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Contests, Your Turn 2026

Sonnet for an Unknown God – Acts 17

I saw an altar, nameless, cold, and bare,
With faded letters signed “The Unknown God.”
A feeling dark and lonesome lingered there,
A shadow of a faith unsure and flawed.
The other gods put claim to name and shrine,
Majestic in the grandeur they command.
Their temples rise in grace, designed divine,
Their altars calling – none could dare withstand.
I kneel, a fool, and whisper my thin prayer,
But weight descends and I can scarcely breathe.
I wish to live and find a breath of air,
And yet I seem to sense his rage beneath.
I pray to emptiness, though none replies,
As anguished, I reach up to vacant skies.

*****

This work was inspired by Acts 17, where Paul came to Athens and noticed an altar with the inscription, “TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.” This piece is a work of fiction, set before Paul’s visit, taking place in the mind of an Athenian who is in serious doubt of the gods that he has grown up with.

Contests, Your Turn 2026

Borrowed language to thank my dearest Friend

As Moses raised the serpent up so God’s own Son was lifted high. Alas! My Saviour Jesus bled, my Sovereign Lord did die. His sacred head was wou...

News

Saturday Selections – July 4, 2026

Lady Pastrix says we need a "Third Testament" If you have liberal Christian family or friends, this is worth sharing. They need to understand that if...

Entertainment

“What can I do?” Part II

35 more screen-alternatives ***** For our first screen-fast in 2025, we offered up 35 ideas for great activities you and your family can do with you...

Entertainment

“What can I do anyways?”

35 screen-alternative ideas ***** You can’t beat something with nothing (as Eph. 4:28, Matt. 12:30, and Matt. 12:43-45 make clear). That means ...

Contests, Your Turn 2026

Anxiety and trust

There are moments when the world grows quiet, yet our minds grow loud. Worries replay themselves in the dark – unfinished conversations, uncertain futures, fears we cannot seem to turn off. Anxiety does not discriminate by age or season of life; it visits children facing school pressures, adults carrying responsibilities, and older hearts wrestling with health or loss. For many believers, this restless mind can also stir guilt: If I trust God, why do I still feel this way? Scripture does not shy away from these questions. Instead, God’s Word speaks gently and truthfully to anxious hearts, inviting us not into denial, but into trust. Anxiety is often treated as a modern problem, but the Bible tells a different story. God’s people have always wrestled with fear, uncertainty, and restless thoughts. From the psalms of David to the teachings of Jesus, Scripture meets anxiety head-on – not with condemnation, but with compassion and hope. David, a man described as being after God’s own heart, openly expressed his anxiety before the Lord. In Psalm 55 he writes, “My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me.” These words are not polished or calm; they are raw and honest. Yet David does not hide his anxiety from God – he brings it directly to Him. This shows us something vital: feeling anxious is not a sign of weak faith. What matters is where we take our anxiety. Even faithful servants of God experienced moments of overwhelming fear. The prophet Elijah, after boldly standing against false prophets, fled in fear and despair, asking God to take his life (1 Kings 19). God’s response was not an angry rebuke. Instead, He provided rest, nourishment, and gentle reassurance. This pattern reveals God’s heart toward the anxious: He does not push us away but comes closer to us. Jesus addressed anxiety during His earthly ministry. In Matthew 6:25-34, He speaks directly to worried hearts, saying, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life.” These words are familiar yet often misunderstood. Jesus was not dismissing real concerns or suggesting that faithful people never feel anxious. Rather, He was redirecting His listeners’ focus – from the uncertainty of tomorrow to the faithfulness of their Father today. Jesus points to birds and flowers, reminding us that God faithfully provides for His creation. If God cares so attentively for what is here today and gone tomorrow, how much more does He care for His children? Anxiety often grows when we imagine a future without God’s presence. Jesus invites us instead to trust that the same God who is faithful today will be faithful tomorrow. One of the most comforting promises in Scripture comes from Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Notice that Paul does not say anxiety will disappear instantly. Instead, in the next verse, he promises that God’s peace, “which transcends all understanding,” will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Peace is not always the absence of anxious thoughts; sometimes it is God’s protection in the midst of them. Trust, then, is not a switch we flip but a practice we return to daily. When we have anxious thoughts, we are invited again and again to bring them before God. Peter echoes this invitation when he writes, “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7). The command is paired with a reason: God cares. Our ability to trust rests not in our strength, but in His. It is also important to remember that God often works through community. Scripture reminds us to “carry each other’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2). Seeking help from trusted believers, pastors, counselors, or medical professionals is not a failure of faith. It can be an act of humility and wisdom. God never intended us to walk through anxiety alone, and the Church is meant to be a place of refuge. For those walking through seasons when the mind will not be quiet, Scripture offers this steady reassurance: God does not slumber or sleep (Ps. 121:4). Even when we lie awake, restless and worried, He remains fully attentive. Modern anxiety – especially among our youth – cannot be reduced to a single cause. Excessive screen time, diets filled with preservatives, sedentary lifestyles, and constant stimulation all play a role. These realities are not spiritually neutral; they reflect a way of life increasingly detached from God’s design. When we ignore these principles, there are consequences – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. However, it would be both unbiblical and unloving to conclude that anxiety itself is proof of sin or spiritual failure. Faithful men and women throughout Scripture experienced deep distress while walking closely with God. As Christians, we must resist the temptation to spiritualize anxiety into shame or dismiss it as mere weakness. Instead, we are invited to ask a more faithful question: What does anxiety reveal about how far modern life has drifted from God’s design for rest, embodiment, community, and trust? In this sense, anxiety may be less a personal moral failure and more a symptom of living in a world that has forgotten how to live rightly before God. The Christian response, then, is not condemnation but restoration – calling people back to healthier rhythms, deeper dependence on God, embodied community, and compassionate care for both soul and body. In doing so, we bear witness to a God who does not abandon the anxious, but meets them with truth, grace, and healing. Anxiety may visit, but it does not have the final word. The final word belongs to a God who sees, cares, and invites us to rest in Him – one prayer, one breath, one day at a time. Mark Hicks was excited to submit this article to the Your Turn contest. We are grateful to share it with you, but very sad that he is no longer with us to see it in print. On May 25, the LORD took Mark home to Himself. We mourn his sudden passing with his loved ones, but rejoice that He is alive in Christ. "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." – Philippians 1:21...

News

More homeowners facing insolvency

Canadians have long been struggling with personal debt, but Scott Terrio, a manager at Hoyes, Michalos Licensed Insolvency Trustees told The Hub that the bigger story is who is now feeling the pinch. “The big thing we’re seeing now that we weren’t seeing a year ago or a year and a half ago is homeowners calling us…. We didn’t speak to homeowners for a decade in this industry because of the housing boom. When houses are going up 20 percent a year, and you’re swimming in equity, you don’t need an insolvency trustee.” The latest data from Statistics Canada reveals this marked increase in household debt, up 4.4 percent from a year prior. Canadian households now have the highest debt burden among G7 countries and the second-highest of 38 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries (only Switzerland is higher). Hoyes Michalos has a homeowner bankruptcy index, which shows that insolvent homeowners have an average of $112,000 in unsecured debt in addition to their mortgage. The index shows that the percent of bankruptcy filers who own homes has increased from 0 percent in 2022 to 11 percent today and “we are going to be back at 36 at some point. Guaranteed,” Terrio added. The fact that 1 out of every 7 dollars is now being spent on debt payments verifies the wisdom of the Teacher in Proverbs 22:7 when he said that “the borrower is slave to the lender.” A home can be very attractive, especially when home values increase year after year. But the Great Teacher also reminds us in Luke 14:28 to first count the cost: “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” Sadly, many don’t, and are now paying for it....

Technology

On being smartphone-free for five years

Way back in the Fall of 2021, I ditched my iPhone and got a dumbphone. I was sick of how my smartphone was a major distraction in my life. My phone began to use up too much of my brain space and mental energy. Parts of my brain were always thinking about stuff on my phone: baseball scores, texts from friends, emails, my eBay store, a backpacking forum, and other similar things. Though I haven’t ever done too much with social media or YouTube, I was still on my phone way too much. I tried apps that helped minimize screen time, and they did help to some extent. But I wanted to try a clean break and get a dumbphone. Great advice is readily available By the way, it is pretty easy to try out a dumbphone. Most flip phones aren't terribly expensive, and you can often just swap SIM cards with your other phone. I started with a Nokia 6300. Then I got a CAT S22 flip phone and debloated it. I also tried out a $25 TCL flip phone. More recently, I got a Light Phone II. Note: The book Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport was a huge help in my move to a dumb phone. I highly recommend it! Jose Briones' book, Low Tech Life is also quite helpful. There are plenty of resources out there to help people minimize their phone usage because it is such a big problem. Fast-forward to over four years later: I have not gone back to a smartphone. And I’m not planning on doing so in the near future. For me, life is better without a smartphone in most situations. I can hang out with my friends and family and be completely present with them – my phone isn’t tugging at my attention. It’s no longer on my mind at all. I can stand in line at a store and talk to people or just think about random things rather than stare at a phone out of boredom. I don’t need email or a web browser when I’m at a baseball game, a movie, or out shopping for groceries. I still text a few times each day and make phone calls, but I’m pretty much never on it. In fact, without a smartphone, my brain is less cluttered, my thoughts are less distracted, and my attention span has increased. I don’t ever suffer from dopamine withdrawal, and I’m not anxious or in a zombie-like state from doomscrolling for hours. And no longer does a smartphone affect my sleep. I have more time each day because I’m rarely on my phone. For me, minimal phone time has had maximum life benefits. Speaking of anxiety and doomscrolling, another book I recently read is The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. It is a book that documents the rise of adolescent/teen anxiety, depression, and other mental issues in the last ten years or so. The reason for these increases, Haidt argues, is that most children in the last ten years have had a screen-based childhood rather than a play-based childhood. It's a good book for parents to read. The author's advice and my advice is this: don't get your kids a smartphone until they're older – I'd say 17 or 18. As another author bluntly put it, don't get your kids a smartphone until you're prepared to deal with pornography in the home. Dumbphones, flip phones, and helpful apps Now, I realize that some people with certain jobs might be unable to move to a dumbphone because of their work or travel. For example, a friend of mine is a dispatcher and his smartphone is crucial for him to get his job done well. If your phone is truly important for work, you could perhaps get a dumbphone for evenings and weekends. As I mentioned above, you can also find apps that help minimize your screen time. There are various tried-and-true ways to help you avoid excessive screen time and its associated negatives. For those of you who don’t absolutely need a smartphone for work or another legitimate reason, I’d challenge you to do a digital detox and stop using one for a set number of days. Read Digital Minimalism and follow the advice there. Or read Catherine Price’s How to Break Up with Your Phone and give it a shot. As I mentioned earlier, cheap flip phones are an option for a digital detox. Thankfully, quite a few dumbphones and semi-dumbphones have come out in the last few years (see Dumbphones.org for a helpful list). Your brain will thank you I know that for some people, giving up a smartphone is almost impossible because the level of addiction is high. We’re not called the “dopamine nation” for nothing! But trust me, you can break up with your smartphone. You can take steps and develop habits to get your life back, regain your mental focus, and be present once again. You may want to get rid of your smartphone! Do you dare? Or maybe you just need a good app and an accountability partner. Whatever the case, I can say, based on some years of experience, that living without a smartphone is possible and beneficial. But even if you don’t totally give up your smartphone, I hope you find that drastically minimizing your smartphone use is a personal goal you make. And I guarantee that if you seriously cut down on your phone use, your brain will thank you! Shane Lems is the pastor of Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Hammond, Wisconsin, and blogs on books (and dumbphones too) at ReformedReader.wordpress.com, where a version of this article first appeared....

News

Saturday Selections – June 27, 2026

Envy is a sin. Wealth isn't. If you could make everyone twice as wealthy, would you do it? This is an odd fellow, making a great point about how poverty, not income inequality, is a problem. And secular fellow that he is, he's making that point without even factoring in the 10th Commandment. God cares about the plight of the poor, but nowhere does He condemn Abraham or Solomon for being rich. Envy is a sin. Being rich is not. Poverty is a problem, and one that can only be addressed by trying to "raise the floor" – raising the level of prosperity shared by the lowest income-earners. But concerns expressed about income inequality are simply envy disguised as virtue, and used as a justification for trying to pull down the ceiling – income inequality can be effectively addressed by kneecapping the wealthy to make them less so. Why non-experts can still fruitfully question the "experts" Philosopher J. Budziszewski, author of Pandemic of Lunacy: How to Think Clearly When Everyone Around You Seems Crazy, explains why it is that non-scientific sorts like us can still ask some pretty good, very important questions of the experts. UK report says thousands of girls were systematically raped while the gov't ignored it over optics If you haven't already heard about the rape-gangs in the UK this is going to be even more of a shocker. Authorities in the UK government knew about rape gangs operating in their country, but turned a blind eye to it, because the gangs were made up of Asian immigrants – police and others didn't want to seem racist. The figure that will leap out is the report of 250,000 victims, so it's worth noting that this is an estimate without a lot of firm grounds. But that doesn't mean it is wrong either, or overblown. It could be higher even. But it should be understood as a guess and not a fact. What is a fact is that authorities knew, and chose not to act. Ontario "conservative" gov't opposes opposition bill that would have banned gambling ads "A recent study found that since iGaming Ontario was introduced, total monthly wagers increased by 654% between April 2022 and August 2025, and the number of active player accounts rose 239%. Calls to Ontario’s mental health and addictions helpline rose at an accelerated annual rate (7% above previous trend) after iGaming Ontario was introduced in 2022. The highest increase in calls was among young men aged 15 to 24." It's probably safe to say that not a lot of this newsletter's readership votes for the NDP or Liberals. So it's all the more frustrating that it is the Conservatives who are doing this to our neighbors. And then, when the opposition proposed a way to rein in this runaway train of destruction, the government said no. Sure, they offered up some reasons to oppose the bill, but they didn't propose an alternative to it, making it evident they are fine with the status quo. What's wrong with gambling can perhaps be best understood in contrast with how others seek to become rich. Gamblers make bets that, should they win, are covered by those who bet the other way and lost – your gain is done at the expense of their pain. Meanwhile, if you get money any other (legal) way, your wealth will come to you only by benefiting others. Whether you are a housepainter, an author, or a server, the money that you can be thankful for comes from others who are thankful too, for what they've gotten from you in exchange. Your gain is their gain too. In addition, even if you are a good gambler, the odds are always stacked in favor of the gambling establishment – the government is making huge amounts of money from this, and that has to come from somewhere. So gambling is, over time, going to be a net loser, so even if you weren't hurting others to get your money, you are still making bad use of the "talents" God has entrusted to you. More could be said, but I'll offer up just one more – even if you've got your gambling under control, every bet you make is that little bit more motivation for the government to keep at this... to the great harm of many, who aren't in control of their gambling. If you love your neighbor, you should be lobbying the government to stop pushing, and just simply stop running, such a destructive enterprise. A sea of orange took over Kansas City You don't have to like soccer to appreciate the intermix of cultures brought about by the World Cup this month. Whether it's Japanese fans cleaning up the stadium afterwards, or this sea of orange-clad Dutch fans, there's been so much to love off the field. This linguistic collapse of late-stage civilization "Take this introduction from a Herald-Sun article during the week: 'Prison authorities were warned not to transfer a transgender murderer to a women’s prison amid warnings they would sexually assault another prisoner if moved.' "A transgender murderer? It’s the sort of phrase that makes English quietly weep in a corner." This article might be inspiration for a great English class assignment... in a Christian school – try and write an assignment in the most politically correct fashion possible, to highlight the insanity. (In a public school they'd assign the same task to encourage sensitivity.) Lost & Found - Running home A quick toe-tapping rhyme based on Psalm 51. ...

News

Are you still able?

It used to be different, not all that long ago. Carrie is a teen who always had the kind of contagious smile that would get her friends smiling r...

Magazine, Past Issue

July/August 2026 issue

The 2026 “Log out. Look up.” 10-day screenfast may be done but that doesn't mean you can't do your own! Find out all our tips and tricks in this i...

Parenting

Give your kids a super power

Reading to your kids will give them something better than the ability to leap tall buildings ***** I've been thinking lately that books are incredib...

Being the Church

Love thy neighbor. Love thy neighborhood encampment…?

Interview with an artist

Laura Kroesbergen’s hyperrealistic animals

Capturing a moment in pastel ***** 'A Whole New World'15.5x21.5in.This lion cub's inquisitive expression portrays the universal curiosity of the young - a good reminder to be ever curious about ourselves and those around us. In her childhood, Laura Kroesbergen found she struggled with confidence in her relationships with people, but when she was in nature or with animals she could relax and be herself. Animals’ ability to tune into non-verbal cues and communicate through them seemed, to her, to bring them a softer, calmer way of life. And horses, in particular, inspired her with their majesty, and freedom. They became a major source of inspiration for her works in pastel. Her pastel drawings are filled with the texture of hair on the horses’ necks, and veins outlining their muscles, as they gallop across the field or gaze wisely at you. Horses were her first drawing interest. However, after encouragement from her mother and others, she began to create drawings of other wildlife as well – prowling panthers, curious lion cubs, and guarded antelopes. Her faith is an inescapable part of her work. As she explains, “Since going through severe depression in my early 20s, I have come to recognize the value of life, and though my focus is still on the animal world, I now try to bring some of that ‘life essence’ into each drawing.” 'Night Prowler'24x18in.The black panther (aka the black leopard), is a melanistic leopard with a recessive gene that produces more pigment, thus creating the black coat. These leopards are mostly found in the forested areas of Africa and Asia, however, this particular leopardess lives wild in the African country of Kenya. She intuits what makes living things tick, and translates that into her work. Detail is also important: “Working in the field of hyper- or photo-realism also brings the unique experience of learning the subtle colors and intricate patterns our Creator has put into His creation. The more detail I dive into, the more detail there is to see. This gives me a beautiful glimpse of how infinite our glorious God is.” For Laura, doing her absolute best is a big part of how she brings her faith into her work. This ties into the intricate detail and realism she always attempts to capture. “The attitude of, 'it's the best I can do,' if it's not realistic, is not something I allow for myself,” she says. She tries to combine the accuracy of a photograph with the added emotion or “essence” of what she’s drawing – essentially capturing a moment in time. This influenced her choice of pastels as a medium. At first, she did all her drawings primarily in grayscale, because she found capturing color much more difficult. But after watching an online time-lapse video of an artist using pastels, she was surprised to find herself thinking, “I can probably do that.” To her delight, she found she was able to create beautiful hyperrealist drawings in pastel on her first attempt. She sees this as a major way God was working in her life at that time, as she was laid up with a fractured pelvis and was asking Him about what she could learn during her time of recovery. 'A Mother's Love'18x24in.This pastel painting captures a quiet moment between a zebra mother and son. “Pastels are a great way for me to achieve more of a 'painterly' effect without having to switch to a wet medium…though trying out painting is on my list,” she explains. She is fascinated by how much color can be put out by a simple pastel pencil. And the paper she uses can hold many layers of pencil without getting too saturated, and it contains felt so she doesn’t need to use a fixative spray to keep the pastel from smudging. She is currently not working as an artist full-time, though she did pursue this in the past, and continues to draw and create. “I do wonder in what ways God will have me use my skills in the future,” she says, “since this is a talent He has given me.” You can see more of Laura Kroesbergen’s work at laurachristinefineart.com. She also does pet portraits, which you can view there. Or contact her by email with your questions about art-related things at [email protected]. Harma-Mae Smit loves to write and think about art, despite not being an artist herself. She loves how art can reflect the Creator Himself. Send Harm-Mae Smit suggestions for artists to profile at [email protected], including their contact information....

News

Saturday Selections – June 20, 2026

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

Technology

Less screens = more life

What we learned by stepping away from our phones for 10 days ***** We were hoping for 200 to sign up. Turns out a lot of us were ready for this – more than 900 registered for RP’s July 21-30 screen-fast challenge, and we heard about others who joined the fast without signing up. Safe to say, over a thousand people across the country came together to put our screens in their place. That is amazing! But maybe it shouldn’t have been surprising. God’s people know He wants us to make good use of the time He’s given us, and we know that our phones too often have us wasting moments that turn into minutes, which can add up to lost hours each week. We needed to hit the reset and get back control. So how’d we all do? Of the 160 responses we received, three-quarters managed to stay away from their screens for 9 days or better. They also shared stories, tips on what worked, what they found toughest, suggestions on how we could do this even better next time, and what got them most excited about the fast. And we’re very excited to share their thoughts with you. EYE OPENING One term kept popping up in the feedback – “eye-opening.” “It was a very humbling experience for me. I am a fairly busy person as it is, between nursing school, 2 kids, and running a household, but I will say that the amount of hours I still managed to waste away doing mindless scrolling or pointless video-watching was disconcerting, to put it lightly.” “I thought I was pretty good about staying off my phone, but I really had to remind myself not to pick it up. I've only had a phone since October, and already it has become such an integral part of my life.” "The screen-fast started while we were away on vacation, and what a blessing this was! At first, I thought it would be easy; after all, I had books to read, family to visit with, and a beach calling my name. I had deleted all of my social media accounts a couple of years ago. I thought I barely used my phone in comparison to others. Boy, was I wrong. I never realized how often I was reaching for my phone, oftentimes for no specific purpose other than to fill time or cure boredom! Looking at the weather, reading the news, playing games – my phone sucked me in even without social media being present! The screen-fast has truly been a blessing. It reminded me of the value of being present, of shared experiences, of all the little moments that I would have missed out on had I been scrolling on my phone. I learned that it's okay to have moments of quiet, stillness, and even boredom! Sometimes, it is in these quiet moments of being in creation that God speaks the loudest: His power in the wind and waves, His beauty in the flowers, His tenderness, care, and grace towards me in that He used these moments to calm any anxieties that were lurking within me. Thank you, Reformed Perspective, for encouraging this experience!" “My oldest (11) had a hard time sticking to the screen-fast and caved 3 times. Hard to believe how much of a pull a screen has on a person! Makes me want to live in the Little House on the Prairie times, where screens just weren’t available and outside play was their entertainment.” “I just itched to check social media and would find myself comforted by just holding my phone close, even though there was nothing to look at. I realized that I don't like this about myself.” “It was well needed and brought my screen time down to about 15-30 minutes a day from my usual 2-2.5 hours. I hope to keep my screen time down as much as I can because I’m so much more productive and observant of the world around me when I’m not on it.” TOGETHER IS EASIER Some participants didn’t know anyone else doing it, even with a thousand across the country involved. Those with friends and family joining in found it much easier. “My sister and I challenged each other and we both finished (almost) successfully. We both started reading again after having lost the habit of reading and gained the habit of scrolling. I’m very happy to be reading again and I noticed how much I can get done with the time I used to waste. I will definitely be more careful with my screen time in the future.” “I found that since my family didn’t participate, it was hard to maintain self-control when others were using their devices.” “I did it with my wife – we found that especially when we were both free in the evening, we would be more productive, but also, we spent more quality time with each other. It made me realize how often I would just reach for my phone when I was bored or between tasks; it feels great to have kicked that habit.” "We had family come for summer holidays and they willingly partook (kids too)! Fishing and bike rides at 7 am rather than cartoons…win! We enjoyed creation so much more, especially in the evenings. I loved having it as a challenge; it kept me more accountable and successful. Thanks for doing this for us!" DON’T ALWAYS NEED INSTANT ANSWERS “I have a tendency to google everything as it comes up in a conversation, and not being able to was refreshing, and kept me more focused on the person instead of the topic.” “The thing that surprised me was how often I had the compulsion to Google a question that popped into my mind, or research the proper way to do something, or make a quick purchase of something I remembered I needed. I realized that technology is very helpful, but also there is benefit in taking a pause, making a shopping list, or asking a friend rather than Google when I have a gardening question. My 10-year-old said that she found more space to be creative when the computer and TV was off. " “My kids didn't miss their own screen time, but they realized how much they asked me to look things up for them. Not having immediate access to information is not such a bad thing.” FAMILY-LIFE Less screens = more life was evident on the home front. “We had meals at the kitchen table instead of in the living room while watching YouTube.” “I noticed our kids really improved in playing for longer periods of time. If they complained they were bored, I would suggest they try an activity for 20 minutes, and often 1 hour later they would still be busy.” “We did do more different things together when we didn't spend as much time playing games or watching videos on the TV or computer. It forced my kids, in particular, to stretch their imagination a bit to come up with more different things to do. The intermittent cries of 'I'm bored!' were met with, 'Well, then you need to find something to do!' My kids had always been good at keeping busy, but it was good for them to exercise those creative muscles, and remind us all of all the options that we have, both on and off the screen.” “The main things I've been struggling with were not wasting time on my phone (e.g., games, videos), not using my phone during time with my toddler, and not using my phone in bed, so I focused on those and was able to significantly improve in those areas. It definitely helped with spending quality time with my son without distractions so that I was more focused on him and his needs.” “It helped me reconnect with my wife. Instead of sitting on the couch consuming content in the evenings, we went for more walks and had more time to talk about what was going on.” “There was a lot more interacting happening throughout the family, and everyone seemed happier. It felt like a lot less fighting happened.” “It was easier to connect and interact with my kids. I realized how much I used my phone when they were awake even though I thought I was being conscious of not using it while they were awake." “My children (4 and under) appeared less needy, and I think it is because I was more focused on what was going on around me.” “Because I was screen-free, my kids didn't even ask for screen time. My 18-year-old daughter loved it. She noticed she was far more creative and read more books (which is her natural habitat) than when she had a screen to distract her.” “It was harder than I thought it would be. Especially right before bed. But not being on screens before bed allowed more time for my wife and I to spend time together.” WANTING TO BE AN EXAMPLE “Helped me to realize that in a screen-filled world, as a parent and adult, I am an example to my daughter and the younger generation as to how much a phone has a hold on me." “It was better when the children are around not to have YouTube on in the background; I could be more present with them, even while doing dishes. I think I will continue to try to save my Podcast/YouTube listening for when the children are in bed.” “I am disappointed that I didn’t do this sooner. My oldest kiddo is 7 and I feel like my phone has been a large part of her life. It’s my job now, as it was before, to teach her, along with my other kids, how to use this technology properly and not to use and abuse it. I am striving to use it less and less, and more for emergencies, or for the free time that I’ve allowed myself to use it.” DEVOTIONS Many mentioned how helpful the fast was for their devotions, making sure time with the Lord didn’t get crowded out by inconsequentials. “Just made me realize I need to read my bible FIRST……not after the morning's scroll!” "I found I actually had time to do my devotions in the morning, even if my kids were up. Before I had been grabbing my phone if I wasn’t going to have perfect uninterrupted time for devotions.” “My morning devotions improved immediately! When you don’t have your phone in the morning you really do need to replace it with something. " READING In addition to the Bible, many, many other books (and at least one magazine) were read too. One person shared: "More reading in 10 days than the last 3 years!” "I definitely did more reading! I haven’t picked up a fictional book in a long time because, as a busy mom, I found it a ‘waste of time’ to read fiction…. somehow scrolling on my phone every evening to have some mindless down time was better?! I don’t think so. I enjoy that time in the evening to relax for a bit, but it is much better spent reading an engaging book!” “I read the whole RP magazine front to back in the moments that I would pick up my phone when I was bored.” “The biggest difference for me was dedicating more intentional time to read. I managed to finish 3 of Jane Austen's novels. I'm thrilled to add them to my recommended reading list!” “…relearned how to read a book in under a day. Been through so many books.” “…for downtime, instead of watching a show every night like I normally do, I read more and had more conversations with my family as well.” BETTER MENTAL PLACE Sociologist Jonathan Haidt is convinced that social media is fueling this generation’s teen mental health crisis, but doing without Facebook and Instagram isn’t just good for the kids. “In regards to social media particularly, the fast made me realize that while social media can be enjoyable and good, it's also almost like a subconscious burden to try to ‘keep up’ with everyone and everything all the time. Being off of it for 10 days was really freeing and refreshing.” “I… learned that when I'm anxious, instead of running to Google to try to ease my anxiety, I should run to God in prayer.” “It felt good, in the sense that my brain didn't feel distracted by useless information coming in at a fast pace. I found I could spend time on my screen sorting photos, but I didn't scroll Instagram. It took a few days to notice that my brain felt a little less full, and I felt totally focused on my life, instead of having a 20-minute binge session after lunch to be inundated with strangers’ lives. I did read more, during that after-lunch quiet time, and also before bed. My screen time didn't interfere with family time, it was just something I would do to 'wind down' or 'relax' once kids were napping or in bed for the night. I didn't miss it. One evening I did log on to find a recipe I'd saved on Instagram and ended up scrolling...I felt gross. It felt like I had to re-join the real world when I finally put my phone down, and it became very obvious to me how little value it adds to my life for the amount of time spent on the app.” “One of the biggest things for me was not checking my work email on my phone. I didn’t realize how much head space that had been taking up! It was a big relaxant to have set hours to check only on my laptop.” “My brain felt quieter. All those little moments where I would have quickly checked Facebook, or scrolled, to ‘relax’ were removed from my day and I didn't realize how much they cluttered my mind. The screen-fast really helped me to be more aware of that, which will hopefully give me more control over those impulses to reach for my phone moving forward. My husband and I both did it and found ourselves going on more evening bike rides, having more chats, and just doing more quality time things than we did before. It was so refreshing, and I think we definitely feel more connected. I also had more focused time for devotions, and because I deleted many apps from my phone, I had no reason to pick it up and get distracted. I'm hoping to keep a lot of the habits enforced by the fast because I definitely need them, and life is better when your phone has less time in your hand!” “What a beautiful challenge! My experience was that I suddenly became much more present: in my home life, my church life, and my friend life. It brought me closer to God in my devotional time, provided time for reflection, enabled me to read most of a book, and granted me a peace that I didn't even realize was missing.” “I also felt less stress because I was not being inundated with news…. Although a person never thinks they are spending ‘that much’ time on their phone, it's not just the physical act of scrolling or being on social media. It occupies mental space after you put the phone down. Your attention is divided and things you see and do on your phone inadvertently affect your mood and ability to focus throughout the day. You may be worrying about something you saw in the news and it will affect how you treat people around you, even if you cannot do anything about it, or it doesn't even really affect you. You may be in the habit of checking your phone for notifications every few minutes (you'd be surprised how often you may do this) and it can make the simplest tasks take much longer than required, which will in turn make you feel frustrated. The less time you spend on your phone, the more wisdom you will use when you do pick it up. I noticed I was much less likely to scroll Instagram and more naturally inclined to listen to a sermon in the evening after the children were in bed. I was always feeling stressed about the time I thought I was spending on my phone, and appreciate the push to try just being on it less. It has certainly been an eye-opener for me!” “I found myself more content with everything, and could easily enjoy hobbies I had long forgotten. I found myself thanking God for the little moments and was reminded of the blessings He has given me." “I listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks while doing housework, and not doing that for 10 days made me realize that always having something on to listen to does not help me be present with my family. It was good to have the quiet space, and engage in some spiritual warfare by taking thoughts captive that are not obedient to Christ. I’m not going back on any social medias because I’ve broken the spell that says I will miss out or not be in-the-know…. They take up too much brain space that is needed for more important things.” BETTER SLEEP "I feel I slept better because of no screen time before bed, and I read a biblical book in the morning instead of going on Facebook.” “…I had to get used to sleeping without going on my phone right before bed. I had dreams that I could remember in the morning!” MORE PRODUCTIVITY Ten minutes here, and ten minutes there, can really add up in time wasted, but also in time put to good use. “I somewhat reluctantly signed up for the screen-fast, as my wife and kids were participating, but reflecting on it now, I can see God's hand working through them and the screen-fast. I spent more time reading the Bible and additional study material, and more time in prayer and reflection. I was able to think more clearly after the first few days, as the cheap distraction of screens was gone. This gave me time and focus to think through issues at work which I've been contending with for around a year, and come to difficult decisions there that I had perhaps been avoiding.” “I am working on a baby blanket for my son (knitting) and I was able to set a minimum for how much I wanted to complete on it daily, a minimum that seemed impossible to me before, and I was actually able to meet the minimum no problem.” "My husband participated as well, and has continued to not go onto social media. I found it most difficult to not pop onto social media when waiting for the mundane things, like water to boil/meat to cook. I would often go onto social media in these moments; at first it felt odd to not scroll, but I quickly would start to tidy the kitchen in these moments, so the result is a cleaner house :) and I did spend more time in God's Word, and reading short devotions here and there instead of picking up my phone." “The first few days I noticed a significant amount of improvement in my productivity. Without doom-scrolling on my phone, I was able to head out for a walk, dust off my book, and go to bed on time. I was able to spend a little more time with family and friends. Rather than watching a movie with my girlfriend after a long day, we decided to head out for a drive to enjoy the summer weather, which was awesome! I was able to spend more time reading my Bible before bed by keeping my phone in the kitchen, and used a good old-fashioned alarm clock to wake me up.” DOWNSIDES While there was lots to love about putting our phones aside for a time, there were some downsides too. “…I also found that it made me less likely to organize get-togethers if I had to phone people up instead of fire off a quick text; the kids and I ended up not doing as many things with friends or neighbors. I did make a few nice phone calls to people, since I was conscious of phoning instead of texting.” “I had a hard time not listening to my audiobooks and podcasts. I was more available for my kids (when I listen to audios, I have noise-cancelling headphones), but I had less ambition to do projects around the house that I would normally listen to something while doing. I also missed watching something at the end of a long day, but did enjoy my walks, and more reading of a physical book compared to an audio.” "I felt very disconnected from my family without WhatsApp group messaging! I was available via regular messaging, but it turns out that one-to-one messages are a rarity... if you aren’t on the group chat there isn't much to say. My 10-year-old son said: ‘It affected me because you didn't know as much about what other people in our family were doing.’ Keeping email off my phone (both work and personal) will stay. It was very restful to not be constantly checking emails and going down rabbit holes in the moment." “I missed seeing update posts from friends on Instagram or Facebook. For example, there was a family wedding and I wanted to go on social media to see some photos. I felt that I was missing out, not being able to do this. I came to the conclusion that family and friend updates can be one of the fun things about social media.” LASTING IMPACT? How can we apply the lessons learned? Some are planning on “having periodic screen-fasts in the future.” “…our family has decided to do a ‘modified fast’ for the rest of the summer and this was initiated by our children. Our stage of life (everyone working and/or attending post-secondary) means we don’t often have large blocks of time together but it was nice to spend more time in the evening sharing about our days and chatting.” “Going forward, I’ve used the settings in my phone to limit my time on certain apps. I’ve also cut out around half of the influencers I follow on Instagram so that I’m only following people I learn from (news, DIY, Christian content, etc.)" “Now that I’m done, I’m way more okay with leaving my phone in a bag or even at home.” “Going forward, I will be deleting social media apps from my phone. Thank you for prompting us to give this challenge a try! I think that it's fair to say that it will be life-changing.” “I intend to do this screen-fast again in the future and strongly encourage anyone who has not done it to do so, and aim to grow in service of our gracious God.” “I enjoyed the screen fast, and hope to do it again, and include more of my family members.” “From the get-go, I decided not to try 10 days but figured I could do 5. And you know what? It was easy! And it was good for me. I know I spend too much time on social media and playing games on my phone. I plan to do it again on a regular basis.” TIPS The most common tip mentioned was to delete social media apps from our phones. Another idea was to buy an alarm clock instead of using your phone to wake up. Here’s more… “…eliminate phones from your bedroom. Reading my Bible nightly is way more likely to happen when Instagram is more than a click away. That Christian influencer's advice might be insightful, but God's Word will not return empty (Isaiah 55:11)." “I …have continued a few habits I built, like delaying the first phone check of the day.” “I found freedom also in separating my phone from bedtime and wake time. This led to more prayer time. I think I was allowing the phone, instead of faith, to ease me into my day and I’m looking forward to continuing practice.” “We realized that phones are still an essential part of our lives but that the 'social media' part of it doesn't need to be so extensive. A regular phone call to someone can be so enjoyable and truly connecting. I have since called many people and just had a good chat. Hoping to keep this method up. I will keep my notifications 'OFF.'” “I made a rule for myself a couple years ago, that at the start of every day, I may not look at my phone until after my breakfast devotions were finished. It really helps to be very disciplined about not falling into bad habits. Make rules and stick to them. I also tell myself that it's okay to be bored.” Cartoons by Hannah Penninga....

Internet

Is AI helping you, or dumbing you down? Yes.

3 questions to help us use AI better. ***** The Preacher declares in Ecclesiastes 1:9 that “there is nothing new under the sun.” He was saying it with a sense of despair, but there’s a reality there that can prove helpful too. Even with something newfangled like AI, the issues aren’t all new. And because we’ve seen some of this before, we can look to history for guidance. So here are three questions to help us look to the past to see how we can best use today’s AI. Q. 1: Am I using AI to skip my exercise? For as long as there have been schools, there’s probably been boys learning how to do division in ways their math teacher wasn’t intending. If little Timmy and a couple of his third grade buddies did their homework together, the three of them would quickly realize that an assignment of 15 questions could be done 3 times as quickly if they did 5 questions each and shared their answers. That gets the assignment done in record time, but these “get ‘er done” boys misunderstood the point. The teacher’s goal isn’t simply to get 15 right answers from them – she could go to the back of the teacher’s edition if that was all she was after. What she wants is for her students to go through the struggle of working through each of the 15 questions so that their brain muscles will grow. What Timmy has done instead is the equivalent of recruiting his two friends to each attend a third of his basketball practice for him. That’d be a better cheat actually, because it wouldn’t take him long to figure out that his shooting percentage isn’t going to improve so long as he isn’t putting up the shots. The issue is older even than schools, addressed in various ways throughout Scripture, but maybe most pointedly in Proverbs 10:4: “Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth” and Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Now, in our AI age, there are students using ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to skip their school “workouts” in this updated fashion, and still not making the connection as to how that’ll keep them mentally and spiritually flabby, stopping them from growing in knowledge, wisdom, and capacity. Adults have their own version of this problem, complicated by the reality that sometimes it is just about “getting ‘er done,” while other times it’s about needing to get stretched and refined by the work you put in. Need a pile of rocks moved? Then having a couple of friends help is a great idea. Got access to some tech that will do the heavy lifting for you? Great, go drive that tractor over here. In an office setting, AI can help us move all sorts of “rocks,” by doing the big-effort-but-little-thought tasks of quickly compiling your week’s billable hours, assembling your spreadsheets into an array of insightful, colorful pie charts, or gathering and summarizing vast amounts of research material. But if, like little Timmy, we thought it was always about the results, we’d miss out on when it’s important to put in the sweat. There’s a Stephen King quote about how “I write to find out what I think” and it’s exactly there that AI might be most harming us. We don’t all have to be writers, but if we’re going to be thinkers, then we need to be able to get our thoughts down on paper, or up on a computer, or batted around with our coworkers. That process will allow them to be tested and refined, and sometimes discarded. It’s the sweat invested that helps us really think through things. AI can even be a part of the process, being a part of the batting-around refinement. But we can’t use it to skip over that process. When we should or shouldn’t use AI will depend on whether we just need to get ‘er done, or whether we should be putting in the exercise to increase our own capacity, knowledge, and wisdom. Figuring out which we’re doing is complicated by the fact that our jobs are going to regularly involve a mix of both. A pastor might use AI as an upgraded search engine to much more quickly gather up what his most trusted theologians have said about the text he’s planning to preach on. But he can’t pull a Timmy and have AI write his sermon, because his job isn’t simply to read a sermon, but to glorify God in the preparation of it, so that he can tailor it to the flock God has entrusted to him and not to AI. Q. 2: Am I owning my output? And that takes us to the issue of responsibility. AI brings up some powerful temptations on this front, but, again, it’s nothing new for Man to try to avoid blame by sidestepping his own responsibility. “The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me – she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it’” (Gen. 3:12). With AI’s instantaneous output, what that prompts is the very strong temptation to skip over the “is this actually right?” stage. After all, if you’ve generated a whole report in seconds, doesn’t it seem weird to spend half an hour checking through it? And that’s how you get output like the pictured post from the US Department of Education. It was meant to promote jobs that AI isn’t going to replace any time soon, but it went viral for showing what kind of output AI can provide when the humans in charge aren’t really taking charge. Pipes, pipes, everywhere… and what is that tool she’s using? In our day-to-day, this temptation will pop up in small ways, like using Gemini’s auto-response to reply to an email you’ve barely read. See how impressed your coworker will be when he pops by your office door for a follow-up and you can’t recall what he’s even talking about because your brain was never engaged. This isn’t a big thing – it might be the difference between having AI complete an email response in 3 seconds that you should have taken 30 seconds to do yourself so you’d know and recall what you wrote. In our schools, AI can be used to generate math and spelling worksheets, and history and geography pop quizzes in just seconds. For the most part, that’s just AI helping teachers “move rocks,” and what a wonderful resource for them to have. But their students will be wondering why teachers can turn to AI to do the heavy lifting when their pupils aren’t allowed to. To keep students’ hypocrisy-detectors from firing off, teachers will then need to model the highest standards of responsible AI usage. Practically speaking, that means putting in the time proofreading whatever they have AI outputting. How can they convince students they need to put in the sweat if they’re not willing to sweat themselves? Q. 3: What’s missing from my AI output? What makes a lot of AI output cheesy? What’s “off” about it? The other side of this question would be, “What makes something valuable?” There’ll be a subjective nature to any answer to that question because there’s a degree to which beauty is in the eye of the beholder. One person might like Rembrandt, another AI-manufactured alien landscapes. To each their own. But a friend passed along something he’d learned from a Tim Keller sermon on 1 Cor. 13. Here Paul makes the point that prophecies, tongues, and even charity, without love, are nothing. While we were excited about all that AI could do just a year ago, now we’ve coined the term “AI slop” and lament the “AI gloss” detectable in its pictures and written work. Maybe what Paul is saying explains this reaction. Someone could use AI to produce a “new” Rembrandt or maybe a “new” piece by Bach, manufactured in seconds by having these artists’ styles convincingly mimicked. The result could be beautiful, and we might not detect even a hint of “AI gloss.” Yet would we treasure these new works like the old? No. Why? Because AI allowed them to be created without sweat or thought. They were made without love. Love is why the kids’ art on Oma’s fridge is treasured – because of the love going both ways. And love is why the poems many households craft to accompany Christmas presents were better before AI was there to perfect them. Butchered meters and forced rhymes – and the care involved in crafting each line – were what made the merriment. Could an aspiring poet partner time and intent with AI to lovingly craft a poem for his beloved wife? Certainly. AI usage doesn’t have to be loveless. But AI without love? That’s nothing at all. Jon Dykstra realizes he should write his beloved wife more poetry, with or without AI help....

News

Saturday Selections – June 13, 2026

Brandon Lake's That's Who I Praise Here's a whole bunch of people having a whole bunch of fun praising God! I, Smartphone Nearly 80 years ago ...

In a Nutshell

Tidbits – June 2026

Done before the first down Notre Dame’s famed football coach Knute Rockne wasn’t above employing psychology to give his team an edge. A legend is...

News

Saturday Selections – June 6, 2026

When a famous apologist dismisses the Bible... William Lane Craig is such an acclaimed apologist that many a conservative Christian has heard him pra...

News

Saturday Selections – May 30, 2026

When John MacArthur visited a philosophy class In this clip John MacArthur starts off sounding quite arrogant – he says he sees everything clearly....

Science - Creation/Evolution

The day is not an age

Billions of years don’t fit with the Bible ***** When my daughter was young, I introduced her to sketching and how to use colored pencils to enhance her drawings. She continued to practice and develop her technique until now, as a young woman, her skill has far exceeded my ability to draw. After examining one of her drawings of a horse – so real that its muzzle looks soft to the touch – one would never believe that she just randomly chose a few colored pencils, blindly allowing them to contact the paper in random strokes. Yet, this is how some Christians attempt to reconcile the historical account of Creation, the world of order and beauty recorded in Genesis 1-2, and the “fact” claimed by secular scientists that everything in the world around us is the product of random processes, occurring without a plan, over a very long period of time. What if we stretch the days? There are good reasons to believe that God did create everything in six, literal 24-hour days (Gen. 1:1–31). However, some people feel the need to interpret each “day” in Genesis 1 as symbolic of millions or even billions of years, because Science tells us that the universe was created by the Big Bang, that the Solar System and our Earth formed out of the chaos of this unique explosion, and that all life came about through the random processes of Evolution. This attempt to reconcile the Bible with science is called the Day Age Theory because it posits that each “day” in Genesis 1 represents an ‘age’ that is millions or billions of years long. The problem with the Day Age Theory is that it contradicts the Biblical narrative. This theory assumes that the reigning cosmological theory for the origin and history of the universe – from the Big Bang to the evolution of all life on Earth – must be correct because it is proven by Science. However, the Day Age Theory does not reconcile scientific belief with the events described in Genesis 1 because the order of events in Big Bang cosmology are completely different from those given in the Bible. The Sun or Earth: which came first? Secular science says that the Sun came before the Earth, and the Bible says the opposite. So who are you going to believe? For example, Genesis asserts that: the Earth was formed (on Day 1) before the Sun and stars (Day 4), plants were formed (on Day 3) before the Sun (Day 4), and that birds were formed (on Day 5) before the land animals (Day 6). Secular scientists, on the other hand, claim that: over 4 billion years ago the Sun formed first from a collapsing solar nebula, followed by the planets, including Earth, plant life only began to colonize the land around 450 million years ago, and some land animals (i.e., dinosaurs) evolved from birds. The Day Age Theory is, therefore, entirely at odds with the Biblical account and so it does nothing to reconcile the historical account in Genesis with scientific opinion. History can be symbolic too because God writes it The Literary Framework Hypothesis dispenses with the need to harmonize the “facts” of scientific cosmology with the Biblical narrative by teaching that the Biblical account is not intended to be taken as a chronological history but as a figurative, poetic narrative that teaches that God is the creator of all things. This notion that the Biblical narrative is allegory or poetry stems from a perceived parallel structure between Days 1-3 and Days 4-6. Beginning with Genesis 1:2, which describes the cosmos as “formless and void,” this argument contends that Days 1-3 create the “form” and Days 4-6 fill the “void.” However, as Dr. Noel Weeks has pointed out, “even though there is no logical reason why the presence of a structure should prove that a passage is not to be taken literally, this idea seems to have great emotive appeal.” Just as the process of constructing a building follows an ordered process – site preparation, laying the foundation, erecting the framework, etc. – the process of creating the universe will also be structured and not chaotic. Therefore, the presence of a structure in the creation narrative actually supports the fact that this is a record of a real historical and creative event that occurred over six literal days. In addition, parallel literary structures are also found elsewhere in the Bible, such as in the historical narratives contained in Exodus and the gospel of Matthew. For example, in Matthew 2, Jesus took a journey into Egypt and was led back into Israel, fulfilling the prophesy that “out of Egypt I called my son,” which parallels the nation of Israel being led out of Egypt by the Spirit of God, with pillars of fire and smoke going before them (Ex. 13:17–22). Also, the people who came out of Egypt passed through the waters of the Red Sea (Ex. 14), which Paul describes as passing through the waters of baptism into Moses to be identified as God’s people (1 Cor. 10:1–4), parallels Jesus passing through the baptismal waters and being identified as God’s Son (Matt. 3:13–17). Many other parallels could be listed, making it evident that parallel structure in a narrative does not indicate that the text is allegorical. Rather, it demonstrates God’s involvement in history. As with the examples of historical parallels described above, historical events and objects may also have spiritual significance. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, points out the error of assuming that because something described in Scripture has spiritually symbolic significance it could not exist as a “visible and material object.” He writes: It is arbitrary to suppose that there could not have been a material paradise, just because it can be understood also in a spiritual significance… there was no rock from which water flowed when Moses struck it, just because it can be interpreted in a symbolic sense, as prefiguring Christ; which is how the same Apostle takes it when he says, ‘Now the rock was Christ’ .” In the same way, states Augustine, one may attribute symbolic significance to the Tree of Life (cf. Gen. 2:9, 3:33; Prov. 3:18; Rev. 2:7, 22:2) and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – even the entire garden paradise of Eden: “There is no prohibition against such exegesis,” says Augustine, “provided that we also believe in the truth of the story as a faithful record of historical fact.” Jesus taught that Genesis was literal The Bible clearly teaches that humans did not evolve but were created, first man and then woman. Dr. Weeks asserted that Genesis 1 is to be understood literally stating that “a number of passages which refer to the original creation of man and woman and their relationship may be considered together (Matt.19:4; 1 Cor. 11:8–9; 1 Tim. 2:13–14). Note that the account is taken literally and made the basis of teaching on the relation of man and woman. Even if in only this point we take issue with evolutionary theory we find ourselves in complete antithesis to naturalistic evolution.” The gospels contain several examples of Jesus referring to the events recorded in Genesis as real history. When speaking of the prophets who had been martyred by the Jews, Jesus refers to Abel as the first martyr and Zechariah as the last (Luke 11:48–51, Matt. 23:49–51). In Matthew 19:5–6 (and Mark 10:7), Jesus quotes Genesis 2:24 to clarify that marriage is between one man and one woman: “‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Jesus uses the real history of Genesis to explain the basis of the marriage covenant. Finally, Jesus tells us that His return will bring judgement on everyone in the world in the same way God judged all people in Noah’s day. In Luke 17:26–27, Jesus says that “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” (also Matt. 24:36–44). The world-wide flood recorded in Genesis 6-9 was a real event, and so Jesus expects his listeners to believe that the final judgement will be just as real. Still, some people are tempted to believe that God used millions of years to create because the Bible says that, “with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (2 Pet. 3:8). However, we need to look at the context of this statement. The whole passage says, “But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Peter is not writing about long ages of creation but about the Lord’s willingness to wait patiently so that every person has an opportunity to repent and restore their relationship with God. Peter is repeating the same illustration that he used in his first letter where God waited patiently so that people would have every opportunity to repent and be saved “when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared” (1 Pet. 3:20). Even with the help of his sons and hired men, it would have taken Noah many years to build and provision a ship as large as the ark and so those aware of Noah’s project would have had a long time to come to repentance. In other words, God is more than willing to wait a long time so as not to lose anyone (Eze. 18:23). Gradualistic assumptions took hold While there were exceptions, in the late-seventeenth to mid-eighteenth centuries, scientists seemed to readily accept the Genesis account of a global flood, concluding that it was responsible for the Earth’s geology, including the creation of fossils. Grand Canyon formed gradually? If you assume that “all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” then the Grand Canyon’s depth and size, and the small river running through it would all be evidence of it being formed over tens and hundreds of thousands of years. But the Bible speaks of things being different in the past than they are today, with a worldwide Flood and its enormous volume of water able to carve out much more quickly what would take a small river eons to do. But by the end of the eighteenth century the majority of scientists began to favor a more “naturalistic” view of geology, no longer seeing a need for their ideas to fit with the Biblical account of Creation nor its account of watery catastrophe on a global scale. This naturalistic geology relied on slow and gradual processes, such as the laying down of layers of sediment to form layers of rock. Physician James Hutton, considered the father of contemporary geology, stated that the natural forces we observe shaping the Earth in the present also operated in the past, slowly and gradually over long periods of time. In his treatise on the subject, Theory of the Earth, Hutton says that “in examining things present, we have data from which to reason with regard to what has been..., therefore, we are to examine the construction of the present earth, in order to understand the natural operations of time past.” Hutton writes that such slow and gradual processes occurred on Earth “for millions of ages.” Hutton’s gradualist, or uniformitarian, views were later popularized by Charles Lyell in his three-volume work titled Principles of Geology. And it was the acceptance of slow and gradual geological processes that provided Charles Darwin with the long-ages required for his theory of biological Evolution, Origin of Species, published in 1859. This dramatic shift in scientific thought, currently held by many scientists today, was the antithesis of the Biblical account of Creation contained in Genesis 1. Thus, The Day Age Theory was invented in an attempt to reinterpret the days of Creation as symbolic of the “deep-time” required for the Big Bang and biological Evolution required by scientific thinking. God foreknew that people would invoke ideas like uniformitarianism to deny the historicity of the global Flood and bring doubt concerning the final judgement of the world: “Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished” (emphasis added; 2 Pet. 3:3–6). Thus, it should come as no surprise that, rejecting the Creation account in Genesis 1, scientists claim that the Universe formed 15 billion years ago after the Big Bang, and the geology of the Earth was formed by slow, gradual processes over millions of years, and that life evolved over millions of years. When we are encouraged by scientists to believe that the universe was created over billions of years, and that life evolved over millions of years, we are being asked to doubt God’s Word. Logically, once the beginning of the Bible is called into question, we will also begin to doubt everything else written in the Bible as well. Did God really say? Hearing ideas that may cause us to doubt God’s Word is not a new phenomenon; in fact, sowing seeds of doubt was the first ploy used by Satan to deceive humanity. It was not long after God created a world that was “very good” and placed the first couple in the Garden that Satan came along and tempted them to doubt God’s word. We read in Genesis 3:1 that “ said to the woman, ‘Did God really say....’” In this way Satan caused the woman to doubt God’s goodness, convincing her that God does not really mean what He says. Some people do not want to believe in a God Who will hold them to account for their thoughts and actions. They do not want to acknowledge that they are sinful – that they disobey God – and that the only way to restore a right relationship with God is through repentance and belief in Jesus, God’s Son, Who died to redeem them and was raised from the dead (Rom. 10:9). Nor do they want to believe that Jesus will come again to judge each one of us. As a result, they make up their own stories about how the world began so that they can write God out of history, pretending He does not exist. The apostle Paul wrote that some people would deny God and create their own stories: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Tim. 4:3-4). We are living in such a time and Big Bang cosmology and Evolution are those myths. When Satan uses the authority of science to cast doubt on God’s Word – “Did God really say...He created the heavens and the earth in six days?” – remember how Satan deceived Adam and the woman in the garden, which had devastating consequences. Dr. Mark Sandercock is a retired forensic chemist who worked for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the author of “Foundation: A Biblical Worldview.” This is an abridged extract from Chapter 4. His book is available on Amazon....

News

“Transition” victims decry conversion therapy law

In early May, seven people hosted a press conference in Ottawa to express their concerns with Canada’s conversion therapy law. This law bans any practice, treatment, or service designed to help someone identify with the sex that God gave them – if, for example, a man feels effeminate, but wants help aligning his feelings with his male reality, this law bans professionals (including pastors) from helping him. But the group’s unspoken petition was to ban sex-denying medical interventions like puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries. Each of the seven took their turn at the microphone. Parent Jeff Evely shared how an Ontario hospital tried to surgically “transition” his teenage daughter without his consent. Scott Newgent shared her testimony of how these sex-denying interventions led to lifelong health challenges. Mia Hughes, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and the Director of Genspect Canada, described the lack of evidence to support these medical practices. Kellie-Lynn Pirie, a detransitioner and founder of the DeTrans Alliance Canada, Dr. Ann Gillies, a former therapist, and Barry Neufeld, the former Chilliwack school trustee who was fined $750,000 by the BC Human Rights Tribunal for speaking out against gender ideology, also offered brief remarks. But perhaps the most moving comments were offered by Faith Groleau, who shared her personal story of the dangers of ideological gender medicine. She described being born with a hole in her diaphragm that required extensive surgery as a newborn to fix. At the age of two, she was sexually assaulted. That assault broke her collarbone, reopened that diaphragmatic hole, and rammed much of her intestines further up into her chest cavity. These internal wounds, misdiagnosed as mere asthma, also left her in poor emotional and mental health. Eventually, the same hospital that provided the life-saving surgery as a baby suggested sex-denying interventions as the fix. “A pediatrician overrode a psychiatric diagnosis – several of them,” she explained, to clear her for sex-denying hormones and surgeries. “Instead of assessing my mental health thoroughly, they decided to assume in the emergency room that my suicidal ideation came from the gender confusion. It did not. It was already there long before.” And yet, the medical professionals used this fiction to fast-track sex-denying interventions, giving her cross-sex hormones at the age of 16 and approving her for top surgery at 18. “Everything that had happened to me was wrong and had nothing to do with evidence-based medicine,” she accused. (You can hear both fury and sorrow in her voice during the entirety of her remarks.) “I was experimented on. I was not told they were experimental. I was told it was medicine and that it would help. And it did none of that. It gave me complications that the doctors ignored or would treat as separate illnesses. It made my already pre-existing mental health worse. And my physical health continued to deteriorate.” “These people do not know what they are signing up for because they are children,” she continued. “I was a child. I wanted help. That’s all I wanted. I did not need to be medicalized. I did not need to be cut up. I did not need to be drugged. I just wanted to be loved the way I was.” Faith didn’t further explain what she meant by “the way I was.” But for orthodox Christians, her identity is obvious. God created her as a female, just as He creates every person to be a member of one of two sexes. Whenever someone is confused about their identity as a man or a woman, they don’t need to be “medicalized,” “cut up,” or “drugged.” They need to be counseled that they are wonderfully made in the image of God and to embrace their God-given identity as male and female. Yet these are truths denied by conversion therapy bans across the country and the practice of sex-denying medical interventions. While no explicitly Christian perspective was offered at this press conference, all seven took a stand against harmful conversion therapy bans and sex-denying medical interventions....

Interview with an artist

Trees, rocks, water, sky, wildlife - Sheila Van Delft paints refreshment for the soul

48x36 acrylic on canvasNear Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island – Sheila finds the forest one of the places where she recharges the best. She is so grateful to live in the country with trees all around her – and the endless inspiration they provide! The quiet cool of a forest trail brings inspiration to artist Sheila Van Delft. As an introvert, she finds she can recharge by breathing deeply in the midst of nature. And in her work, she brings that feeling to others, through haunting scenes of groves on Vancouver Island, fog-filled vistas of the West Coast Trail, or serene views of a lone eagle surveying his kingdom. “When I think deeply about why it’s always nature ,” she says, “I realize that I’m painting my longing for the new earth and fellowship with God. Adam and Eve in Paradise enjoyed perfect nature with God, and the renewed earth will also have landscapes and seascapes, trees, animals, and big skies – all perfected and even more incredibly beautiful than what we enjoy here because of the redeeming work of Jesus. I long for this, and dream of this, and in my own way, must paint it again and again.” Sheila is blessed to be able to work in art full-time – part-time as an art teacher and the rest of the time in her home studio. A typical day for her might involve: catching up on email requests and admin tasks, painting, taking a break for household tasks, taking the dog for a walk, brainstorming the next twenty paintings, painting some more, reluctantly making dinner, and then painting the rest of the evening because, really, it’s her favorite thing to do. 36x24 acrylic on canvasThe artist’s granddaughter in a field near her home in Ontario Van Delft has been an artist since she was a child, encouraged by her parents. Later, she studied graphic design, and then even later, as a mature student, she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts. Through it all, she honed her skills, motivated by Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” “I sometimes have market customers tell me that they feel so at peace when they look at my work, or that they don’t want to leave because it’s all so beautiful. I marvel at this! How can it be that what I do can have this effect? It’s all God’s hand working through my hand.” One of the things she’s most proud of is her work as a high school teacher. Through it, Sheila nurtures her students’ ability to use their talents to share beauty and truth. Students she never expected have come up to her and admitted she made them care about art, and that brings her a feeling of fulfillment. “When I try capture emotions like awe, contentment, gratitude, harmony, joy, peace, and wholeness in my paintings, I think others can feel that too. And that’s why I paint, so others can also feel the hopeful anticipation of the better life that is coming. I’m trying to share a bit of Heaven.” Learn more about Sheila Van Delft's work on her website, where you can also stay up to date about the markets and other events where you can view her work in person. And she shares her work on Instagram and Facebook. Send Harma-Mae Smit suggestions for artists to profile at [email protected]...

Music

When the Church stops singing

or, What I learned from the organ bench ***** The first time I realized something was wrong with congregational singing, I was sixteen years old, sitting at the pipe organ bench at Tabor Presbyterian Church in Portland. The hymn introduction ended. I lifted my hands for the first verse – and almost no one sang. A few scattered voices appeared, hesitant and thin. The melody was there, printed clearly in the hymnal, but the room itself stayed quiet. From the organ bench, with the congregation behind you, silence is impossible to ignore. I remember thinking, Is this normal? Over the next several years I played organ in several churches around Portland, and that moment kept repeating itself. Some congregations sang with surprising strength. Others barely sang at all. I remember one Sunday playing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” The first verse was hesitant and quiet, but by the final verse the congregation had found its voice and the room suddenly felt alive. The difference between those two moments – the hesitant beginning and the confident ending – revealed something important: congregational singing does not simply happen. It is something churches either cultivate intentionally or gradually lose. The sound Scripture expects The New Testament assumes that the gathered Church sings. Paul writes in Colossians: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16). Notice what singing does here. It is not merely an emotional expression. Through singing, believers teach and encourage one another. Truth is carried not only through sermons but through the voices of the congregation itself. Paul makes the same assumption in Ephesians: “Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” (Eph. 5:19). In both passages, singing is participatory. The church does not merely listen to music; the church sings. For centuries, Christian worship assumed this. Choirs and musicians might assist, but the central voice in worship was the congregation. Today, that assumption is not always as strong. When worship music becomes something we watch One of the things I noticed while playing in different churches was how dramatically congregational participation could change depending on how music was led. In some congregations the moment the introduction ended, the singing began. The sound filled the sanctuary almost immediately. Even people who did not sing especially well sang confidently because the music supported them. Other congregations responded very differently. The musicians played beautifully, the sound system was excellent, but the congregation remained hesitant. A few voices scattered here and there, but many people simply listened. This shift often happens gradually and unintentionally. Churches want music to sound good. Musicians want to serve faithfully. Technology makes it easier than ever to produce polished sound. But the unintended result can be subtle: music becomes something happening at the front of the room rather than something shared by the whole church. From the organ bench, that difference is unmistakable. The quiet disappearance of church musicians Another challenge is less visible but just as real: many churches struggle to find musicians. When I first began playing as a teenager, many congregations still had longtime pianists or organists who had served for decades. These musicians often trained younger players and gradually passed on their role. That pattern is becoming less common. More than once a pastor quietly asked me if I knew anyone who could play because their longtime pianist had retired and no one was ready to replace her. Sometimes churches relied on a single volunteer carrying the entire responsibility for music week after week. This shortage changes the dynamic of worship in ways many people never notice. When musical leadership becomes fragile, congregational singing often weakens as well. Leading congregational singing requires a particular kind of musician – someone who understands that their role is not performance but support. What the organ bench teaches From the organ bench, you quickly learn that congregations sing best when they feel supported. If the accompaniment is steady and confident, people join in. If the tempo drifts or the melody becomes difficult to follow, the congregation hesitates. Some Sundays the congregation would surprise me. A hymn I expected to struggle suddenly filled the room, especially on the final verse when people realized the organ was carrying them. When that happens, the room changes. People sing more boldly. The sound grows stronger with each verse. The organ historically served this role well because its sustained sound naturally supports voices. But the deeper principle is not about instruments. Congregations sing best when the music invites participation rather than replacing it. Why this matters It might be tempting to treat this as a small issue. There are certainly larger challenges facing the Church today. But Scripture treats the gathered worship of God’s people as something deeply significant. When a congregation sings together, the Word of Christ dwells richly among them (Col. 3:16). The truths of the gospel are not only preached but sung. Believers encourage one another through shared confession of faith. Children hear their parents sing. Older members who can no longer serve in visible ways still contribute their voices. Corporate singing reminds us that worship is not about personal preference. No one in the room loves every song equally. Yet everyone participates. In that sense, congregational singing becomes a small picture of the unity of the Church itself. Recovering the sound of the Church The encouraging news is that strong congregational singing is not complicated to cultivate. Churches that sing well usually share a few simple habits. They choose songs ordinary people can sing. They train musicians to support the congregation rather than showcase themselves. They encourage participation openly rather than assuming it will happen automatically. In several churches I played in, the problem was not that people refused to sing. The problem was that no one had intentionally thought about how to help them sing. Once that question was asked, the difference could be remarkable. Listening again One of the strange privileges of sitting at an organ bench is that you learn to listen carefully to the room behind you. When a congregation really sings, you feel it through the bench and pedals as much as you hear it. The sound moves through the room like a single voice made up of many imperfect ones. It is not polished. Some voices drift off pitch. Some enter late. Yet the sound carries a unity no performance can create. It is the sound of the church speaking together. And once you have heard it clearly, you begin to notice when it starts to fade. The question facing many churches today is not simply what style of music they prefer. The question is whether the congregation itself is still expected to sing. Felix Lilly is a musician in Portland, Oregon who has served as a pipe organist in several local churches. He writes about church life, music, and Christian discipleship....

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Trees, rocks, water, sky, wildlife - Sheila Van Delft paints refreshment for the soul

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When the Church stops singing