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On the Truth, and the cost of lies

"Remember: one lie does not cost you one truth but the Truth" - Hebbel

****

It seems that truth is bendable - it has become elastic during the last decades. People can twist and turn it any which way they want, especially if they have a good lawyer.

"Guilty or not guilty?"
"Not guilty."
"Have you ever been to prison?"
"No, this is this is the first time I’ve been caught stealing.’

Surely truth is a question which has plagued mankind for centuries. The question of what, exactly, truth is, has been particularly in the headlines during the last year.

There are those times in which we do not speak the truth in order to shield others from something. The Bible records incidents in which people did not speak the truth and two incidents immediately come to mind: the first deals with the protection of the small Jewish babies by the Hebrew midwives (Ex. 1:15-21). The second recounts the hiding of the Jewish spies sent to search out the land for the Israelites (Joshua 2).

Incidents such as these remain relevant to the present times. We have only to think of the Second World War during which time many Christians hid Jewish refugees.

****

My husband and I had such an incident in our lives as well. It had not nearly the magnitude of life and death to it, but it does illustrate the fact that things are not always black and white.

A few years after my husband’s graduation from the Ontario Veterinary College, we had our third child. An aunt of my husband’s, Tante Til, had come over from Holland to help me out for a week or two. She was cheerful, lively and a bastion of cleanliness. We enjoyed having her around. Tante Til had a wonderful sense of humor but she also had a passion for sterilizing whatever came within her reach. Perhaps this was because she mistrusted my husband’s close daily contact with stables and their inhabitants and distrustfully eyed the mud caked to his large rubber boots. Tante Til was “proper” and would never dream of letting a soup bowl function as a cat dish or using her handkerchief to wipe away a cobweb.

Tante Til was not extremely fond of animals and the kitten, dubbed “Little Grape” by our two girls, had to stay out of her way. The litter box was vies (dirty), and my husband was delegated the task of cleaning it while I was in the hospital. He gladly did so. We had, I am ashamed to say, acquired the habit of cleaning out the litter box with something I had never found much use for – a silver salad fork – somehow failing to inform Tante Til of this rather disreputable habit. The fork lay in a secluded corner on the kitchen counter. It was a dirty black because I hated cleaning silverware, finding it a useless chore when it would only get dirty again. Besides that, we had lots of stainless steel.

One of my first nights home from the hospital, Tante Til cooked us a special dinner - mashed potatoes, vegetables, pork chops, applesauce and salad. It looked and smelled delicious. As we sat down and bibs were tied around the girls’ necks, Tante Til shone with goodwill. "Nou, eet maar lekker, jongens! (Eat hearty, guys!)" We prayed and then began to put the food on our plates.

It never hit us until my husband began scooping some lettuce onto his plate. He suddenly realized that he was holding the silver salad litter fork. Only the fork was not holding cat litter but green salad. His second scoop, therefore, hung in mid-air. He caught my eye and I grinned at him. He didn’t grin back.

"Good salad, isn’t it, sweetheart?" I said wickedly.

"Dank je (Thank you)," Tante Til beamed. "Zal ik jou ook wat geven? (Shall I give you some too?)"

"No, thank you," I answered virtuously, "it might give the baby gas."

My husband ate around the salad on his plate as Tante Til explained in detail how she had cleaned the fork she had found on the counter and wasn’t it nice and shiny now? "Je moet je zilver wat vaker poetsen hoor, kind (You should polish your silver a little more often, dear.)" She gave me a sidelong glance but smiled tolerantly for wasn’t I a young mother with a great deal to learn?

I cannot recall whether or not my husband ate the salad on his plate, but I do know that we never told Tante Til what the salad fork had actually been used for. "I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare," said Montaigne.

****

Most incidences in daily life, however, call for plain, unadulterated truth - truth you should never shy away from.

A number of years ago, during a snow-infested January day, I noticed a car slide to a stop behind a snowbank in front of our house. Our driveway was engorged with snow and I watched to see if the driver of the car would wade her way into it or head for our neighbor’s house. She turned into our driveway. It was a slow process, getting to our door, but it gave me time to put the kettle on, arrange some cookies on a plate and finally, wipe a few hands and noses while giving instructions on good behavior.

When I looked through the window again, the woman was only about three quarters way up the driveway. I walked to the door, opened it and smiled a welcome. The woman was small and carried a briefcase. I did not know her. She smiled back and her funny, black hat tilted in the wind. "Why don’t you step in for a minute?" I said, fully confident that this tiny lady was lost and in need of directions and a hot cup of tea to warm her up.

"Bad weather." The short, terse statement was carried by a strong voice, albeit a strong voice with a quaver. I nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly. She pulled off her gray, leather gloves and began opening her briefcase in the kitchen. A watchtower tract fell on the ground. I bent simultaneously with her and we almost bumped heads. She reached the pamphlet first and picking it up, held it out towards me.

"No, thank you." My words came automatically. The pamphlet quivered. The hand that held it was blue-veined and old. "It’s free," she said, mistaking my refusal to take it with fear of having to pay for it. I shook my head. "I know."

She put the tract back into her briefcase. The kettle was boiling and I turned to unplug it. Her voice followed me to the counter. "The world has many problems." My oldest son toddled into the kitchen and smiled at her. I walked past him and said, "It’s a good thing that Jesus Christ came into the world." She nodded, her little hat nodding with her. "Jesus was a good man."

I both agreed and disagreed. "He was a good man," I said, "a perfect man, yes, but He was and is also God." She smiled and answered, "How could He be both at the same time?" Shaking her head, she laughed at what appeared to be a foolish and impossible notion. And when I persisted in speaking of the Triune God, she gave up and put her gloves back on while two of my children fingered her briefcase. With her gloved hands she pulled the small, black hat firmer onto her wet, gray hair and then opened the door. The wind blew swirls of snow into the foyer as she stepped back outside. I watched her go, the snow filling in her plodding steps almost as soon as she lifted her feet. And a few minutes later there was no trace to show that she had been by.

Pascal said, "Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the lack of contradiction a sign of truth."

****

Providentially not only the liars are in the news. The January 30, 1999 issue of World magazine records that a man by the name of Daniel Crocker confessed to murder. Daniel Crocker, who at that time was thirty-eight years old, was sentenced to twenty to sixty years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in ten years.

The unusual aspect of Mr. Crocker’s case is that he was living free and easy, with a wife and two children in Chantilly, Virginia. He had committed the murder twenty years previously, smothering a nineteen-year-old girl with a pillow following an attempt to rape her. However, his Christian conscience, following his conversion later in life, would not let him alone. Compelled by the Holy Spirit, he confessed his murder and was consequently tried and convicted. Mr. Crocker and his wife, Nicolette, reportedly were able to pray together twice before the sentencing. Mrs. Crocker said that their two children, Isaac, 6 and Analiese, 9, who were not at the trial, "know what Daddy’s doing is right." Mr. Crocker apologized tearfully to his family "for embarrassing and shaming them" and to the relatives of Tracy Fresquez, his victim.

Mr. Crocker submitted, at this point in his life, to the Truth. And that Truth, even though he is a murderer, will set him free.

****

According to the NIV Exhaustive concordance, the word truth is used 224 times in the Bible. One of the phrases recurring throughout Jesus’ ministry reads, "I tell you the truth." When the truth of the Bible is compromised, there is no sweet, roundabout way to avoid conflict. Emerson aptly said, "God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take which you please - you can never have both." Although in this phrase the word choice smacks a bit of arminianism, the fact remains that you cannot have both truth and repose. A lot of people today, however, are convinced that you can have both, never realizing that they have thereby lost their hold on Truth. Although they might agree with Mark Twain’s quote, "Truth is the most valuable thing we have", they subconsciously go one step further with him when he adds, "Let us economize on it."

But there is no way to economize on the Truth of creation; there is no way to economize on the Truth of headship; there is no way to economize on the Truth of God’s judgment on homosexuality; and there is no way to economize on the Truth of being servants of one another in love and compassion. Because to economize on one principle does not cost merely one truth but the Truth. And only if you believe this Truth in your heart and confess this Truth with your mouth, shall you be saved.

This is an abridged version of an article - "Remember: one lie does not cost you one truth but the Truth" - that first appeared in the June 1999 edition of Reformed Perspective.

Assorted

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Saturday Selections – Jan. 18, 2025

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A men's conference that had to turn hundreds away can now be watched online ***** I don’t think I can quite grasp the measure of tension that must...

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Trudeau resigned and Parliament prorogued – now what?

“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister… This country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me that if I'm having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.” – Justin Trudeau, Jan. 6, 2025 With those words, Trudeau announced that his time as prime minister will soon come to a close. But his resignation, his announcement that Parliament is prorogued, and uncertainty around upcoming confidence votes in Parliament have sparked all sorts of changes. Some are good. Some are bad. And some are simply opportunities for Reformed Christians to take action. Historical moment Justin Trudeau’s resignation is the eleventh time in 158 years of Canadian history that a prime minister has resigned in office. John Abbott (1892), Robert Borden (1920), and William Lyon Mackenzie King (1948) all resigned because of poor personal health. John A. Macdonald (1873), Mackenzie Bowell (1896), William Lyon Mackenzie King (1926), Lester Pearson (1968), Pierre Trudeau (1984), Brian Mulroney (1993), and Jean Chrétien (2003) all resigned mid-term in the face of political turmoil or scandal. So, a prime minister resigning instead of losing an election is hardly unprecedented. Because of the Prime Minister’s resignation, the Liberal party will select a new leader who will then become Canada’s 24th prime minister. When Parliament reconvenes on March 24, the new prime minister will outline his or her priorities, subject to a confidence motion. What is unprecedented is how short Trudeau’s successor’s time in office could be. To date, Sir Charles Tupper was Canada’s shortest-tenured prime minister, serving only 68 days. Justin Trudeau’s replacement will be selected on March 9 and Parliament returns on March 24. If the Liberal government loses a confidence vote soon after Parliament reconvenes, the new prime minister might also be the prime minister with the shortest term in office. Trudeau’s resignation so close to a potential election is not too dissimilar from Joe Biden’s recent decision to drop out of the presidential race so close to the American presidential election. Effects of prorogation If the Prime Minister had chosen to dissolve Parliament, parliamentary business would have been terminated and a general election would ensue. Prorogation, on the other hand, gives no indication regarding the timeline of the next election. However, the minority Liberal government will need the support of at least one other party following prorogation to be able to govern. The main effect of prorogation is to end the current session of Parliament – there can, at least in theory, be multiple sessions for each elected Parliament, but to this point there had just been one session going on since the 2021 election. But the effect of this prorogation is that bills that have not yet become law are now terminated, committees cannot proceed, and members of parliament are released from their parliamentary duties until the new session. The final effect is that, instead of reconvening on January 27 as planned (and likely facing a non-confidence vote that could force an election), Parliament won’t meet again until March 24. Prorogation of Parliament is a little more common than prime ministerial resignations. I was somewhat surprised that Parliament has been prorogued nine times in my lifetime (versus only one other prime ministerial resignation). But what makes this occasion more unique is its connection to the Prime Minister’s upcoming resignation. Government bills All government bills that have not received Royal Assent are terminated by prorogation, and in some cases, this is excellent news. For example, Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act, was filled with bad policy ideas, particularly around hate speech and hate crime. Such hate speech provisions would be potentially problematic for Christians who seek to speak truth about various controversial issues in our society. Free speech has already been under attack through conversion therapy laws that ban talking about biblical truths on gender and sexuality in some settings, or bubble zone laws that prevent pro-life expression in designated areas. The Online Harms Act would have made Canada’s free speech climate worse. But because Parliament is prorogued, Bill C-63 is now dead. If the government, in a new session, wishes to move forward with this legislation, they will need to start the law-making process all over again and re-introduce it for another first, second, and third reading, all of which take time. Late in 2024, the government also said it would introduce legislation to require pregnancy care centres to publicly disclose that they do not provide or assist with abortions. These organizations could also risk losing charitable status. The House of Commons Finance Committee also recommended that the government strip religious organizations of their charitable status broadly. The government had not yet introduced any bills regarding charitable status, and prorogation means it will be delayed in doing so. In a Parliamentary session that passed laws including conversion therapy bans, increased regulation of what people say online, and universal child care, we can be thankful that laws around hate speech and charitable status have been (at least temporarily) stopped before advancing further. Private members’ bills Unlike government bills, private members’ bills introduced in the House of Commons are not automatically terminated by prorogation. Instead, when Parliament resumes, they are automatically deemed to have passed all stages previously completed. Four bills in particular stand out as ones we would love to see proceed when Parliament resumes. These bills deal with issues of protecting minors from pornography, sexual exploitation, and human trafficking, and protecting political expression. Each of these bills could be reinstated immediately following prorogation. For example, Bill C-270, the Stopping Internet Sexual Exploitation Act, is focused on combatting illegal pornography and would require pornography companies to verify the age and consent of those depicted. The bill has already completed consideration in committee and might be reinstated past that stage. On the flip side, other private members’ bills, focused on allowing advance requests for euthanasia and on banning corporal discipline in Canada, might also be reinstated. Private members’ bills introduced by Senators, however, cannot be automatically carried over into the new session. Only through a special process can these bills be reinstated at their previous stage. Bill S-210, for example, would have required pornography companies to verify the age of potential viewers on their sites. However, the bill had one stage left before receiving Royal Assent and will be terminated in a new session. The bill was introduced over three years ago, and it is difficult to see such an important bill terminated so close to the end of the legislative process. Political uncertainty Of course, if Canada does go to an election shortly after Parliament resumes, none of these bills will advance anyways. It seems unlikely that the government will be able to pass any bills, given the stated intentions of other parties to defeat the government in a non-confidence vote. The Conservatives, Bloc Québécois, and NDP have all said they will vote for a motion of non-confidence against the government at the next possible opportunity and force an election. So, unless the new prime minister can convince one of these political parties to prop up the Liberal minority government, we will likely have a federal election sometime this spring. Looking ahead While political change includes uncertainty about the future, it also allows for new opportunities – opportunities to influence a new prime minister, to communicate with candidates prior to the next election, and to elect MPs who are committed to good policies. A new government also means new priorities and new agendas. Political change creates new avenues to witness to God’s truth and show how that truth also applies in the political arena. Groen van Prinsterer, the 19th-century Dutch historian and statesman, wrote prior to a period of political revival that: “Even in unfavorable circumstances, however, one can witness to the truth; and this continuous witness itself is already a real application and a powerful practice.” And we know that, in whatever political circumstances we find ourselves, Christ is on His throne, sovereign over all that is happening in our nation right now. And as Canadian Christians advocate for biblical principles in public policy, we pray with the Psalmist Moses: “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (Ps. 90:17)...

News

Charitable status of churches and religious charities threatened

While the country’s attention was focused on the conflict within the Liberal Party and the threat of new tariffs from south of the border, the Finance Committee tabled a report in the House of Commons with their recommendations for the next budget. Among 462 recommendations, one called on the government to drop “advancement of religion” as a basis for charitable status. If adopted in the next federal budget, this would threaten over 30,000 charities, making up over 40 percent of all Canadian charities. This includes an estimated 23,000 congregations, as well as many Christian non-profits. Losing charitable status would mean that churches and religious charities wouldn't be able to give charitable tax receipts for donations, or accept donations from foundations and other charities. In a call to action for its members, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) noted that this is also significant because “it indicates that members of the committee, from all the major political parties, supported the idea.” They explained that although the Conservative Party wrote a dissenting opinion on the report, they didn’t specifically mention opposition to this recommendation. In their own letter to the Minister of Finance, the EFC made a passionate case for retaining charitable status based on the advancement of religion. “Religious charities foster vibrant social networks, mobilize outreach, spark local volunteerism, and foster community resiliency,” they explained. “More and more Canadians are grappling with loneliness and social isolation. Polarization and lack of social cohesion are increasing concerns. This is a time to encourage the presence and participation of religious charities, which foster hope, mutual support and belonging, rather than taking steps to destabilize them.” ARPA Canada noted that: “In some ways, the favorable tax treatment of religious organizations is also a recognition of sphere sovereignty. It represents respect and appreciation by the civil government for the mission and work of the church and other institutions, to disciple people in the way of God and to minister to the poor and needy.” The EFC explained that “committee recommendations can function as a trial balloon. If a recommendation seems widely supported, or at least not opposed, it may encourage the government to move ahead with it.” While it looks likely we’re heading for an election, Christians still need to contact their MPs on this now, in case the Liberal government should survive long enough to present a budget this spring. And regardless of whether this recommendation is adopted this spring, it should serve as a wake-up call to Christians that we live in a political climate that has shifted from supportive towards faith-based organizations, to lukewarm, and now even hostile at times. This underscores the importance of churches taking the time to build a relationship of mutual trust and respect with their government officials, regardless of which party they are from....

News

Saturday Selections – Jan. 11, 2025

Music as the fingerprints of God (6 min) George Steiner here is lecturing on the wonder of music and is not trying to argue that music points us to God. But he does believe it points us beyond materialism – our response to music shows that we are more than what we are made of. " speaks to us that there is something else which, paradoxically, belongs to us profoundly but somehow touches on a universal meaning and possibility that we are not only an electrochemical and neuro-physiological assemblage; that there is more in consciousness than electronic wiring." Evolution can't explain eggs This is a bit of a technical one, but even if you get only the gist, you'll understand just how amazing the seemingly simplest things around us really are. It's only because we take God's engineering for granted that we can overlook the wonder that is an egg shell. Evolution has to explain how they could come to be in some step-by-step evolutionary process? As if. Trudeau is gone, so who is going to replace him? The Liberals are about to run a leadership campaign, but have this worry: "One of the key concerns that is out there is that the party could be prone to something approaching a takeover, or could be prone to a lot of people who don't give a hoot about the Liberal party who might be termed single-interest activists signing up and having a very real impact on the selection of our next leader." Is anyone plotting a pro-life takeover? Should we be? Abortion was the leading cause of death worldwide in 2024. And it wasn't even close. 45 million unborn babies were aborted last year – so relayed Jonathon Van Maren. That number is more than the population of all of Canada. In the US abortion accounts for 60% of all African American deaths. To put this number in a different context, COVID killed approximately 7 million in total over 4 years and in response we shut down the world. Six times more die each year from abortion and no notice is paid. Who will stand up for the unborn? Will you? Will any politician? Will you vote for a politician who won't? The danger of being a sermon critic As Tim Challies explains, if you focus on what you think should have been there, you run the risk of missing the fruit that is there. Amazing information packed inside you (12 min) This video makes the point your DNA coding is more incredible than even the most complicated computer code, but it also kind of reduces us to just that information.... as if we could make a human if we only managed this same level of programming. So, as you watch, recall that we are more than our matter, being both body and an immaterial, eternal soul. ...

Assorted

How to be happier

Keep long lists, and short accounts ***** As I pad down the hallway to my home office, sometimes I’ll look down and remember that the laminate planking I’m walking on was laid down with the help of friends. I’m not the best with a hammer or saw, so while I did some of the sweating, my friends brought the skill. I was so very thankful at the time, and now whenever I remember it’s a warm feeling still. As of late I’ve been remembering these friends more often because of a curious book. It’s about a guy who set out to personally thank every person involved in getting him his morning brew. There’s the barista, of course, but a farmer had to grow the beans, and then there’s all the people in between – it turns out there are an astonishing number of people involved in a simple cup of coffee. Who picks the blend? How many are involved in the actual roasting? Someone had to design the lid (there’s quite some engineering to it), and then there’s the coffee cup sleeve – there wasn’t always a sleeve – and when we remember that coffee is about 1 percent beans and 99 percent water, then there’s a whole municipal water department to thank too. And who makes the pipes that carry the water? We haven’t even gotten into the boats and trucks involved and all the crews who man and make them. A long list to be thankful for This guy wanted to personally thank everyone involved but quickly realized that might amount to millions. So he narrowed it down to the one thousand most directly involved. G.K. Chesterton said that, “When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude,” and this book was an eye-opener for just how many blessings I’ve been taking for granted. If thousands – millions – are involved in making a cup of coffee, how many could I thank for everything I find even on my short journey from bed to shower each morning? How many designers, engineers, miners, and factory workers were involved in making the Kindle that wakes us up each morning? And what about our bedding, the bedroom carpet, bathroom tiles and that long-shower necessity, our tankless water heater? I normally clomp past it all, but I could choose to start each day just looking around in amazement. As Chesterton reminds us, “gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” The author of this book is a sometimes-blasphemous atheist (which is why I’m not sharing his name - I don’t want to promote him) but even as an atheist he recognizes that his disposition to grumpy ingratitude isn’t good… for him. “…gratitude is the single-best predictor of well-being and good relationships, beating out twenty-four other impressive traits such as hope, love, and creativity. As the Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast says, ‘Happiness does not lead to gratitude. Gratitude leads to happiness.’” But why is thankfulness next to joyfulness? He doesn’t seem to know, but we do. God created us to glorify Him and then gave us innumerable reasons to do just that. And because He loves us, He so fashioned mankind that when we do what we were made to do, it is good for us. And He’s so gracious that even when we do a half measure, thanking the people around us, but forgetting the God Who made us, it is good for us still. Sometimes we need a Jordan Peterson or Elon Musk – someone outside the Church – to remind us of what we have, and what unbelievers don’t. I was struck by that here, when this author shared, “…I’ll occasionally start a meal by thanking a handful of people who helped get our food to the plate. I’ll say, ‘Thank you to the farmer who grew the carrots, to the truck driver who hauled them, to the cashier at Gristedes grocery story who rang me up.’” This fellow is “praying” to people he knows will never hear him because he feels such a need to express gratitude. To quote Chesterton again, “The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.” When I look around the dinner table at the food that’s there once again, and the family gathered around, and when I really stop to think of all I’ve been given here, my heart can’t help but swell, but now there’s another blessing I can bring to my giving, loving Father – I can thank God that I can thank God! Keeping short accounts But if Christians have so much to be thankful for, why aren’t we more joyful? Why am I too often grumpy, sullen, and short to the people God has gifted me? Part of it is that we take so much for granted. We easily forget what we have, so there’s something to keeping a thankful journal. Around Thanksgiving each year my wife gets some notecards and encourages us each day to draw something we’re grateful for, and then we put the cards up on the hallway wall. It’s quite the display by month’s end. But even more of it is taking for granted the biggest gift we’ve been given: forgiveness. In his booklet How to Maintain Joy in Your Life, Jim Wilson shares how, upon his conversion, he experienced joy liked he’d never had chasing after the world’s substitutes. But as this Navy midshipman set out on his Christian journey, he found that joy diminishing. And it continued diminishing for the next three years. Sitting in the stateroom of an American destroyer stationed in the Sea of Japan, he was struck that for the 3 years since his conversion he hadn’t really been confessing his sins. Oh, sure, he’d confessed some sins, but there were many he hadn’t taken to God for all sorts of reasons. When he confessed his sins, God forgave him, and once again he started feeling that same joy. Guilt is a weight. But, thanks to Jesus, it’s one we don’t have to carry. Guilt is also God’s way of getting our attention. As it says in Hebrews 12:11: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Jim Wilson was trained by that discipline, but like the rest of us, he was a slow learner. “I would again disobey, get disciplined, and lose my joy. This time, instead of not confessing, I would confess after a while… ten hours, a week, 2 weeks.” Eventually he realized that he didn’t have to wait to confess his sins – he could “keep short accounts.” Then, instead of a series of ups when he was forgiven, and downs when he wouldn’t go to God (or at least not yet), he started to experience ongoing joy. “Sometimes I went for a while before confessing, but generally I would confess right away or within a couple of hours. I’m not saying I have not sinned in those years…. But I have a low tolerance for discipline. I do not like it. As long as I am unrepentant, the discipline stays on me, the hand of the Lord is heavy. I can remove the discipline of the Lord by repenting now.” For those of us who’d prefer to stay miserable, he concludes his booklet with a list of what you can do instead of confessing your sin. You can justify, excuse, or hide it. You can blame someone else, procrastinate, or stand on pride. A favorite for many is “generalization,” where you readily admit “mistakes were made” without really getting into the dirt of what you did. But tricking yourself doesn’t trick God, and you can’t enjoy Him if you are hiding from Him. Conclusion If you want to be happier, it isn’t complicated. Open your eyes wide, and see the world as it really is. There are troubles, but then there is God, and He continues to bless us beyond any measuring. And the biggest of those blessings is that we can know for certain – we can count on Him – that when we come to our Father with our sins, He will always and forever forgive. That’s got me a little verklempt but I can assure you, they are happy tears....

In a Nutshell

Tidbits – January 2025

Flying Duck Orchid God's inventiveness is sometimes so shockingly inventive, it might make you laugh out loud. This is a real flower called the "Flyi...

News

Saturday Selections – Jan. 4, 2025

"Are you Christian?" (3 min) In this "sermon jam" Paul Washer challenges his listeners to really examine their lives. Why Christians should be ...

Assorted

How to look forward to the future

Hopefulness is a skill we can learn, because… God ***** Doomerism: despair and apathy caused by a disbelief that anything can get better; most oft...

History

Don’t overlook the blessings of today

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News

Saturday Selections – Dec. 28, 2024

Click on the headings below to go to the linked articles... Scientist discovers “Cellular origami” This is insane: these cells can expand from just 40 microns long to 1,500 microns in length in an instant. That's the equivalent of a 6-foot-tall guy suddenly stretching from the baseline on the end of one basketball court to then, without moving, dunk the ball, not even on the opposite net, but twice that distance to the practice hoop 200 feet away. Click on the heading above to read the article or the video below to see this cell stretch. Hospitality: another command that's good for us Hospitality can still be intimidating, but this article assures us that "with practice, you’ll grow more comfortable with your guests, and there are tips and tricks that make it easier." Vetting kids’ entertainment isn’t a one-and-done As Brett McCracken highlights, there really are no kids' shows that you can rely on to stay safely propaganda-free. How divorce never ends A child of divorce on why divorce should be a last resort: "...divorce will affect your kids for the rest of their lives, well into adulthood. They will have split holidays and summers. They will have stepparents. Their kids will have step-grandparents. Whatever inheritance they would have been entitled to is often being divvied up with other spouses and their kids. More important than the money, however, is the attention they’ll never get because their parents are dating or remarrying or whatever. They will only be with one parent half of the year — if they’re lucky: we only saw my dad twice a year. They will have to choose who gets Christmas, forever. Or they will be bouncing around at holiday time with their kids, just like the old days." Where did the Flood's water go? Some critical questions get asked and answered so often they become "a PRATT. That is, A Point Refuted A Thousand Times." This is one of those. Interestingly enough, the unbelieving world has their own flood questions to answer. Why you should use the Socratic method when you witness (7 min) Ray Comfort shows the importance of questions when talking and witnessing to folks in the world. ...

Book Reviews, Graphic novels

Sir Ladybug (3 books)

by Corey R. Tabor 2022 / 68 pages Pell is a roly-poly bug with a mission: he wants everyone to know just how important his friend is. Who is his friend? As Pell puts it, he is "duke of the dandelion patch," "the champion of truth and justice," "the one, the only, Sir Ladybug!" Sir Ladybug is different from most other bugs in that he has a sword. Pell is his self-appointed herald, and their snail friend Sterling serves as Sir Ladybug's very slow, but trusty, squire. More importantly, in a Dr. Who-ish quirk, Sterling's shell seems to be bigger inside than out, with bedrooms for all three, a kitchen, hot tub, and, of course, a video game room. In this, their first adventure, Sir Ladybug is recruited to stop a chickadee from eating a caterpillar. Now, birds gotta eat, and caterpillars aren't wild about getting eaten, so how is this dilemma going to be solved? Well, not wanting to give it all away, I will note that Sir Ladybug doesn't have to unleash his fierce swordsmanship skills... though he does have to get baking. And, of course, by comic's conclusion, everyone is friends. Caution The word "poop" makes an appearance, when a couple of worms pop up, and one notes that the chickadee shouldn't eat them either, because "Worms are very important to the ecosystem, you know. We aerate the soil. The whole world is built on our poop." There is also a "gosh" in the second book in the series, Sir Ladybug and the Queen Bee, and a mention of "bum" when Pell notes that the queen "has a very sharp stinger on her bum." In the third book, Sir Ladybug and the Bookworms, they briefly help a dung beetle, who is – as dung beetles do – rolling a dung ball around. So, a smidge of potty humor, but again, as with the instances above, the juvenility here is in keeping with reality, so I find it pretty inconsequential. Conclusion There are two others in this charming series of graphic novels for young readers. In Sir Ladybug and the Queen Bee they have to deal with a queen who is a bully, and in Sir Ladybug and the Bookworms our favorite bug knight sets out on a quest to return an almost overdue library book. Speaking of libraries, these come in hardcover, so they will stand up to some library usage. This trio of Sir Ladybug adventures are sweet, goofy, and have just a bit of quirk that'll appeal to parents too – these would make for a fun read together on the couch with your little ones. I sure hope the author keeps creating more....

News

Saturday Selections – Dec. 21, 2024

The perfection of beauty Even if rap isn't a favorite musical genre, you may well be impressed by this, from Blair Linne, wife of Reformed rapper Shai Linne, with her introduction to his Attributes of God album.... It's amazing what happens when you repeat pro-aborts' arguments back to them In this exchange between a pro-lifer and a passerby, we see that we don't all have to be brilliant debaters to stand up for the unborn. The pro-choice side is horrible, so sometimes the best argument can simply be to get them to plainly state their position. And they may well be shocked at what they hear themselves say. Pastoral Q&A: How often should I confess my sins? "You could also simply take the two great commandments and ask: how did I fare in loving God with all my being and my neighbour as myself? Or you could think in terms of sins of omission and commission. Where did I fail to do what God commands today (sinning by omission)? Where did I directly contravene what God positively commands (sinning by commission)?" Does biblical submission of a wife position her to be abused by her husband? The biblical doctrine of male headship in marriage is being denounced as simply a means for abusive men to dominate and abuse women. But that's not true. You are your body "It’s odd that after years of being accused by atheists and materialists of being trapped in our spiritual fantasies and ignoring the real world, Christians now find themselves as the ones saying that the physical world – especially the human body – matters, is real, and is of utmost significance. But here we are. If Christ came in the likeness of men, if He promised to redeem humanity, and if our humanity includes the body, then our bodies really do matter." Russ Tamblyn’s unforgettable “Shovel Dance” (3 min) This is an absolute must-see (even if the movie it is from is not). ...

Assorted

The pot experiment has been a disaster

If marijuana definitively destroys lives, should we be free to smoke? ***** A few weeks ago, Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports publicly supported a measure that would legalize marijuana in Florida. “As an adult,” Portnoy said, “I should be allowed to smoke weed, watch football, and eat pizza on Sunday regardless if I’m at home in Mass or Florida.” To which, Matt Walsh replied: "Can you point to any state or city in the country where life has been, in any way, measurably improved after legalizing marijuana? Where are the legalization success stories? Give me just one please." After the rushed social experiment by many states to legalize marijuana, we know the answer to this important question. Study after study has demonstrated that legal pot has been even more disastrous than predicted. The most obvious consequences have been in basic safety concerns. Legalizing pot correlates with a rise in auto crashes, as well as property and violent crimes. Also, despite the fact that this is now a multibillion-dollar industry, legalizing pot has grown rather than reduced the black market. Promises of health benefits have also proven to be more smoke than substance. Pot’s most devastating impact has been in the arena of mental health, which has declined to epidemic levels in the U.S. This is largely due to the increased potency of pot that is sold today, which is significantly stronger than what was passed around at Woodstock. Analyzing medical data from 6 million people, researchers in Denmark found that up to 30% of schizophrenia cases among young men could be linked to marijuana use. Though advocates and lawmakers have worked to “decrease the public’s perception of its harm,” as the study’s lead author said, they have misrepresented the reality. Other studies also have shown a clear link between marijuana use and psychosis. For example, according to a report at CBS News, "eople who smoked marijuana on a daily basis were three times more likely to be diagnosed with psychosis compared with people who never used the drug. For those who used high-potency marijuana daily, the risk jumped to nearly five times." In other words, pot isn’t a victimless crime and, given its social impact, cannot simply be reduced to a matter of personal freedom. Not only are cannabis users more likely to start using opioids, but the National Academy of Medicine reports that using pot “is likely to increase the risk of schizophrenia and other psychoses; the higher the use, the greater the risk.” Between 2006 and 2014, emergency room visits for marijuana-induced psychosis tripled to 90,000. Most troubling of all is the link between pot and teen suicide. According  to Colorado state statistics, the drug was found in the system of some 42% of teens who had taken their own lives, a rate nearly twice that of alcohol and four times that of any other substances. Colorado consistently ranks among the worst states in terms of suicide rates. Critics will quickly argue that correlation does not imply causation, but connections like this must be investigated. If nearly half of stroke victims took the same medicine, would we wonder if there was a link worth our consideration? Why the reluctance to connect the dots when it comes to marijuana? Since suicide rates have risen every year that pot has been legal, we’re far past giving the benefit of the doubt. Of course, if lawmakers took up Matt Walsh’s challenge, they’d have to reconsider and recant their promises of personal liberty, not to mention millions of dollars for education and better roads. The science here is all but settled. Pot is bad for individuals, and it’s bad for society. The kind of freedom Portnoy is claiming ends in slavery, a slavery to one’s own passion. It is a freedom from rules and restraint, not a freedom for the good life. True freedom is a necessary means for human flourishing, but as Chuck Colson often noted, there is no true freedom without virtue. A freedom that wrecks the mind, puts families, children, and neighbors at greater risk, and contributes to general social degradation is not freedom. It’s license built on selfishness. 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....

Politics

Top 10 political wins in recent years

Reformed Christians spend a lot of time discussing and resisting bad policy developments. We have much to lament when it comes to public policy in Can...

Interview with an artist

Jason Bouwman is finding hope in the desert

Antelope CanyonOil on birch panel | 12X16May 2024Antelope Canyon in Page, AZ. is possibl...

Assorted

6 on Anxiety

“I have anxiety.” How often do we hear this phrase nowadays? And most of us can relate to it. There’s so much to be anxious about in our mode...

Tidbits – December 2024

Red flags apply to politics too John Piper thinks that deciding who you are going to vote for is a lot like picking out a potential spouse. In both cases, you have to decide what will and will not disqualify a candidate. Or as he puts it: “not liking cats would not have disqualified a woman as my wife, but not liking people would. Drinking coffee would not, but drinking whiskey would. Kissing dogs wouldn’t, but kissing the mailman would. And so on.” The same holds true in politics. Before we vote we have to ask ourselves what issues matter enough to us to disqualify any candidate who holds a differing stand. To quote Piper again: "....there are numerous single issues that disqualify a person from public office. For example, any candidate who endorsed bribery as a form of government efficiency would be disqualified, no matter what his party or platform was. Or a person who endorsed corporate fraud (say under $50 million) would be disqualified no matter what else he endorsed. Or a person who said that no black people could hold office—on that single issue alone he would be unfit for office. Or a person who said that rape is only a misdemeanor – that single issue would end his political career. These examples could go on and on. Everybody knows a single issue that for them would disqualify a candidate for office." There are, of course, no perfect candidates. But there is imperfect and then there is wicked, and we all know there is a line we need to draw. So a candidate who wants to waste tax dollars on an Olympic bid might still get my support, but if he's racist, wants to indoctrinate children into the LGBT lifestyle, or wants mothers to continue to be able to kill their unborn children, then he isn’t getting my vote. Some Christians refuse to vote for pro-life candidates because they say that it is silly to vote based on just one issue. True enough: just because someone is pro-life doesn’t mean they will know what to do about foreign affairs, Indigenous treaties, or problems with unemployment and homelessness. A candidate’s stand on one issue, even if it is a stand against abortion, is never enough to qualify him for office. However, a candidate’s stand on just one issue can certainly be enough to disqualify him. Being able to make the trains run on time means nothing if the candidate also supports mass murder. Source: “Single-issue politics” World, Nov. 4, 2000 Annie Wilson's Red Flag Top 10 pro-life slogans As seen here, there, and everywhere across the Internet: Life – the choice of the next generation Pro-woman, Pro-child, Pro-life She’s a child…not a choice. Abortion is legal. So was slavery. Thanks Mom! I got born! It’s a wrong, not a right – stop abortion now Abortion doesn’t make you “un”pregnant; it makes you the mother of a dead baby. Life begins at conception…and ends at Planned Parenthood Abortion stops a beating heart Choice before the act, not after the fact. What Jordan Peterson gets right As the headline of Brad East's Christianity Today article put it, "Jordan Peterson loves God's Word. But what about God?" The Canadian psychologist is as famous for the stand he took against compelled speech – he refused to be forced into calling male students by "preferred pronouns" – as he is for his passion for God's Word. There's reason to hope he might someday become Christian, but he isn't there yet. But why, then, does much of what he says and write have an appeal to Christians? Brad East has thoughts on that too. "About a decade ago, a friend of mine mentioned a series of videos about the Bible he’d discovered online. It was by an obscure Canadian academic whom neither of us knew. My friend had been raised evangelical and remained a Christian, but after watching, he asked me a question he’s repeated many times since: 'Why didn’t anyone ever tell me the Bible is interesting?' "....An odd ally for Christians, in other words, at least at first glance. Yet my Christian friend found Peterson a breath of fresh air. The reason, I’ve come to see, is simple. Peterson was speaking about the Bible as if it were the most important thing in the world, as if the stakes were a matter of life and death, as if the stories and themes of Scripture demanded an immediate existential decision on the part of everyone who encountered them. My friend was familiar with old-time religion. He wasn’t familiar with this." There is a question apologist Del Tackett asks, along the lines of "Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?" Any time our actions don't match our profession, then the answer is plain, no, we don't really believe what we say we believe... or we'd act differently. I'm not suggesting everyone (or anyone) go out and buy Peterson's books, but in one big way there is something we can learn from this yet-to-be-Christian – his kind of enthusiasm is what it looks like to love God's Word! Quote of the month “Sports don’t teach character; sports reveal character.” – John Wooden Two cults and a Christian In the predominantly Mormon town of Cardston, Alberta, a certain Dave De Haan used to go door-to-door asking people if they would like to learn about Jesus Christ. This well-dressed man was hardly the only person going door-to-door in Cardston, but while most of the others were Jehovah’s Witnesses (yup, JW’s love to try and recruit Mormons!) Dave was different – he’s Christian. One of Dave’s favorite door-to-door stories is of the time one of the town’s higher-ranking Mormons pulled him into his house. After hustling Dave into the kitchen, the Mormon elder confessed that he had been seriously examining the Bible lately and was starting to doubt his Mormon faith. And now he wanted to ask Dave some questions about Christianity. “That’s great!” Dave exclaimed, “Go grab your Bible, and we’ll talk.” The elder disappeared and then reappeared a moment later with his New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. It turns out this Mormon took his first steps from Mormonism to Christianity using a Jehovah’s Witnesses translation of the Bible! God can even use two cults to make a Christian. Source: a speech by Dave De Haan on February 2, 2002 at Missions Fest 2002 If you don’t have grace… Sometimes, we may take Jesus’ saving grace for granted. An excerpt from the Talmud of Jerusalem describes what life is like for those who do not rely on Jesus as Mediator and Savior. "When Rabbi Jochanan was close to death his students came and visited him. When he saw them all he burst into tears. “'Rabbi!' they exclaimed, 'Light of Israel! Our chief pillar! Why are you weeping?' "The Rabbi answered, 'Were I to be brought before a king of flesh and blood, who is here today and tomorrow in the grave; who may be angry with me, but not forever; who may imprison me, but not forever; who may kill me, but only for this world; whom I may sometimes bribe; even then I would be afraid. But now, I am to appear before the King of kings, the Most Holy One, blessed be He who lives through all eternity. If He is angry, it is forever; if He imprisons me, it is forever; if He slays me, it is for the future world; and I can bribe Him with neither words nor money. So now, on my deathbed, two paths are before me, one leading to punishment, the other to reward, and I don’t know which path He will have me travel. Should I not weep?'” Good questions Folks on the Internet want to know: Why don’t they just use the fattest man in the world for a hockey goalie? How do you get off a non-stop flight? Why don’t you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"? How do you throw away a garbage can? Why do ballet dancers dance on their toes? Why doesn’t the company just hire taller dancers? How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work in the mornings? Why isn't there a mouse-flavored cat food? How do you know when you've run out of invisible ink? Why is it called lipstick if you can still move your lips? The lazy man’s guide to getting fit If you’re considering a New Year's resolution to rid yourself of some excess baggage but think exercise is just too painful, then the latest, greatest fitness craze might be just the thing for you and me. We’ll still have to exercise – there’s no avoiding it – but with this program, it’s unlikely we’ll feel pain. The key is starting off slowly, very slowly – the first day you exercise only 1 minute. The next day you increase that by 30 seconds, and then continue adding 30 seconds each day. In a month, you’ll be up to 15 minutes! Missed a day? No worries. Just resume the next day using the same length of time you used in your last day. If you miss 3 or more days in a row, you may have to lower your time by 30 seconds or a minute when you resume, because your fitness level will have dropped a bit. Most people start exercising with the best of intentions, and with a very vigorous first workout. Then the next day they are so stiff they have to take a day off. The slow start in this “lazy man’s exercise program” will help you avoid all those aches and pains, and will allow you to get into the habit of exercising regularly. It’s a pretty simple program, but that’s the beauty of it. English is a weird language People on the Internet also want to know this: Why does the word monosyllabic have five syllables? If poli means many, and tics are blood-sucking creatures, then what does politics really mean? Why do the words loosen and unloosen mean the same thing? Whose cruel idea was it to put an “s” in the word lisp? Why is bra singular and panties plural? How come the word one has a “w” sound in it, but the word two doesn't? Why is abbreviation such a long word? Why is it that when you send something by ship, it's called a cargo, and if you send something by car, it's called a shipment? Turnabout is fair play Can someone be pro-life and still be in favor of the death penalty? Certainly. While abortion and the death penalty both involve killing a person, abortion involves the killing of someone who has committed no crime, while the death penalty involves the killing of a murderer. So, a pro-lifer who wants to stop the killing of the innocent unborn does not necessarily have to be against the killing of the guilty. In fact, this question can be turned around and addressed to opponents of the death penalty. How can they be against the death penalty and not be against abortion – how can they be against the killing of the guilty and not be against the killing of the innocent? Seeing hope in Hitler’s children The late Nancy L. Harvey suffered from Crohn’s disease, or as she put it, she was a “gut cripple.” Totally dependent on a wheelchair and a portable machine, she still traveled extensively, and in 2001 went to Germany to do research on the pianist Werner Haas. It was there she met Hitler’s children – born in 1929, her German hosts were part of the generation that had grown up under the Nazi leader’s tutelage. “But,” she writes, “my three hosts, Hitler’s children, taught to despise cripples like me, were not spiritually blind. They cared for me as if I were Christ himself – often touching my hand to see if I was cold, bringing me spring water for my dry mouth, continually replenishing the supply of toilet paper, carrying my IV bag and pump into churches and restaurants, setting up and taking down the wheelchair, parking the car on the sidewalk, kissing me every morning and evening, reaching out to caress my cheek. How could I be a life unworthy of Life when I could receive and return such love? Our hosts lifted up my spirits. If Hitler’s children could turn away from the evil teaching of the Third Reich and become such Christ-like people, surely there is hope, even in abortion-bloodied America, for the rest of us.” Source: “Hitler’s children” The Human Life Review, Fall 2001...

Being the Church

On encouraging courage

Part of God’s equipping us to courage also involves rightly understanding what real courage is ***** Fear. We all feel it at times. We might be facing a job interview or something even more serious like a disease, or the loss of a loved one. We wonder, What’s going to happen? Even though we trust in God’s sovereignty, our weak selves cannot help but flail about at times. So what’s the answer to such fear? Courage, of course. But not simply the sort that depends on the steadiness of our own resolve. God calls us to a different sort of courage, and He equips us to it too. Part of that equipping is the communion of saints He gives us. I find it intriguing that the word “encouragement” is, well, full of courage. To encourage is, as the dictionary puts it, “to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence: to stimulate by assistance, approval, etc.” Our words and deeds can aid others to feel courageous and tackle or re-tackle whatever situation was frightening them. We’ve all experienced it – a person comes along at the right time, and offers the right words to turn discouragement into hope. Or your support may have come from a sermon, a book, a family member, or a brother or sister in Christ. From feeling downcast (the word that Psalms uses), you began to see your way forward. We all need courage, which means we all need the encouragement of others. Specific attributes of courage Part of God’s equipping us to courage also involves rightly understanding what real courage is. We all admire the person who’ll run into a burning building or jump into a river to save someone’s life. This takes courage, for certain. As the actor John Wayne once said, “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” That is so true. But as we look at our daily lives, we can find many less dramatic but important ways that this virtue should also be applied. Before we look at a few specific ways we may need to “saddle up,” let’s delve into a few more specific attributes of courage. In a recent presentation at my church entitled “You’re Gonna Need That Spine,” Dr. Joe Rigney gave the following in-depth definition of courage: “Courage is a habitual, sober-minded self-possession that overcomes fear through the power of a deeper desire for a greater good.” Along those lines, Rigney exhorted us to consider the following summarization of its attributes: Courage involves double vision. You not only see the danger out there that’s frightening you, at the same time you can also foresee the good that would come in overcoming your fear. For example, a child is drowning and though you are afraid of the cold water and waves, you know that your swimming ability may save the child’s life. Or perhaps you are afraid of presenting yourself poorly at a job interview, but you go because you foresee the good that will come if you are hired. Courage is a habit. You don’t just wake up one morning and have courage – to have it, you need to cultivate and grow into it. This will involve facing difficult situations repeatedly, and successfully overcoming them. For example, public speaking is a common fear. But if you go ahead with your speech even as your knees and hands are shaking, then repeating the experience will build courage. Living through a difficult situation teaches you that God has given you these abilities, and assures you that you’ll be able to manage future such situations, through God’s strength. Courage manifests in risk-taking and fortitude. There is a daring or risk-taking that is about seeing the good we don’t yet have – the girl you’d like to ask out, or the job you’d love to have – and being willing to risk danger, despite the fear we feel. This the courage that’s needed to take a hill in battle. Then there is the kind of courage involved in keeping that same hill when the counterattack comes. This fortitude or endurance is about holding onto the good that we already have. It resists the impulse to flee or retreat in the face of hardship and difficulty and pain. This is the courage that has us fight for our marriages, even if the going gets tough. Instead of giving up, we courageously address the problems. Recklessness is the opposite of courage. We understand that cowardice is the flipside of courage – cowardice shrinks back from danger, gives in to fear, and retreats in the face of pain, difficulty, or death. But courage is also the opposite of recklessness, which it is sometimes confused with. Reckless is more akin to crazy – thoughtlessly punching the gas pedal on an icy curve. Courage is always guided by reason, wisdom, and what is true. Courage recognizes the difference between necessary and unnecessary risks – some risks are not worth taking, so the reason you’d take a risk matters. Everyone needs a spine Just as Esther in the Old Testament was told, we have been placed in this world now, “for such a time as this.” We live in an unrighteous culture, where Christians are attacked as narrow-minded or haters when we dare to speak God’s truth. We need to hear again the words of Joshua 1:9, where God encouraged Joshua: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” As Rigney said, “ is the source of our strength. There’s a reason. He is both the good that you cling to and the power that enables you to cling to it. He enables us to hold on when we want to let go.” In an article from the C.S. Lewis Institute on courage, Arthur W. Lindsley says: “How can we be free from this fear and have the courage to live for the truth in our times? Jesus says, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free’ (John 8:32). Jesus exhorts us to continue obeying His word as the path to knowing the truth (in an experiential way) and to freedom. This is especially true with fear, anxiety, and worry.” Lindsley goes on to say, “Courage is not the absence of fear but acting despite it.” It is also important to note, as Rigney stated, that “Courage is a human trait, not a masculine one. It is required of everyone.” How many ways do we often give in to fear, anxiety, or worry instead of courageously trusting God to take care of us? If there is an illness that must be remedied by a difficult and frightening procedure, we must step forward in courage. If we are in need of a new job or home, we need courage to take the necessary steps to find one. If we are supposed to provide for a family, it may take courage to go day by day to a job that we really don’t love. If we have a rift between us and a brother or sister in the Lord (or anyone, really), we may feel fear about addressing the situation. But Christ says that we must (Matt. 5:24; 18:15), and so we need courage to do so, even within our own households. If a woman finds it a scary thought, to follow a fallible man in her marriage, she needs courage. 1 Peter 3 describes a submissive attitude and action and a gentle and quiet spirit, and he ends that section by saying that we can take inspiration from “holy women of the past who put their hope in God” – we can be like Sarah “if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” Rigney states that “Courage is about what happens when things get hard.” He encourages us to face hard situations by Christ’s strength without grumbling and self-pity. “It’s such hope that firmly believes that hardships, trials, and dangers are instruments in the hands of a good God for our good. This subdues the passion of fear and the anxiety that rides up – What’s going to happen? I can’t control the future, what about the kids? One of the key traits of the Proverbs 31 woman is that she laughs at the time to come. She looks at the future with all the possibilities, including the horrific ones, and she says ‘bring it on.’ Sarah is a model of the sober-minded hopeful obedience and submission to her husband. Because of her hope in God, she conquered her fears, maintained that gentle spirit in submission first to God and then to Abram.” Imagine the absolute trust in God that made David step forward and challenge Goliath. Imagine the courage that enabled Jael to invite her enemy into her tent and conquer him. We may never be in that sort of danger. But we need courage to face the fears that we encounter in our daily lives. As this quotation from Mary Anne Radmacher suggests, “Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, ‘I’ll try again tomorrow.’” We all have fears that need tackling, and we all need to do what we can to inspire courage in others. Conclusion How wonderful that God has established a community life for us in our churches where we are told to stir up one another to good works (Heb. 10:24), to have the older ones teach the younger ones from their experience (Titus 2), and to show compassion and love one another in every way (John 13:34-35). After we have stepped forward courageously, we are in a position to help someone else to do the same. Whom might you encourage today? Sharon L. Bratcher has just published her new book "Life and Breath and Everything" containing over 50 articles that were published in the past 15 years. You can find her book on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca....

News

Saturday Selections – Dec. 14, 2024

Why you shouldn't lie to your kids about Santa... ...or else this will happen! For more lies check out this follow up. And for a more serious take on why not to lie to your kids about Santa, check out "Yes Virginia, there was a Santa Claus." Responding wisely to pop psychology Much that trades on the name of "Science" is trying to claim for itself that same credibility that we all found in our basic physics and chemistry classes back in high school. Drop that ball and it will fall at a steady 9.8 m/s² every time. But the "science" of evolution is not reproducible like that. And in the field of medicine, the human body is so complex that the same treatment on two different people could result in two very different outcomes. So there's certain science, and then there is a whole realm that shares this same name but which involves guesswork, assumptions, and even philosophy. Christians need to be aware that psychology isn't as measurable as physics – it isn't that sort of firmer science – and it has, over the decades, had trends that at times were clearly unbiblical, like the 1980s self-esteem trend. Christian counselors that leaned too hard on popular psychology then baptized this trend with the biblical text "love your neighbor as yourself" and put a twist to it, saying self-esteem was important because you can't love your neighbor if you don't love yourself. Which isn't at all what Jesus was saying. This isn't a long article, and it is worth a slow read. Did Pangaea really exist? "Today, we have seven continents scattered across the globe. North America, South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica. But once upon a time, did all of these continents link together to form one single supercontinent?" More scrolling = more marital problems Smartphones are causing problems for our children, but did you know more smartphone usage is also associated with lower marital happiness, a higher inclination toward divorce, and infrequent sex? 5 ways the world would be worse without Christianity ...and number 5 is the big one. The one thing that'll free you from FOMO When you look upward, with a heavenly mindset, you won't be obsessed with FOMO – the Fear Of Missing Out. God is better than anything here, so don't make your life about experiences – make it about Him. ...

Economics - Home Finances

How do you buy a house when you are 19?

Our son pulled it off with hard work, and more than a little help from his parents ***** Our son Seth read this story and gave his permission to share it. How do you buy a house when you are 19? The answer in our case is hard work, lots of saving and a whole lot of parental help. My husband and I have four children of whom Seth is the oldest at 19. I’ve always enjoyed keeping an eye on the housing market, and after I learned Seth was interested in buying a house, my eyes were glued to the daily real estate listings. It wasn’t long before one came to my attention due to its low, low price. It was a 920-square-foot, 72-year-old small house on a large lot, right in town, listed for $315,000. To put the price of this house into perspective, in our town right now there are 16 houses listed between $385,000 and $777,000. We set up an appointment to see the house the very day it was listed and it had already had five views and one offer on it. We looked at it at 5pm and put in an offer a couple hours later that same evening. As my son says, he went to work without any idea that he would even be looking at a house that day, never mind putting an offer on one that very evening. This was the first house he had looked at. He started at 13 Seth started working at McDonald’s at 13. We live in a town where if your family is trying to limit screen time and your kids aren’t really interested in sports, there isn’t a lot to do. So, that meant there was lots of time to work Saturdays and a couple hours for a couple days a week after school. The rule we made for our kids when they started working was that 10% of what they made went to church, 10% to spend on what they wanted, and the rest went to savings. These savings could only go towards something big, like a car or a house. As this was something we also did with their allowance when they were younger (although different percentages) it was a natural progression, and did not come as a shock to the kids. As we provide everything our children need, we didn’t want them to have access to huge amounts of spending money – we did not think this was wise, or a fair representation of what life as an adult is like. Baggie budget Also, wanting our children to learn more on making wise financial decisions, at age 13 we instituted “baggies.” We take plastic Ziplock baggies and mark them with an amount and a description, and every month we fill them with the amount listed on the baggie. Money in the baggie can only be used for what it says it is for on the baggie. For example, we have a baggie for clothes that is $45/month. Every month we fill that baggie with $45 which the child uses for all his/her clothes needs. The child can decide to shop the sales, save the money for a couple months for a larger purchase, buy second-hand or even possibly have to wait for a couple weeks if money is not spent wisely. Some other baggie examples we have used are for gifts and school supplies. We started out with a lot more categories, but eventually found these to be most useful. Invest low During the spring of 2020 when the stock market crashed, I talked to Seth about investing his savings under my name as he was too young to open an account himself. I used this time to teach him how to look for solid companies, read financial documents, search for past dividend payment history, and explain the difference between owning a part of a good company versus gambling your money away by putting it into meme stocks hoping to get rich quick. By 2024 Seth had saved up $30,000 for a down payment, and having graduated in 2023 he was working full time at a small company. Actually, more than full time: he was picking up an extra half hour each day of overtime, as well as working any Saturdays that he was offered. A day or two after we put in our offer, we got word back that the seller was willing to work with us. I think the seller picked us over the other offer partly due to the fact that we did not make the offer subject to financing, and because we were willing to consider taking on the renter (a relative of the owner) with the property. Help from mom and dad Probably the biggest factor in being able to buy this property was that we, the parents, were willing to use the equity that we had in our own house to take out a loan to cover the other house. We bought our own house 7 years ago and since then it has almost doubled in value according to our BC assessment. So we actually hold the mortgage that Seth pays for – all three of our names are on the title to our son’s house. As soon as Seth is able to take on the mortgage amount himself (as he pays the mortgage down and gains equity in his own house) he will do so, and we will take our names off his title. Another way we have helped out is that Seth lives at home rent free (he is renting his house out at $1900/month), with the understanding that the extra money he makes will go towards making extra payments on his house. This arrangement won’t be long term, as we will be reassessing in a year and a half. After that he can either move into his house or try to find a smaller, cheaper rental for himself so that he is still making extra by renting out his house. We could allow him to stay, either with or without rent, but we think it is also good for young people to struggle a bit, not always relying on their parents, because, as the Apostle Paul says (in a different context), suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, which does not put us to shame (Rom. 5:3-5). The pros to the situation include the obvious: that not only was Seth actually able to purchase a house without a huge down payment, but also that, with our names on the title, it brought his house insurance down as we haven’t ever had a claim. Probably the most concerning con is that lending and borrowing between family members can lead to strain and resentment and family discord (according to Dave Ramsey). Another concern for us is that if Seth ever needed to make an insurance claim it would probably affect our own insurance rates in the future. From 25 to 10 years Right now, Seth pays $683 bi-weekly with only $212 of that going towards his principal. His mortgage is 25 years, but he makes as many extra payments on his principal as possible, which will hopefully see him paying off the house within 10 years. It is pretty crazy to see how much interest there is on a 25-year loan and how little your regular payment actually goes towards paying off your debt. On the other hand, it is amazing how putting extra payments on your mortgage can take months and even years off the mortgage payment schedule. I feel like as parents we have tried to teach our children to be good stewards of their money, tried to open their eyes to different opportunities and tried to show them how to use the gifts that God has given them in ways that glorify His name....

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