? Not taken seriously? Rejected? Too often we find it hard to imagine that God will use our words and actions as a part of His process for bringing someone to Him. We know that He may in theory. But do our actions show that we believe He may in reality? How Paul was prepared to be a witness We have many excuses to not do what we know we should do. Instead of paying heed to them, let’s turn our attention to Scripture, to see what we can learn from the example of Paul, and witness he gave to King Agrippa. In Acts 26 he tells the king the story of his conversion. In verses 16-18 we read that when Jesus appeared to Paul (then known as Saul), Jesus said to him: “Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” Paul speaks of himself as being called to be a witness and a servant. As a servant, he is appointed, rescued and sent by God. As a witness, he is to tell “what I have seen” and “what he has showed me.” He ends by saying, “So then, King Agrippa, I wasn’t disobedient to the vision from heaven” (Acts 26:19). When Paul was dramatically confronted by Jesus, struck blind, and completely changed into a new creature whose old ways passed away, his knowledge of the true God was still limited. He had much to learn and he went through an unusual training that was specifically for him. As each day began, he was only able to tell what he had seen and what God had shown him up until that point in time. As his knowledge and experience grew, he had more to tell. It is the same with us. So, let’s ask ourselves – what have we seen and what has He shown us? How we can prepare to be a witness It’s often difficult on the spur of the moment to gather all our information together in a cohesive presentation. But there are things we can do so that we will “be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks”? (I Pet. 3:15) For example: Write down what God has taught you. Most of us won’t do it daily or weekly, but we could keep a notebook or file where we write down some of what we learn, and then re-read it now and again, to remind us. Take notes during the sermon. How much of the sermon is really remembered? Note-taking solidifies the truths we hear and gives us the option of re-visiting those truths by reading those notes and Scripture passages later in the day, the week, or even months later. Keep learning. If we reach the point where we think we know enough Scripture and theology to coast along, we are in a dangerous place. Just like an engine-propelled vehicle, we can only coast for a short while if the power to the engine is cut; eventually we will come to a standstill. We must read God’s Word regularly. All of these are reasons why our worship service and Bible studies are the most important activities that we do each week. Used by God to change the world Why should we tell what we have seen and what God has shown us? While we don’t have exactly the same calling as Paul, we can still learn from the charge Jesus gave him in Acts 26:17-18 that God is able to use us. Through our witness too God can: • open their eyes • turn them from darkness to light • turn them from the power of Satan to God • grant them forgiveness of sins • give them a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Him As blogger Matt Walsh posted late last year: Only Jesus can save, of course, but He has delegated an enormous amount of power and responsibility to us. We have the capacity to spread truth and bring souls to Him. We are armed with abilities beyond our comprehension, and our actions, our words, our thoughts, will reverberate through the cosmos in ways that we cannot possibly understand. Acts 26:16-18 says that the telling of what we have seen and what God has shown us will be used to turn people from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God. This is what we should do. Let us be obedient! Sharon’s new book “Life and Breath and Everything” is available on Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. Her first book “Soup and Buns” and her “Bible Overview for Young Children” are available by contacting her at [email protected]....

Pro-life - Adoption

Considering adoption

God is concerned about orphans (Ex. 22:22, Deut. 14:29, Ps. 10:14,18, Ps. 68:5, Ps. 146:9, Prov. 23:10) and He wants us to care about them too (James 1:27). That means His Church should be full of adoptees and full of adopters, and full of people encouraging adoption, and people enabling adoption, and people praying for the many orphans that remain. God’s concern for orphans means we should all consider adoption. But it doesn’t mean we are all called to adopt. Paul writes in 1 Cor. 12 about the members of the Church having different gifts, and that those with one gift should not look down at those with another. The same is true when it comes to adoption. We don’t all have the same callings. We’re not all ministers. We’re not all homemakers. We’re not all mechanics. We’re not all volunteering at the local pregnancy center. We have different giftings – God has given us different talents. So, not everyone has to adopt. But the Church should be a refuge for the fatherless, and a home for the orphan. So everyone should consider adoption. And here are a few key points to consider. Adopted kids don’t always turn out the way we hoped As Ashley Whittemore notes in her article "The Ugly Side of Adoption: Not easy, not simple. Painful. Confusing. And Christ-like." back in the April 2015 issue: “Be it death or abuse or abandonment, intentional or otherwise, there is a tragic reason this child is in need of a different family.” The tragedies orphans have suffered can leave a lasting impact that parents, no matter how loving, might not be able to overcome. That means adopted children may be more likely to get into the sorts of trouble that will have their parents prematurely gray. However, this isn’t so much a reason not to adopt as it is a reason to re-evaluate what we expect from adoption. From a cost/benefit analysis adoption has no guaranteed pay-off. If it’s only about our parental happiness, then adoption is a risky proposition. But what if adoption is also spiritual warfare? Many times adoption involves taking a child from a godless situation and bringing them into God’s covenant, into a Christian home, where they will be sent to a Christian school, and taught about all that their baptism entails. We can be sure the devil hates Christian adoption! And what if adoption is about rescuing a child? Adopted children may cause their parents stress – we don’t know how this will all work out in the end – but when we bring an orphan into our family, we do know she won’t be neglected or lonely, and will be far less likely to be exploited. Getting adopted means fewer troubles ahead for her. And what if adoption is about imitating God? We’ve never had anything to offer God – there was no reason for Christ to die for us, but our need. Yet we were adopted as God’s own sons and daughters (Rom. 8:15-23, Gal. 4:4-6, Eph. 1:4-5). Adoption is an opportunity to go and do likewise, dying of ourselves in service of another. Adoption comes with no guarantees…but parenting never does. We can only do so much The world is a broken place, with so much that needs to be set right. But God created us as finite beings. In addition, we are fallen beings. That means that not only do we have limits, we sometimes won’t acknowledge them. Then an arrogant sort of guilt can consume us as we see orphans uncared for and it seems up to us to do it all… whether we actually have the ability to care for another child or not. The fact remains, we all have our limits, and that includes limits on our time, energy, health, emotional stability, money and more. As we consider adoption, we also have to consider the children we already have and what they need from us. But while we each have our limits, God has placed us in a community of believers. Not all of us are called to adopt, but we are all called to support one another, and what we cannot do alone we can do together. We can all be a help to adoptive parents, supporting them with our money (some churches have adoption funds), or our time (free babysitting?) or our energy (our kids can mow their lawn). Some of us can promote adoption by reading up on it (see the book reviews in the April 2015 issue) and sharing that information with others. We can all pray for orphans, and for adoptive parents. Some can foster children. And some can donate to Christian adoption agencies. We’re not all called to adopt, but we can all play our part. Orphans aren’t the only ones in need Widows and orphans are a pressing concern for God, so they should be for us to. But what of the many others in need? What of the other spiritual battles for us to contend? One excellent reason not to adopt is because God is calling us to something else. There’s no shortage of good works that God has laid out for us to do. However, if we don’t nail down what that something is, “something else” can easily become “nothing at all.” We need to figure out what God wants us to do with what He has given us. We’re not all called to adopt, but we are called to make use of our talents. Conclusion There are many excellent reasons not to adopt – it isn’t something everyone should do. However, God has called on his Church to care for the orphans. There are millions around the world who have no mother or father to look after them. That means there are millions of reasons for all of us to promote adoption and millions of reasons for us to consider it....

News

Saturday Selections – Mar. 15, 2025

House of David show is making things up Wretched TV's Todd Friel doesn't hold back on Amazon's new biblically-based series about King David. His argu...

Magazine, Past Issue

Mar/April 2025 issue

WHAT'S INSIDE: Christians don't retire / Free video series to protect families from porn / Tariffs are terrible economics: why Canada shouldn't hit ba...

Being the Church

Being thrifty and finding hope

In his “science of happiness” class at Harvard Business School, Arthur Brooks teaches that of the five things you can do with money, four could ma...

News

Can you build it? Yes you can!!!!

Sometimes things go better than we could have hoped, to the point of being overwhelming. Our “Can You Build It?” contest not only proved to be pop...

Being the Church

Wise and Innocent

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” – Matt. 10:16 ***** My children have often called me gullible and naïve. As a matter of fact, the word “Mom” often had an exclamation mark behind it. Perhaps they are right, and here’s an example to prove that. **** In the 1990s I became friends with a young man who worked at the Owen Sound Public Library. He was an avid landscaper and had been designated to take care of the flower beds around the library building. He also maintained the flora inside the renovated Carnegie structure. Some of these plants stood in the rectangular windows sills of the rooms housing the books, while other plants lined the foyer. The gardener and I became acquainted after my husband, Anco, and I donated a large Norfolk pine to the library. The tree was fingering the ceiling of our living room and we were anxious to find a good home for it. Our conifer species was received with enthusiasm and placed in the spacious foyer. I have forgotten the gardener’s name at this point, but remember that when I frequented the library, very often he would corner me to let me know how the pine was doing. One day, when he was weeding outside, he called me over. “Christine,” he began, “I want to ask you a favor.” “Sure,” I answered, smiling congenially. “Well,” he went on, “I have some special flowers that need only a minimal amount of water. And I wonder …” He paused and I encouraged him by nodding. “Well, I wonder,” he continued slowly, “because I know that your husband is a veterinarian, if you would be able to get me some syringes. You see I could put water in them and squirt just a tiny amount of fluid into these plants. It would be a great help!” “Oh, sure,” I replied, immediately sympathetic to the presumed problem in his foliage kingdom, “I’ll ask my husband and get back to you.” “That would be great.” He beamed at me and I beamed back. Upon coming home, I relayed the question to one of my sons. “Mom!!” he exclaimed, “Don’t you get it! That guy’s a druggie. He’s an addict. He’s trying to get his hands on some free syringes so he can inject himself with who knows what! You are so gullible!” Later, upon hearing the request, my husband agreed with my son and, upon reflection, I came to the conclusion that they were probably right. When I met the man again, I gently let him know that I was unable to obtain the desired syringes for his plants. He shrugged and that was the end of it. **** Last week I was shopping at Zehr’s. It was late afternoon on Friday, on Valentine’s Day. Generally speaking, Friday afternoon is not the time I usually shop but there had been warnings of an impending storm and I thought it would be wise to get some groceries before the weekend. There were a lot of people in the store. I presumed that everyone wanted to get their shopping done before the storm hit and felt a common bond between myself and the other purchasers. There was a rather long wait in the line-up to pay as one of the customers had bought an item without a price tag on it. There were two gentlemen standing behind me, each with only one item in their hands. I noted them and briefly wondered why they were not going to the faster check-out, but it was only a passing thought. After finally paying my bill, I pushed the shopping cart through the mall foyer towards the entrance. My car was parked in the first row across from the store and easy to access. As I had forgotten my cloth bags in the car, I had to transfer my groceries from the cart into the bags. Opening the front door, I deposited my purse onto the console between the front seats. Then the process of transferral began as I put the groceries from the cart into the cloth bags and into the back seat. Having done that, I brought the cart back to the sidewalk by Zehr’s and moseyed on back to the car. Opening the door and easing myself into it, I shoved my purse over to the passenger seat and was about to start the motor when there was a knock at my window. Startled, I turned my head. There was a man, a rather short and squat man, beckoning with the fingers of his right hand that I should come out. He then pointed to the back wheel of the car, the wheel on the driver’s side. Immediately I assumed there was something wrong with the back wheel – something which he had noticed while passing. I straightaway opened the door and hopped out. He walked over to the back wheel, and said something which I did not understand. You see, he was wearing a cream-colored scarf which hid his mouth. He was also wearing a big black hat. Consequently, I was only able to see the top of his upper lip and his chunky nose and rather small eyes. “That man is cold,” I thought, and it surely was cold. “Pardon me,” I voiced politely, “but I didn’t hear what you said.” He repeated himself, but honestly it was Greek to me and the scarf over his mouth didn’t help his pronunciation. He squatted down, and touched the back tire with the index finger of his right hand. “Is it going flat?” I asked, squatting down next to him, “Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” “Leak,” he answered, as he lifted his finger off the tire before he reiterated, “Leak.” “Leak?” I repeated. He then put the worried index finger back down on the tire, which to my non-mechanical eyes, looked very healthy. But then what did I know? He then lifted the finger off the tire, waved it about a bit before putting it back down on the tire. “Is air coming out?” I asked. “Is it a slow leak? Will it be dangerous for me to drive, do you think?” In a far-off time, before there were cars, Augustine once said that we should be “innocent as doves that we may not harm anyone”; and “cautious as snakes that we may be careful of letting anyone harm us.” That is to say, we are not to be credulous, but we should be discerning enough to know that not all whom we encounter are who they say they are. The man continued to put his finger on the tire a few more times and then stood up. He looked at me above his scarf face. “Is OK,” he said, “Is OK.” “Are you sure? Because I have a drive of about fifteen minutes to get home.” “Yes, is OK.” I thanked him for his care in stopping because he thought something might be wrong. I told him that I thought this was very kind. Then I said goodbye, got back into the car and drove home. But all the while I was worried that perhaps the tire might have a slow flat coming in, all the while I worried about how to turn the wheel if the car would begin to swerve. Upon coming home, I told my daughter what had happened. She told me not to worry, that my son-in-law would look at it when he came in. However, as I was putting the groceries away, I noticed that my wallet (always in my purse) was missing. My daughter helped me look and look we did. After exhaustively searching everywhere, we eventually phoned Zehr’s. Zehr’s surveyed their area, spoke to the teller who had checked me out, and then informed us that they were unable to locate the wallet. “Mom,” my daughter told me, “I think you’ve been robbed.” We then proceeded to phone both my bank and the Mastercard company. The bank put a marker on my account and the Mastercard company told us there had been four attempts on my card in the last half hour and a fifth had been successful in withdrawing four hundred dollars. It is a blessing that Mastercard is the only credit card I use. However, my wallet was also home to my Social Insurance Number, my library cards, my health card, and my driver’s license. There was also more than one hundred dollars cash, postal stamps and photographs. That last item, though perhaps not much in the way of money, was important to me. Presently, I’m in the process of getting a new driver’s license, and have bought a protection called Equifax which protects a person from identity fraud. It’s all a far cry from Eden. I think about the fellow wearing the cream-colored scarf. Was he poor? Had he just lost his job, as so many have lost theirs in the last year? Did he know the Lord? What partner helped him steal my wallet out of my purse when I was hunkered down thankful that a stranger cared enough to stop and warn me about a possible leak in my tire? Were these two thieves the men who had stood behind me in the checkout line? Had they been watching me as I punched in the pin number of my Mastercard? **** Believers do not have a life free from conflict. That is a fact. Jonathan Edwards said: “Men that have their spirits heated and enraged and rising in bitter resentment when they are injured act as if they thought some strange thing had happened to them. Whereas they are very foolish in so thinking for it is no strange thing at all but only what was to be expected in a world like this. They, therefore, do not act wisely that allow their spirits to be ruffled by the injuries they suffer.” If Christians expect to be taken advantage of, they will not be depressed when it happens. We are called to bear our injuries with dignity and hope in the providence of God – even as Christ did. Jonathan Edwards went on to say: “As love to God prevails, it tends to set persons above human injuries, in this sense, that the more they love God the more they will place all their happiness in him.... The more they love God, the less they set their hearts on their worldly interests, which are all that their enemies can touch.” There is no doubt that widows, widowers and all older and retired persons, should beware. There is also no doubt that it hurts to be taken advantage of. But Jonathan Edwards’ words are encouraging and put things into perspective. The two robbers could only harm my worldly pleasures. They cannot, and never will be able to, take the inheritance that is laid up for me in heaven. With the help of the Holy Spirit, I will look to God and love and trust Him alone. And He is faithful and will help me....

News

Saturday Selections – Mar. 8, 2025

5 signs you should consider seminary Is God calling you to be a minister? Here are 5 points worth considering. While this is Westminster making its own pitch – they end this with a plug for their school – the 5 points are worth considering whatever your preferred seminary. A whole list of reasons to consider marrying younger The world says to wait on marriage until you've got your career going, or you've got the house you want, or you have a certain amount of money put away. Tim Challies has some other thoughts... 10 examples of "evolution in action" If evolution were true, then there should be examples of it happening today, right? So what do we find when we look at the best examples of "evolution in action" that are on offer? What we find are examples of natural selection acting on: traits that were already present in the population, traits that were already present in the genome, but were unexpressed, genuine novelties which, however, did not increase the design sophistication of the organism In other words, what we don't find is any increase in complexity – we don't find the sort of progress that would be needed if Man was to have evolved from simple molecules. This is a longer read, but a good one to highlight how the best that evolutionists can offer is unimpressive. The devil is real Sometimes it seems as if Christians don't really take the Devil seriously, and consequently we aren't ready for him. But what better explanation is there, for the support of transgender mutilations, than that there a Prince of Lies (1 Peter 5:8) actively seeking to destroy? The tragedy of IVF "Do I regard children born via IVF and surrogacy as human? Of course I do, unequivocally. But tragically, a society that sanctions IVF and surrogacy cannot say the same." - Carl Trueman Annie Wilson's Rebel "Who talks to a Man they cannot see..." ...

Christian education

Helping students overcome a fear of failure

The goal of genuine learning isn’t to pass tests ***** Among the most common mental attitudes hindering the pursuit of a genuine education by young people is fear of failure. When the focus of the student’s attention turns away from the subject matter of a course and how well it is understood and applied, concern will be directed rather to formal considerations like: • “How much has to be done in order to pass this test?” • “How many pages must be written for this report?” • “What will the final grade be on my report card?” Whether or not one can use algebraic formulas successfully, can write a clear and grammatical sentence, can appreciate the literary merits of Shakespeare, or see the fallacy in materialistic philosophy – all these and similar, educational concerns are lost in the scramble to make sure that one has enough points to pass the course. The worst thing that could happen, in the mentality of many students, is that they would receive an F for a course, rather than that they would have failed to understand a course. It stands to reason, then, that parents and teachers who want students to receive a genuine, intellectually maturing, personally enriching education – and not simply formal marks on a report card filed away – will aim to overcome the student’s obstructive fear of failure. Why do students have such fears? Generally because they have not developed successful habits of study (inside and outside the classroom) and are aware of their lacking. They are just not sure how to tackle the challenge of new work, new concepts, and stiff assignments. How can parents and teachers help students to overcome fear of failure? There are things that can be done. There is no need to throw our hands up in despair, imagining that it is somehow a fortuitous matter of “chance” (fate, luck) that some students do well and others do poorly in schoolwork. Every student of normal ability (i.e., every student who is free of physical or mental handicaps) can do well in schoolwork. As blunt or even as harsh as it may seem at first, we will eventually have to face up to the grim truth that there is no such thing as a (normal) student who cannot do passing work. There are simply some students who will not (choose not) to do passing work. Now they may very well desire to have at the outcome of the course a passing mark. They want that end – BUT without being willing to pursue the means to that end. The age in which people commonly believed in magic has not passed. It has simply taken on a more sophisticated front. Parents and teachers who believe that (or operate as though) the difference between successful and unsuccessful students is a mystery beyond our control assign good schoolwork, in effect, to magic or chance – beyond any cause-effect explanation. Students who want a passing grade at the end of the course, but who ignore or refuse the means to that end, are hoping for a magical deliverance. We live in a universe where events (effects) have their corresponding causes. There are appropriate causes of good performance in school. This is bad news and good news. The bad news is that students who fail cannot “cop-out” and blame their failure on something beyond their control. The good news is that something can indeed be done to improve a student’s work in school. There is hope because there exist proven methods of achieving success as a student. What help can we offer them? What are some principles of educational success? 1. Don’t leave things at the Ramada Inn The first piece of advice which we can give students who fear failure is not to leave things at the Ramada Inn. Let me explain that remark. This last summer my family took a vacation, traveling up the coast to Monterey and San Francisco, then across to Sacramento and Reno. In Monterey we stayed at the Ramada Inn. Imagine that when we left the Ramada Inn we inadvertently left behind the overnight case, only to realize that fact an hour and a half on the way to San Francisco. What a painful discovery that would be! We certainly needed the items in the overnight case, and yet to get the case we would be forced to backtrack an hour and a half on the road. If this had actually happened to us, what do you suppose we should have done? Well, one thing we could have done is to continue traveling up the road, bemoaning the fact that we were going to be inconvenienced. We could have complained that the Ramada Inn was an hour and a half (now an hour and three quarters) drive back to Monterey. We could have driven on and on, hoping against reasonable hope, that the overnight case which was an hour and half (now two hours) behind us might miraculously catch up with us before we stopped that night. But when all the murmuring and imagination had been indulged, the fact would have been that we knew we had to go back to the Ramada Inn. The trip could not successfully continue until we went back and picked up what had been left behind. The sooner we realized that hard fact, the better for the continuation of the vacation. The same principle applies to schoolwork. As a course progresses through a semester, more and more new material and new concepts (or skills) are set forth to the student. Later material presupposes the foundation laid by earlier material. Growth in understanding is cumulative. Consequently, when a student does not understand something which has been taught, does not do the necessary homework which has been assigned, does not complete the reading which goes with a unit of teaching and yet continues on in the course, that student is set up to fail the later portions of the course. Understanding the later material depends on a previous understanding or exposure to the earlier material. When something has been left behind, the trip cannot successfully continue. Students are sometimes funny – unrealistic, really. They figure that they can tune out part of a lecture, omit a reading assignment, or not bother to ask for help when they do not understand something in a course, and then tune in and begin understanding at some later point. But as with vacation travel, so also with schooling. The sooner we realize that we must go back to the Ramada Inn (or to the material, which has not been read or understood), the better it will be for us. Students simply must keep abreast of what is being taught in the course, not hoping to go back later and fill in the gaps in their understanding. And if they do fall behind, then it is important to go back and pick up what as omitted, and so the sooner we do so, the better. 2. Learn how to read A second rule to be observed for achieving success in school is that students must learn how to read. A shocking suggestion, perhaps, because the assumption commonly held is that high school students already know how to read. But that is held because we erroneously think that reading is merely a matter of knowing how to sound out words, recognize punctuation, and understand basic vocabulary. That is, we are often satisfied simply with the mechanics of reading – getting the encoded message on the page through the eyeballs, into the (reasonably alert) brain. I do not doubt that most (if not all) of our high school students can do this. Reading mechanics – the basics – have been mastered. But reading has not. Once the basics have been learned, students need to learn how to tackle a reading assignment in such a way that they understand its meaning, point, and structure. They need to master skills of comprehension and retention. In a word, they need to learn how to analyze and interpret – not simply translate – the message encoded on the page(s) of their assignment. Let me suggest a proven method of reading. Never plan to read an assignment only once; good readers will read at least twice and usually three times. 1. Read The first time through should be a quick and casual reading to familiarize yourself with the material and find out the main point(s) the author intended to communicate. 2. Write The second time through you should take notes for yourself, attempting to outline (roughly) the material presented so that the way in which the author gets to his conclusion is made clear; also write out important lists which may appear in the reading, along with key sentences which express important insights or necessary declarations (as far as the author is concerned). 3. Highlight Only after these two steps have been accomplished should you go through the assignment again the third time and underline (or highlight) the words, phrases, or sentences which will help you to review and recall the material later. Keep these underlinings to a minimum, for too many such markings will simply force you later to reread most of the assignment again – which defeats the purpose of underlining. By the time these three steps have been completed, the reading assignment will be clearly recorded in the mind. The reading notes, along with underlinings, will facilitate quick and effective review of the material, which should be accomplished once a week until the end of the term. This method of reading may appear to consume more time initially than the less rigorous style practiced by most students, but in the long run it saves not only time (for instance, rereading the entire assignment every time a quiz is possible) but also emotional energy which is lost over the fear of failure at exam time. This article was first in two parts in the September and December 1981 issues of The Conqueror under the titles “On Not Leaving Things at the Ramada Inn” and “Learning How to Read in High School.” They are reprinted with permission of Covenant Media Foundation, which hosts and sells many other Dr. Bahnsen resources on their website....

Book Reviews, Children’s non-fiction

The Moon is Always Round

by Jonathan Gibson 2019 / 32 pages This picture book is a beautiful catechism truth wrapped in a heartbreaking story of loss. Author Jonathan Gibson places his son Ben as the lead character. Through Ben, we look outside at the night sky and see the moon in its different stages. Sometimes it’s sliced like an apple. At other times it's shriveled like an orange. But no matter what shape the moon appears to be, Ben knows that the moon is always round. When Ben’s little sister Leila passes away at 39 weeks gestation, Ben must rely on faith, not sight. Although God does not appear to be good, his goodness extends even beyond Leila’s death. God is always good. Short, simple phrases leave room for the reader to pause and contemplate the story as it unfolds. Kids will love saying along with Ben’s dad, “but the moon is always round” when Ben wonders if the moon has really changed. At the climax of the book, Ben’s dad asks him what that means. It feels natural for kids and parents to answer with Ben that “God is always good.” While this book deals with heavy topics, simple sentences for big truths are what make this book profound. The book closes on a sweet note – a family picnic, a beautiful sunset, a full moon, and the words from Psalm 100:5: “For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” Children aged 4-8 will gain the most from Gibson’s simple catechism. Younger readers will love hunting for the yellow daffodils sprinkled inside the vibrant pictures. However, even older children and adults will be touched by this sweet, sad story honoring Gibson’s stillborn daughter, Leila....

Assorted

How to write

…for Reformed Perspective ***** Everyone has at least one article in them – I’m convinced that’s true. It doesn’t matter who I’m talking...

In a Nutshell

Tidbits – March 2025

C.S. Lewis on the danger of indulging in “outrage porn” The term “outrage porn” was coined by a New York Times writer, Tim Kreider to describ...

Assorted

Life in bloom: The gift of flowers

“Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”...

News

Saturday Selections – Mar. 1, 2025

Why we can't focus (12 min) This fellow is worried that moving from a text-based culture to a video-based one is leaving us all stupider – "we are ...

News

Tariffs as a dressing down: if it is about drugs we should listen

With a lot of bluster and bravado, President Trump has made good on campaign promises to impose trade tariffs limiting other countries’ access to the prized American market, especially if these trading partners are reluctant to go along with concessions and demands from the new U.S. administration. Canada has experienced the uncertainty of these tariff threats, causing unsettlement for businesses on both sides of the border, and raising ill feelings among Canadians towards their southern neighbor. Economists almost unanimously agree that tariffs are ultimately harmful for the overall market: certain domestic industries can benefit from these financial penalties on their international competition, but the resulting prices will hurt domestic companies that use these imports to make their goods. And eventually the consumers who pay for finished goods will see these new increased costs included in the price they pay. Christian economist David Bahnsen recently wrote that Trump’s key economic officials agree that tariffs are harmful: “I believe Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is essentially a free trader who knows in his heart and mind that tariffs are a cost on the U.S. economy paid by U.S. importers, and ultimately, consumers. I believe NEC chair Kevin Hassett knows this. I believe CEA chair Stephen Miran knows this.” If tariffs cause economic harm all around, why is the U.S. President insisting that he will impose them? It all seems to be based on extracting action, not promises, from trading partners that the U.S. has deemed to not be living up to their commitments. U.S. officials allege that Canada is too lax on border security, allowing aliens to enter the U.S. from Canada: “ is not confined to the southern border – encounters at the northern border with Canada are rising as well.” Trump’s team has stated that Canada is not doing enough to capture smugglers bringing fentanyl into the U.S. “There is… a growing presence of Mexican cartels operating fentanyl and nitazene synthesis labs in Canada,” stated a White House fact sheet. I spoke recently off the record with several U.S. border patrol employees in Washington State who indicated that fentanyl coming into the U.S. from Canada is indeed becoming a bigger problem. The Trudeau government responded to the tariff threats by promising to beef up border security and appointing a fentanyl czar, resulting in a delay, but not cancellation of the tariffs. At the time of this writing, the tariffs are still scheduled to come into effect in the beginning of March. Canadians as a whole have been offended by this aggressive talk from our normally friendly neighbor to the south: the U.S. anthem was booed at sporting events, and some consumers have threatened boycotts of American-made products. How should Christians view these developments? It is good to recognize that every government has the duty to protect its citizens and defend its borders: while Canadians may not agree with President Trump’s assessment of dangers coming from “up north,” we should recognize that as chief executive of his country, he has the right to ask for increased cooperation in fulfilling this essential task of protecting his country’s citizens. In Luke 14, the Lord Jesus illustrates negotiation between sovereigns in this way: “…What king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not first sit down and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand. And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.” While citizens might not appreciate the heavy-handedness of demands brought by a nation we consider our friend and ally, our government should respond positively to reasonable requests, especially if they are intended to increase law and order, and stop criminal behavior that is harmful on both sides of the 49th parallel....

Economics

Tariffs are terrible economics: why Canada shouldn’t hit back

Free trade – free of barriers and restrictions – has, traditionally, been pretty exclusive to the Right side of the political spectrum. But now, with President Trump implementing tariffs on steel and threatening tariffs on Canada and Mexico, we’re even hearing the Left talk about the harms that tariffs could cause. And not just to Canada and Mexico, but to American consumers too. As the far-left stalwart Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (aka AOC) noted on X, “Remember: *WE* pay the tariffs….Trump is all about making inflation WORSE for working class Americans, not better.” But what is she talking about when she says Americans pay the tariffs it charges? Think of it this way. Imagine two towns located right next to each other – Town A and Town B – and each has a car mechanic. These mechanics are full-service: they go right to your house to do the repairs. The only difference between the two is that the car mechanic in Town A – let’s call him Arnold – is way cheaper, so not only do all the folks in Town A use Arnold, so do most of the folks in Town B. That, understandably, makes the mechanic in town B – we’ll him Bill – quite unhappy, as it really hurts his business. So Bill demands that his town put in a tariff of sorts. He wants a 25% surcharge on any “out of town” car mechanics. He argues that this surcharge will be incredibly beneficial – applying it to Arnold for the work he does in Town B will help fund Town B’s government. It will also help protect Town B’s homegrown car repair businesses – Bill’s – by making his prices seem more competitive. And, Bill notes, if he gets more business, the government will benefit from the taxes he’ll pay. Bill pitches his tariff/surcharge as a win/win all the way around. But Bill is forgetting someone – several someones, in fact. The surcharge will make Arnold’s prices higher. Any Town B clients who do continue to use him will now be paying 25% more. And any clients he loses to Bill will be impacted too, having to pay Bill’s higher prices for their car repairs, taking a bigger chunk out of their household budget than ever before. In other words, Bill is staying in business at the expense of the car repair consumers in his own town. That’s not win/win at all – that’s a win for Bill, at the cost of everyone else in town. This is what AOC meant when she said that Americans will pay the tariffs they charge. Canada rightly fears American tariffs on the energy and goods they produce. Those tariffs could hurt our producers badly. But hitting back at American tariffs with our own tariffs on US goods is only going to compound the pain. It might benefit some of our producers – whoever makes the goods that compete with imported American goods – but that benefit will come at the expense of Canadian consumers overall by making them pay more. Just like Town B’s car repair “tariff” hurt Town B’s citizens. Is there an explicitly biblical perspective to be brought here? Well, what about Leviticus 19:15? “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” God equates justice and impartiality, which prompts a question: should a government take actions that benefit some of its citizens – some producers – at the expense of other citizens, the consumers and producers who use those goods? Isn’t that partiality? God also speaks to this in His Golden Rule (Matt. 7:12). “Do unto others as you would like done unto you,” applied to the economic realm would mean that car mechanic Bill wouldn’t argue for his surcharge because he wouldn’t want that same surcharge applied to everything he buys. If Town A has cheap car parts, or groceries, or gasoline, he’d love to be able to benefit. The fact is, tariffs always hurt consumers, so no matter what the US does, let’s not let tariffs beget more tariffs. Instead of putting up trade barriers, there are actually interprovincial trade barriers that we could greatly benefit from taking down, as Pierre Poilievre has been highlighting recently. In the video below Remy highlights one of the ills caused by tariffs – fewer choices and higher costs. ...

Culture Clashes

How can everyone be wrong about the world?

Hans Rosling discovered that whether it’s world leaders or everyone else, we all share a tendency to overdramatize the state of the planet ***** How well do you know what is going on in the world? Let’s put it to a test. Without consulting the internet or someone else, give these questions your best shot: How did the number of deaths per year from natural disasters change over the last hundred years? a. More than doubled b. Remained about the same c. Decreased to less than half In the last 20 years, the proportion of the world population living in extreme poverty has… a. Almost doubled b. Remained more or less the same c. Almost halved Worldwide, 30-year-old men have spent 10 years in school, on average. How many years have women of the same age spent in school? a. 3 years b. 6 years c. 9 years In the 1990s, bald eagles, giant pandas, and snow leopards were all listed as endangered. How many of these three species are more critically endangered today? a. Two of them b. One of them c. None of them How many of the world’s 1-year-old children today have been vaccinated against some disease? a. 20 percent b. 50 percent c. 80 percent Worse than chimps The right answers are all C. How many did you get correct? If you didn’t get a great score, you are in good company. These questions come from Hans Rosling, the author of the fascinating book Factfulness. He made a quiz with 13 questions total, about different aspects of the state of the world – how we are doing as a planet. He asked about things like access to electricity, world population, and where people live in the world. Then he gave the quiz to nearly 12,000 people in 14 countries. On average they got just 2 of the 13 right. That’s remarkable when you consider if people filled in answers at random, they would have done better, getting a third of the three-answer questions right (averaging between 3 and 4 right). More remarkably, out of the 12,000 quizzed nobody got them all right. And just one person got 11 out of 12 right. Why? Is the problem that people aren’t educated enough? Rosling first thought this may be the case, but then he tested the most educated among us – medical students, teachers, scientists, journalists, business leaders, among others – and discovered that the majority still got most answers wrong and some did worse than the general public. Then Rosling realized that not only are people wrong about their understanding of the world, they are systematically wrong – they do worse than if they had no knowledge at all. As Rosling explained, if he went to the zoo to give the same quiz to chimpanzees, “the chimps, by picking randomly, would do consistently better than the well-educated but deluded human beings who take my tests.” Not only is the public consistently wrong, but their errors skewed in one direction – participants consistently underestimated the true state of the world: “Every group of people I ask thinks the world is more frightening, more violent, and more hopeless – in short, more dramatic – than it really is.” Why do we underestimate the good so badly? Since the mid 1990’s, Rosling devoted much of his time to exploring and explaining why we can be so wrong about rather basic facts about the world. At first, he thought that people’s knowledge simply had to be updated and upgraded – they just needed to get educated. So that is what he set out to do – Rosling developed some amazing teaching tools and brought them to TED talks around the world, in addition to board rooms, banks, and even the US State Department. He was excited to show everyone how the world had changed for the good. But it didn’t take long and his enthusiasm waned. “The ignorance we kept on finding was not just an upgrade problem. It couldn’t be fixed simply by providing clearer data animations or better teaching tools.” It was one gathering in particular that convinced him. He was presenting to thousands of the most influential people of the world at the 2015 World Economic Forum (alongside Bill and Melinda Gates). His listeners included heads of state, heads of UN organizations, leaders of multinational companies, and famous journalists. He asked them just three questions – about the true state of poverty, population growth, and vaccination rates in the world. Although 61 percent answered the question about poverty correctly, when it came to population growth and vaccination, the crowd once again did worse than chimps. That is when things crystalized for Rosling. He saw that the reason people were misperceiving the world was because they had a faulty worldview. “People constantly and intuitively refer to their worldview when thinking, guessing, or learning about the world. So if your worldview is wrong, then you will systematically make wrong guesses.” But he was also quick to explain that this isn’t the fault of media or fake news. Rather, he believes that it is inbuilt, and comes from how our brains have a tendency to “overdramatize” things. Look at the two lines on this page. Which is longer? If you’ve seen this trick before you know that they are the same length. But even with that knowledge, they still look different, don’t they? Despite what we know we can still misperceive. Rosling thinks something similar is going on with how our brains analyze the world – even when we know better, we can still fall for the “more frightening, more violent, and more hopeless – in short, more dramatic” misperception of things. Rosling proceeded to devote the rest of his life to this curiosity, and his book Factfulness flowed from this work. “Start to practice it, and you will be able to replace your overdramatic worldview with a worldview based on facts. You will be able to get the world right without learning it by heart.” Through the rest of the book, he trains readers to be aware of the various ways we systematically misperceive the world because of our “gap instinct, negativity instinct, …fear instinct” and more. Most of us would do well to learn about these instincts, which have us consistently underestimating the good around us. The Gap Instinct: Rosling calls it “that irresistible temptation we have to divide all kinds of things into two distinct and often conflicting groups, with an imagined gap – a huge chasm – in between.” For example, many believe that the developing world’s infant mortality rates will always remain much higher than ours. But whereas the global child mortality rate was 27% in 1950 (that’s the percentage of children who didn’t live to reach the end of puberty), now the very worst child mortality rate in the world is about half that, at 15% in Niger. Globally it is down to 4.3 percent (as of 2022). When it came to child mortality there was once a divide between the West and rest, but today that divide persists in people’s minds, and not in reality. The Fear Instinct: We have an inbuilt focus on the frightening, which makes it hard for us to see how things may be improving. So, when a hurricane hits, we might hear about how climate change is going to cause more and more of these, and what we don’t hear is how many fewer people died than in decades past. As they say, if it bleeds, it leads, so we hear lots about what is scary but little of what is reassuring and encouraging. The Negativity Instinct: Rosling shared that when people in 30 countries were asked, is the world getting better, staying the same, or getting worse, more than 50% picked “getting worse” no matter what country they came from (roughly 75% of Canadians said “getting worse”). Yet there are some huge improvements happening, including that the number of people living in extreme poverty – surviving on less than $2/day – has dropped from 50% of the world in 1966 to just 9% in 2017. If our decision makers in government and the Church had read this book before making decisions about Covid restrictions, we would all have benefitted. Then the fears that emanated from Covid and hospitalization projections would have been put into a much more reasonable context. But the implications go well beyond pandemics. I don’t think the world is prepared for the future we will face with half as many children being born per woman as just 50 years ago. Most people, including many in the Church, wrongly assume that the straight line of population growth will keep extending upwards. And they see that as a threat, with an ever-expanding population exceeding the planet’s ability to feed them all. But, as mentioned, even as population grows, fewer people are in extreme poverty. And just as a child won’t keep growing at the same rate through life, we’re seeing the birth rate take a sharp decline. The more informed worry is not overpopulation but a coming population collapse. Which worldview? As helpful as Rosling’s book is, he had his own misperception. He eventually recognized the importance of worldview, but he did so from a evolutionary vantage point. “The human brain is a product of millions of years of evolution,” he wrote, when answering why so many people would be consistently wrong. “We are hard-wired with instincts that helped our ancestors to survive in small groups of hunters and gatherers.” The beginning of wisdom Christians have a better explanation. That people would consistently overlook the many blessings around them and focus instead on troubles, many of them even imagined, is what sinful people do. A look through the Old Testament shows that God’s people are not immune to this ingratitude. But we are blessed to also have the answer. To fight negativity, fear, and ingratitude, we need only remember who God is. He isn’t just the God of the universe – He is our loving Father, the One Who knows who we are and has a perfect plan for our lives and for the future of the Church and the world. When we take this to heart, we can begin to get a glimpse into how this will change how we look at the world. Is it a scary place? Do we have reason to fear the future? Are things going to hell in a handbasket? Not at all. Those conclusions flow from a godless worldview, and perhaps also the worldview from some other major religions (like Islam), where their god is powerful but not a loving father. And they sure aren’t consistent with reality. By God’s grace, the world has been becoming a safer, healthier, more abundant place to live (contrary to what we would think if we only got our information from the news). But even if we face another war or pandemic, we can take comfort knowing that God “still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures, and so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, indeed, all things, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand” (Lord’s Day 10, Heidelberg Catechism)....

News

Saturday Selections – Feb. 22, 2025

My pretty pink tractor Tim Hawkins on a problem that I'm sure has happened to many a farmer. Mark Carney - the man who would be prime minister REAL Women of Canada have put together this thorough backgrounder on the candidate who seems most likely to win the Liberal Party leadership race. While this lobby group isn't offering an explicitly Christian perspective, that's their general, implicit worldview. You are more than your brain Materialists – those who say all we are is what we are made of – would say who you are is housed in your brain. All you are, is found somewhere in there. Except it isn't. Neurosurgeon Wilder "Penfield could find no part of the brain that, when stimulated, caused patients to think abstractly — to reason, think logically, do mathematics or philosophy or exercise free will." This isn't an article about the soul, but it sort of is. 10 questions to ask when evaluating a Christian college While you could direct these at the admissions department, it'd be even better to ask them to a recent alumni. As the author notes, college publications really put a spin on things, such that you can almost read in the worldview you are looking for. But when they are having a speaker tackle the topic of gender, is it really clear from the materials what he'll be saying, or are you making some generous assumptions? You really may need to ask someone who was there. (Not all the questions are gold, but I found 8 out of 10 really useful.) Greenland used to be green land President Trump's aspirations for this frozen, mostly unpopulated island have kept it much in the news as of late. But its real news value comes from recently reported findings that could calm climate hysteria. Turns out that Greenland was once green, which means the Earth must have been a lot warmer in the past – 14 degrees warmer, according to these guys. That said, the dates for this latest discovery are way outside of the timescale the Bible reveals – this is supposed to be a look back at between 250,000 and a million years ago – so that's messed up. But for secularists who abide with millions of years, they have some explaining to do as to why 3 degrees warmer would end the Earth today, but 14 degrees warmer didn't do so back whenever. And for Christians, we can stand on God's promise in Gen. 8:22 that the end the climate cataclysmists are predicting simply will not come: "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” 70 million people have seen The Butterfly Circus In this short 20-minute film, a limbless man (played by Christian apologist Nick Vujicic) is forced to get by as a circus sideshow. But that changes when he is recognized as beautiful by a rival circus owner, and welcomed to stay with this "Butterfly Circus." This is a PG film, in part because the backstory of one character involves prostitution (nothing sexual is shown – we just see her pregnant and being shown the brothel door). The other reason parents are needed is because of how the film could be misinterpreted by children. Young viewers (and old ones too) need to remember that the Butterfly Circus owner recognized the limbless man as beautiful at the start of the film. To say it another way, it wasn't anything the limbless man did, or potentially could do, that made him beautiful. We are all called to develop whatever talents God has given us, but it's not our abilities that give us value or make us beautiful. Our beauty and our worth come from God's valuation of us – what He esteems is valuable indeed! ...

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How can everyone be wrong about the world?

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