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Professing God's Name, unashamed, at the Stanley Cup

If you’re a keen hockey fan, you probably watched the last game of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers. And while there are many unchristian parts to the game – unsportsmanlike penalties, cursing, sports betting – if you watched long enough, you would have heard one player praise God after lifting the iconic silver trophy.

As each player took his turn hoisting the cup, the various broadcasters were interviewing players on the ice. Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky used his minute and a half on Canadian sports broadcast Sportsnet to say this:

“I want to thank God for everything that I have and everything that I don’t have… Over my career, I've had so many ups and downs, you know. And one of the last downs I was probably… not many people believed in me that I can come back, you know. Yeah, and again, that’s why I thank God for this experience. I couldn’t even dream about , but now I’m here winning it twice, you know. And again, I couldn’t be more humbled and appreciative. And again, I am nothing, you know. It’s all God.”

On the American broadcaster TNT Sports, the Russian goaltender, who identifies as Russian Orthodox, said:

“I want to say glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. You know, I dedicate again… and am humbled and appreciative for everything I went through. And I want to give that glory to God. I want to thank Him for everything I have, for my parents, for my family, my wife Olga, my daughter – my two daughters – for this family . Like this family is amazing. I am blessed with everything, and I want to thank God for that.”

Although NHL players tend to be fairly private about their faith, Bobrovsky isn’t the lone Christian in the game. The Staal brothers – Eric, Marc, and Jordan– are well known for their Christian faith. Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele helps organize chapel services for his teammates. (Former) San Jose Sharks goalie James Reimer and current Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Ivan Provorov have recently refused to participate in their team’s pride celebrations out of their Christian convictions. Each example is a refreshing and encouraging example of Christians trying to live out their faith in all areas of life.

We could certainly use more of that.

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Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

Don't trust fish

by Neil Sharpson and Dan Santat 2025 / 40 pages Can you look at this title and not open the cover? And it only gets better the further on and furt...

Family, Movie Reviews

The InBESTigators

Children's show / TV 2019-2020 / 15 minutes x 40 episodes RATING: 9/10 Ava, Maudie, Ezra, and Kyle are four fifth graders with a knack for solvin...

Assorted

Am I lazy or just relaxing?

What does Proverbs say? ***** After a long and hard day at work or school, the last thing someone might want to do is more work. So, some don’t....

Assorted

Our forever home

Reflections on finding permanence from someone who has lived in 27 homes. ***** Home is Where the Heart Is. God Bless Our Home. Home Sweet Home....

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 if you want to do RP's 10-day screen-fast challenge July 21-30, it isn’t realistic to expect to manage without your phone if you haven’t made plans for what you’ll do the next time you’re tempted to reach for it. So here are ideas for what you and your family can do with your screen-free moments, minutes, hours, and days. Plan away Short-term - Using the list below and a brainstorming session with family or friends, create a list of activities for your 10 days of screen-free time. Medium-term - pull out a big piece of craft paper and along with your family create a list of items you’d love to do this summer. Long-term - Spend an hour writing out a list of 50 goals, big or small, for your future. Share and refine it with input from family and friends. On the homefront Clean one room at a time – you have 10 days, so what if you took on one room a day, and gave it the “clean, organize, and de-clutter” you’ve been meaning to do just about forever? Honey-do list - make your better half happy by fixing something. Hospitality Host a dinner for friends and do it up with candles. Make meal prep part of the entertainment by learning to make something new. Sushi anyone? How about calzones? Put on a games night, and invite your friends to bring along their favorites. Invite someone you might not normally interact with. Focus on games that allow for conversation (the less intense sort). Search for “board games” on ReformedPerspective.ca for our suggestions. Reconnect Is your family spread across the continent, or around the world? Pick up the phone and chat away – phone one person a day. Everyone loves a letter – make a package to mail away to grandma and grandpa. Read something awesome While your local library likely has too much weird stuff to want to take your kids there, you can reserve books to pick up. Before you turn off your computer to start your screen fast, be sure to check out RP’s recommendations for picture books, graphic novels, biographies, and novels for all ages. We have hundreds of nominees for you at Reformedperspective.ca/books. Remember to take a book with you wherever you go to fill in those spare moments when you used to play a phone game. New Testament Bible reading challenge anyone? If you read for a half hour each day, starting at Matthew, you could make it through most of the gospels in 10 days. Listen to a dramatized audiobook like the Chronicles of Narnia. Interview someone Interview your grandparents or parents or an inspirational someone you’d like to learn from… but first, alone, or together with friends or family, come up with a list of 20 questions to ask them. How did they meet their spouse? Was there an important lesson they learned the hard way? How have they seen God acting in their life? If they could go back in time, what would they tell their 15-year-old self? Etc. Interview your cat, dog, or even your favorite book, and imagine the answers they’d give. Be sure to write it all down, so you can share it with your family! Start (or share) a hobby Always wanted to learn to crochet, draw, or play the guitar? Get yourself prepped to give it a real go by either finding someone who will teach you, or finding a book or maybe even a video series (maybe that’s one of your exceptions?). Teach your kids, or a friend’s kids, how to sew, whittle, sketch, paint, or hit a baseball. Get some exercise Go for a long walk each day or head out on a hike with your spouse, family, a friend or two, or take the time alone to talk with God. Try something new. Pickleball anyone? Rock climbing? How about swimming? Or what about a program to help with your achy knees? Volunteer Babysit for a couple so they can have a nice evening out. Ask your oma if she needs any help around her house or yard. Deliver some Let Kids Be brochures door-to-door for ARPA Canada. Staycation Become a tourist in your own backyard and check out your local attractions – museums, zoo, historical sites, hiking and biking trails, playgrounds, thrift stores, and more. Build a fire in your backyard, roast marshmallows, make s’mores, stargaze, and swap tall tales. Reboot your gratitude Start a gratitude journal and journal daily – God has given us so much that we can easily overlook the blessings all around. Give Him glory by taking the time to see it all. Make it a family challenge to come up with 5 (or more, or less – see how hard or easy it is) events, people, or things that made you happy today. Write each one down on a notecard, accompanied by some related artwork, and post them to a hallway wall. For motivation’s sake, come up with a small reward (a Hershey kiss?) for each notecard, and a small penalty (one push-up per) for whatever each participants falls short of. Click away Create a photo scavenger hunt for your friends – a list of 10 items for teams to search out and find in the great outdoors and take a picture of to prove they found them. Items can be anything, but they should be possible, but hard, to find like a four-leaf clover, or something in nature shaped like a Z, etc. Take pictures for RP's summer photo contest. Find the rules and deadline by clicking here. An evening inside Read the same book together, out loud with one copy (taking turns, and maybe while doing a puzzle) or quietly with multiple copies. Be interruptible so you and your kids can share your favorite parts. Create your own game together. It can be whatever you like, but two easy and fun possibilities involve variants on Pictionary and charades. The first step is to create a “deck” of 100 things you’ll either draw or act out with every player contributing ideas. You can now divide into teams, or just take turns being the drawer or actor, with everyone else guessing. Mix it up by giving the option of acting or drawing the card. Play a round and get everyone to offer up a new twist on the rules and then vote on your favorite and play again. Write Write about your experiences doing the screen-fast and think about sharing it with RP! Write a letter to your younger self and share the 10 pieces of advice you’d want him to know. Falling asleep Fall asleep to a devotional. If you find it hard to get to sleep at night without a screen, try reading a devotional. Prayer, and then a few minutes reading, can help you hand off your concerns to God. If you’re married, take turns doing the reading. Couples can use the undistracted time at the end of the day to be fully present with their spouse – emotionally, spiritually, and physically. Turn off the screens and turn toward each other. Challenges Everyone loves a competition so create a challenge a day and recruit your family and friends. Examples could include doing 100 of anything (push-ups, squats, etc.) over a day. Or going 24 hours without saying anything negative (do a pushup/squat when you blow it). Track how many times you reach for or pine for your screen using a communal tick – maybe a sheet of paper on the fridge. See how you compare to your friends, and how your first day compares to day 10. Challenge your kids to find 10, 20, or even 100 things in their room (or the house) to throw out or give away. Plan out the next challenge that Reformed Perspective should do. Pictures by Hannah Penninga....

Assorted

Sliver Mustard's journey

Perhaps as many as a million people lived in Noah's Grove. A thriving community, it had begun small but had grown over decades and centuries. Children were born, grew up and had more children. Farms dotted the surrounding countryside and buildings edged the skyscape. Markets with fresh produce were held every Tuesday and Friday. Housewives milled about stands filled with round cabbages, bright yellow carrots, leafy greens and the like. And there were, as in all towns, the rich and the poor, the beggars and the bag ladies as well as the ones whose pockets were filled with clinking coins, the shy and the forward, the meek and the proud. The mayor of Noah's Grove was a portly man. Well-fed and financially secure, he possessed the gift of persuading people he was the right man for his job. Amiable, he ambled through the cobble-stoned streets greeting both children and adults alike. He wore a great, heavy golden chain about his neck, a chain much admired by the younger population of Noah's Grove. The head of the police in Noah's Grove was very much respected and recognized by all. Perhaps it was due to the fact that muscles rippled through the lining of his shirt. He wore a star on the lapel of his blue jacket. His broad jaw embosomed law and order and commanded obedience. Then there was the local judge – a man venerable and full of years. Grey-headed, thinning hair partly covered by a fur-lined beret, he walked upright - shoulders erect. His green eyes were so piercing that people avoided his glance. They were convinced that his eyes might ferret out every little misdeed they had committed. But he was only a human as they were human - and, as such, he was also prone to sin. There were also the bankers, the bakers, the butchers and the candlestick makers; the soldiers, the sailors and the craftsmen; and the list of Noah's Grove citizens could run on and on and on. An honest man Sliver Mustard, a street cleaner, was also a resident of Noah's Grove. A tiny seedling of a man, shriveled and old, he resembled the broom he perpetually held in his hands. It was his job to sweep some of the sidewalks and the streets of the town. He didn't look up much while he was cleaning, as he was always searching the ground for dust, for dirt, for any sort of refuse. He was a kindly type of fellow, an honest man, for whenever he found anything he considered to be of value, he would pick it up and knock at the door of the house in front of which he had been sweeping. "Pardon me. Have you lost this?" he would ask, holding up the particular object he had just found. Mostly people would glance at the item for an instant before shutting the door in his face. The recovered items were mostly trinkets, baubles, and in Sliver Mustard's rough, grimy hands they usually appeared rather dirty and worthless. Sometimes a small child would remember and recognize a lost necklace, or a toy and a smile of happiness would cross a little face as an eager hand reached for the article the sweeper held up. And in these rare moments the street sweeper felt as if he had performed a singular service which somehow outshone the stars he so admired at night. He sometimes wondered at the possibility of a star falling down from the sky into his gutter. Would he then be able to knock on the gate of heaven and ask God if He had lost it? Then, pondering upon this possibility, he would smile to himself, smile almost shyly, knowing in his heart that such a thing could not be. Who was he to return a thing to the Creator? For were not all things His? Invitations go out The letter carrier brought invitations one day - invitations from His Majesty, the King, for all the citizens of Noah's Grove. The content of these invitations was the same for everyone and commanded citizens to present themselves to be painted by the greatest artist of all times - Mr. Potter. The envelopes containing the invitations were deposited into the various mailboxes around town. Slipped into the black, open-mouthed slots, they were retrieved first by one person, then by another. Word traveled quickly. "You'll never believe who contacted me...." "I received a personal word from ...." The street sweeper heard the town's folk talk, listening as he swept out the gutters and cleaned the grey-mouthed cracks in the sidewalks. He was glad that the widow on the corner of Church Street had received a notice. She frequently smiled at him and was a kind woman. Sliver Mustard also rejoiced when a simple-minded fellow, a lad who helped the blacksmith at the forge each day, was ecstatically waving about an envelope. Sliver Mustard did not expect an invitation for himself. In the first place, he had no mailbox, and in the second place, what interest could Mr. Potter possibly have in him? Indeed, even if Mr. Potter did know him, why would he want to paint an old, grizzled geezer like himself – dusty, dirty and quite, quite unattractive? Yet there it was when he came home that evening. Outlined white and pure on the faded blue tablecloth of the kitchen table, it made every object in the one-room shanty flow with warmth. Sliver Mustard gingerly wiped his right hand on his pants, thereby making it even dirtier than it had been. Picking up the envelope between his thumb and forefinger, he carried it over to the chair and sat down. For a long while he did not move. He simply held onto the unexpected pleasure. It seemed to him this was enough. That he had been remembered - this was beyond belief. Finally, mustering up all his courage and strength, he opened the envelope. Or perhaps, the envelope opened itself in his hands. Later on, he could not quite remember. Fully expecting the note to read along the lines of "Sliver Mustard, perhaps next time I come to town...." or "Sorry, Sliver Mustard, but you do not meet the qualifications as I have set them...." But he read no such lines; he didn't read anything of the sort. The words that Sliver Mustard read were these: "This is to ask Sliver Mustard to present himself as he is, tomorrow afternoon, at three of the clock, at the hill." One shirt, no dryer Sighing deeply, Sliver Mustard leaned back in his chair. He had sat up straight for the reading of the letter but the words overwhelmed him. He stretched out his feet in front of him. He only owned one shirt, a shirt which he rinsed out every Saturday night, hung out to dry and put on again on Sunday morning. He bathed weekly in a nearby creek. There was hardly time to perform these ablutions now. As he contemplated his options, he knew that he had none. Sliver Mustard both longed and feared to go. He sat in the chair all of that night, dozing and waking at intervals. He sat as the dark hours crept by and as the light of morning dawned through the small window in the kitchen. Sliver Mustard still swept the streets that morning. It was his job after all. It was what the town was paying him to do and it would not be proper for him to neglect that job. Promptly at twelve he stopped, and, carrying the broom over his shoulder, headed home. He brushed his hair, regretted the ownership of a hat and rubbed a rag over his shoes. Then he washed his hands at the sink and ran a washcloth over his face. It was time to go. There was no doubt about it. It would never do to keep Mr. Potter waiting. Force of habit made him pick up his broom. Outside, Sliver Mustard trailed, by several miles, all the other people from town also going in the same direction. They were far ahead and he could just make out the glint of the mayor's chain as it shone in the noonday sun. He did appear to be last for when he turned his head, he could see no one behind him. As he walked, he noted with a bit of alarm, that it was later than he had thought. Picking up his steps, he pondered on the pitiful figure he must cut. Perhaps the invitation had been a mistake. But it had read, in unmistakably clear printing, "This is to ask Sliver Mustard to present himself as he is.... With a flower in his buttonhole The sun shone down hotly on Sliver Mustard's body and he began to sweat. Trudging on through what appeared to be endless stretches of road, he felt his shirt cling damply to his body. What a wretched figure he was! He sincerely wished that he was wearing a chain such as the mayor had. Not a gold chain - that would be a presumptuous thing for which to wish. But a metal chain, an inexpensive chain, one that would also glint and shine a bit. Surely the mayor, leading all the folks in Noah's Grove towards Mr. Potter, was a fine sight to behold - dapper and upright. He glanced at the fields around him and noticed a broken lily at the side of the road. Undoubtedly someone from town in his haste to see Mr. Potter had trampled on it. Stooping down, he picked the flower up. There was no door on which to knock and ask if someone had lost it. There was only a field of flowers. For a moment he was enthralled. How beautiful these flowers were! Dressed as the Creator had seen fit to dress them. "Have you lost this...?" He smiled and carefully put the lily in the buttonhole of his dirty shirt. No chain, but surely this was just as good. But as Sliver Mustard trudged on, the thought that Mr. Potter would be unimpressed with him weighed him down more and more. Surely, he would have to be! He fingered the frayed cuff of his sleeve. And for a moment he coveted the star embroidered jacket that the head of the police would be wearing. Still, he reflected a minute later, it would be hot walking in such a uniform jacket today. Sliver Mustard stopped to contemplate. And as he stopped, a bird alighted in his shoulder. It was a sparrow. A lily and a sparrow! What strangeness was this? There was no house here – no house at which he could ask "Excuse me, but have you lost this sparrow?", and he was secretly glad of it. Sliver Mustard kept on walking, embellished with a flower and a bird. "Clothes make the man." That's what people were wont to say and he understood that saying and sentiment. But was it true? Mr. Potter had not said it in his invitation. The words in Mr. Potter's invitation read, "This is to ask Sliver Mustard to present himself as he is, tomorrow afternoon, at three of the clock, at the hill." Clothes make the man? As he pondered, Sliver Mustard almost tripped over several clods of earth in his path. His scuffed shoes kicked the mud unintentionally and they flew ahead of him. Surely, most of the town's people had reached the hill by this time – had reached it clean and well-dressed. Would Mr. Potter be able to paint all of them simultaneously? He sighed and bent down, taking a rag out of his pocket as he did so, fully concentrated on rubbing a bit of a shine back onto his shoes. The lily touched his face as he bent and the sparrow chirped. "Why, Sliver Mustard?!" Startled, he looked up, finding himself face to face with the mayor, flanked by the police chief and the judge. How could he not have seen them coming? "On your way to the hill, Sliver? He nodded. The mayor's chain glinted, glinted so that it hurt Sliver Mustard's eyes. "You need not bother, Sliver," the mayor went on in a kindly sort of way. "You need not bother to go on to the hill." Sliver Mustard was puzzled as he stood up, stuffing the rag back into his pocket. What did the mayor mean? "Mr. Potter," the mayor continued, his voice heating up, "wanted me to take off my chain and my robe of office. Can you believe that? He wanted me to be painted without the symbols that define me. He told me to take them off." Dumbly Sliver Mustard shook his head. The police chief and the judge had walked on without bothering to speak and the mayor began to follow them. **** For a long time Sliver Mustard watched them - he watched them until they disappeared around a bend in the road. Then he turned. He smelled the lily and it was a sweet smell to him. He heard the sparrow on his shoulder sing and it was a song of fullness. In his heart he believed the words of the invitation, and he could see the words as clearly as if they had been written across the wide, wide overhead sky. "This is to ask Sliver Mustard to present himself as he is, tomorrow afternoon, at three of the clock, at the hill." So Sliver Mustard went on and on. At three of the clock he reached the hill. The watchman at the gate opened the gate and drew him in. And Sliver Mustard was painted as he was. Christine Farenhorst is the author of many books, including a short story collection/devotional available at Joshua Press here. She has a new novel – historical fiction – coming out Spring 2017 called “Katharina, Katharina” (1497-1562) covering the childhood and youth of Katharina Schutz Zell, the wife of the earliest Strasbourg priest turned Reformer, Matthis Zell....

News

How far Christians can go to defend
their property

Ontario premier Doug Ford recently remarked that “like down in the U.S., we should have the castle law” in response to a recent attempted theft of his car. He was also responding to the recent arrest of a someone for firing his gun in the air to scare off thieves. A castle law allows people to use force – even deadly force – to defend their property. The concept originated with two enormously influential Englishmen from the 17th century. Jurist Sir Edward Coke stated that “a man’s house is his castle” (Institutes of the Laws of England). Political philosopher John Locke viewed property as an extension of the human person and thus also concluded that it is “lawful for a man to kill a thief, who has not in the least hurt him nor declared any design upon his life” (Two Treatises of Government). But the Bible doesn’t go quite so far. Exodus 22:2-3 (NIV) says, “if a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed.” The logic of this command is fairly straightforward. In biblical times, there were no electric lights and even candles were few and far between. And so, if someone broke into your house in the middle of the night, it would be very difficult to identify the intruder, discern his intentions, and respond with appropriate force. Under these circumstances, if the homeowner happened to kill the intruder, he would not be guilty of murder. But that did not hold true if the attempted robbery happened in broad daylight. Under these conditions, it would be easy to identify the robber, see what he is doing, and then respond appropriately. If the homeowner killed this thief in broad daylight, he would be guilty of murder. Applying the principles of this passage today means that no Christian has the right to kill another person simply to defend his property by day. While he might be able to use lethal force at night, the modern conveniences of electricity mean that we have the ability to effectively make the night as bright as day within our homes. If you hear a noise in your living room in the middle of the night and you go downstairs, flick on the lights, and see a burglar there taking off with your stereo, you wouldn’t have the right to use deadly force. And just to sum up, it is worth noting that Scripture (Romans 13:4) and our confessions (Belgic Confession, Article 36) recognize that power over life and death – the sword in days of old and the gun in the modern day – to punish or prevent wrongdoing is given primarily to governments rather than private citizens. Just as we don’t want the government to overstep its authority, private citizens should be careful not to take the law into their own hands either....

News

Saturday Selections – June 21, 2025

Pay it flowered Here's a fun one... and it brightened more than just the recipient's day. Your marriage doesn't have a communication problem... Admittedly, that might be a thing for some. But for the rest of us, what our marriage has is a sin problem. When they want you to wear the rainbow... maybe you should On June 13, the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team celebrated "Pride Night" and wore baseball caps with their LA logo in rainbow colors. Pitcher Clayton Kershaw wasn't going to just go along with it, and decided he'd point folks to what God has decided the rainbow really stands for. Kershaw used a white sharpie to write "Gen 9:12-17" right next to the logo on his hat which reads: "God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.'" Brave and brilliant. The world's foremost false teacher When the pope died, there were some Protestants who thought we should not speak ill of the dead. But as others celebrated his life, isn't it all the more important to highlight the terrible damage he did? As Tim Challies writes: "...Francis dedicated his entire life to laboring within the world’s largest heretical denomination—one that has more than a billion adherents. He was Supreme Pontiff of it for his final 12. He spent 67 of his years in the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), an order created for the specific purpose of countering and eradicating the teachings of Protestantism. During his time as pope, he communicated heretical doctrines to more people than any other human being. No healer, no crusader, no preacher, and no teacher came close." 20 engaging questions to ask kids at church My wife is always able to chat up our kids' friends when they come over. She always seems to have a ready question to get the conversation going. These questions struck me as good inspiration if ever I have to make noodles and white sauce for a throng of kids on my ownsome. U2's With or Without You ...with four guys, one guitar, and loads of creativity! ...

Interview with an artist

Rachel VanEgmond is exploring God’s general revelation

Politics

Man Up: ARPA leaderboards and the call to courageous action

Internet

How to stay sane in an overstimulated age

Reconnect information and action ***** In today’s hyperconnected world, information comes at us fast and furious, from every direction, 24-7. We w...

News

Faded road lines symbolize faded Christian values

Having a hard time seeing the lines on the road? You aren’t alone. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities is lobbying for changes to a rule from ...

News

Saturday Selections – June 14, 2025

Allison Eide's one-shot "In the Moment" The song is great, but the video is even better – Christian artist Allison Eide got her friends together to create this epic non-stop, one-shot video. If you only had one day to live... ...what would you do with it? And where would your focus be? 13 questions to level up your family dinner conversations This is a free resource from the author of The Tuttle Twins books and TV series. Questions include: How many people do you think helped make this meal? What would we eat if we each had to produce all our own food? Would it be good if everyone who worked made the exact same wage no matter what job they did? The perspective offered is small government, rather than biblical, but the latter does line up with the former. So parents can make ready use of this, steering the conversation to test both the prevailing cultural take, and the counter-argument provided, against God's thoughts. AXIS free guide to teen slang AXIS is dedicated to helping Christian parents understand the culture their kids are growing up in. Their 13-page Guide to Teen Slang is one of their most popular resources, giving parents insider information on the often sexually-charged lingo their kids, or their friends, might be using. New study finds humans and chimps don't share 99% of our DNA ...and the way it is (not) being covered shows something too. Why should my boss get all the profits? God's law is written on our hearts, such that even the world knows adultery, murder and theft are wrong. But sins can put on disguises, and envy and covetousness love to masquerade as "fairness" or "justice." This video can help us see through this lie. Another discernment aid: I recently saw a tweet that asked, "If my rent money is paying for my landlord's mortgage, shouldn't I be part owner?" Matt Walsh responded: "This reminds of the time I bought a Big Mac and became CEO of McDonald's." ...

Religion - Roman Catholic

The Way

Jesus told his disciples, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6) **** Many years ago, my husband and I, plus some of our children, traveled from Owen Sound, Ontario to Michigan, USA. We attended the wedding of a close friend and had a wonderful time. It was late afternoon when we left Michigan and I was assigned the task of holding the map and marking out the route we were to take back to Ontario. It was in those ancient days before cars were equipped with GPS. The beginning of our way home was fairly easy. The children were quiet and relaxed, and no one had yet attained the “Are we there yet?” syndrome. However, as it grew darker and the small print on the map became more and more difficult to read, things grew a little trickier. Eventually, as the hours drifted by, questions from my husband, such as: “Are you sure we turn left here?” and “Things don’t look familiar,” and “I don’t recall this town at all,” waxed stronger and stronger. Truth be told, it totally altered the atmosphere in the car from cheerfulness and unconcern to one of uncertainty and skepticism as to my abilities to be a pilot. The climax of this trip was reached when we drove under a blue, overhead sign which welcomed us, in large white letters, not to Ontario, but to Indiana. We, consequently, arrived home a little late, but our marriage was intact. *** Pope Francis, the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, went on the last lap of a journey in April of this year, 2025. He died. His journey, like the journey of all living souls, had been woven throughout his life with many twists and turns. He had been equipped with a map as well. However, the map he chose to carry was a trifle skewed. Consequently, his direction resulted in being a little lopsided, a trifle off kilter and amazingly crooked. There were a number of turns Francis should have totally avoided. When he came to the “Sola Scriptura” sign, he wrongly headed toward “Scripture and Tradition.” When there was a clear indication that no tolls would be required at the “Sola Gratia” causeway he calmly swerved off into “Grace and Cooperation.” At the neon lights proclaiming “Solus Christus” he shrugged, turned his steering wheel the opposite way, repairing to “Christ and the Church.” At the roundabout, which clearly pointed to the fact that the first right, “Sola Fide,” should be taken, he took the left turn, pushing for “Faith and Good Works.” And when he came to a flashing yellow light indicating “Soli Deo Gloria,” he braked, scratched his head and sighed. Then, although he took the flashing yellow light into account, he turned back and took the alternate route of “Glorification of the Saints.” Francis’ driving ability was almost certainly hampered by his bound hands. They had a rosary wrapped around them. Or perhaps the pallium he wore – the sleeveless cape bearing six black crosses and made with the wool from two lambs – somewhat hindered his arm movements. Or, most probably, the white cloth draped over his face, weighed down with a collection of medals and coins from his reign as pope, blinded and handicapped his capacity for sound judgment. Jesus told His disciples in the specific map instructions of John 14:6 (and He is also telling us): “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” This was an excerpt of a devotional chapter from an upcoming book by Christine....

Being the Church

Christians don’t pray

Who says that Christians don’t pray? Of course, Christians pray, don’t they? Isn’t prayer one of the essential characteristics of Christian life? Every time the family sits at a meal someone prays asking God to bless the food. When they go to church, the preacher prays and people bow their heads and join him in prayer, don’t they? What kind of nonsense is this to say that Christians don’t pray? Wow, what a way to start an article! Let me see if I can explain. ***** It is Friday evening and a missionary has come to your church to present the situation in Upper Castelia. He says that the national leaders are in some distress, the people are poor and mistreated, the missionaries are understaffed, and the government is refusing to grant visas to new missionaries. They are also having difficulty with their financial support. The people need Bibles, food, medical help, and national pastors. But his main concern is the need for prayer for the people. He asks the congregation to pray for him and his family as they will be returning to Upper Castelia Castelia next month. The appeal strikes a chord in your heart and mind. You say to yourself, “By God’s grace, I will pray.” As the pastor closes the service, he mentions the need to pray for “our sister Martha” in the hospital with cancer. After the service you shake hands with the missionary and give his wife a hug. You whisper to them, “I’ll pray for you.” You get into your car and drive through traffic rehearsing in your mind the words of the missionary. You are a careful driver but there are so many bad drivers who speed or forget to signal. And some guy seems to be glued to your back bumper. Aloud, you say, “Why aren’t there any police around to arrest him for tailgating? Drivers these days need to take a refresher course on driving courtesy.” When you arrive home a little frustrated, you have things to do. The kids have to get to bed on time because Saturday is a busy day. After you tuck them in you can relax. This will give you some time to check a few things on Facebook. A few hours later, you pull yourself away from the computer and turn on the television evening news. Looks like taxes are going to increase. Cost of living is up. There was an accident on the major highway. An offender was released on parole after serving only half of his sentence. The fire crews were called out to a blaze on Main Street. There’s a hint of some impending scandal in the government. The sports scores show that your team is not doing nearly as well as it should. Ahh, here’s the weather. Tomorrow is going to be pretty much the same as today with the slight possibility of precipitation. After the news you tidy up the place, put the few empty snack dishes into the sink, yawn, and get into bed ... too tired to pray. Saturday is another busy day. The children are up early. Bob needs a ride to sports practice and Barb needs to go to swim class. The Thompsons are coming over for the barbecue. You’re too busy to pray. On Sunday morning you rush around getting the family ready for church. During the service, your pastor mentions the good meeting last Friday with the Upper Castelia missionaries. Yes, you silently agree, “We need to pray for them.” Apart from church, Sunday’s routine doesn’t differ significantly from the other days. You said you would pray for the missionaries, but you haven’t. You are irritated by bad drivers, but you don’t pray for them. You are disturbed by what you hear and see on the news, but you don’t pray. You complain about the government, but you don’t pray. Since Martha wasn’t in church, you forgot all about her. And I say, “Christians don’t pray.” ***** I hate to say it (having been a pastor, now retired) but even some pastors don’t pray. They lead in prayer in church services, they pray at the bedside of suffering people, and they promise to pray for you. But with all the cares of the church, they don’t spend time praying in their offices or in their homes. Again I say, “Christians don’t pray.” Jesus prayed. Many times He went off alone to pray. The disciples watched the Lord pray and came to the realization that compared to Him they really didn’t pray. They heard the self-righteous prayers of the Pharisees, but Jesus prayed differently. They came to Jesus with a simple request: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). They wanted a life of prayer. The Lord’s response was just as simple as their request. In the Sermon on the Mount, He told them to avoid the way that their leaders prayed. Then He gave them a template for prayer. You have probably memorized it. “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen” (Matt. 6:9-13, NKJV). The ancient Greeks argued about which was more important: form or content. To a thirsty person, form without content is like a cup with no water. Content without form is like a splash of water in the face. Both form and content (cup and water) are necessary. When it comes to a life of prayer, the same is true. The words and requests are the content, but the structure is the form. A prayer list needs some structure. The Lord’s answer to the request of the disciples provides us with a very comprehensive structure. “Hallowed be Your name.” Begin with exalting God. When Jesus died on the cross, “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matt. 27:51). And now we who believe in Jesus Christ have free access to God. We can approach God’s throne of grace boldly to “obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). Prayer, therefore, begins with adoration of God as your heavenly Father who invites you into His presence. “Your kingdom come.” Pray for the extension of the Lordship of Christ in the lives of your relatives, friends, and neighbors. Pray for missionary work around the world. Be specific. “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God has set leaders over us so that His will might be done here. He has given the church pastors and elders to give spiritual guidance. Pray for them. We are to be subject to the civil authorities, too. Pray for teachers, police, firemen, wardens, medical people, employers, and political leaders. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Notice that our needs are not first in the list and it is not “my” need but “our” need. What are the daily needs of your family, church, friends, co-workers, and neighbors? The elderly need safety and health. Parents need wisdom. “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” In the same way that we forgive others, we want God to forgive us. Remember the story of the steward who would not forgive the man who was under him although he himself had been forgiven a vast amount (Matt. 18:23-35). The man who has truly been forgiven cannot help but to forgive others. “Lord, forgive me for my sin.” “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” This is a prayer for spiritual safety as well as physical safety for you and all those you know. We ask to be kept from temptation, including the temptation to waste our time that keeps us from our prayer time. Your temptation may be different from mine, so ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance for spiritual victory. Early in our marriage, we spent a few days with my wife’s parents. Her father was a successful pastor. I asked my mother-in-law, “What is Dad’s secret?” She said, “I have patched the knees of his long johns many times, but I have never patched the seat.” On a personal note, every day for the 60 years of our marriage, we have spent at least 30 minutes each evening as our devotional time. I will read about two chapters of the Bible aloud and my wife will follow along in her Bible, then she will pray aloud. The next night it’s her turn to read two chapters and I pray. We have read the Bible through cover-to-cover many times in many versions. We have several pages of prayer requests. Each page follows the pattern of the Lord’s prayer. May I encourage you to turn off the computer and the TV half an hour before bedtime. Dedicate that time to reading aloud and praying. I started this article with the words, “Christians don’t pray” but after reading what I have written, I hope you can say, “Some Christians don’t pray, but with God’s help, I pray.” John Barach has been a pastor and Bible college professor and still runs a biblical Greek tutorial website at GreekDoc.com. He and his wife look to celebrate their 60th anniversary in August....

Internet

How to use AI like a Christian boss

Imagine you’re the boss of your own company. After months of searching, you’ve just landed the most brilliant assistant in the country. He’s lightning-fast, top of his class in every subject, and available 24/7. He never sleeps, never complains, and never forgets a deadline. You can ask him for ideas, outlines, editing help – even technical research – and he’ll give you an answer in seconds. Best of all? He’s already sitting at your desk. His name is AI. Now here’s the catch: he’s not human and doesn’t share your values, or know right from wrong, and he always speaks with confidence even when he’s completely wrong. If you hand over your work to him, he might give you something that sounds smart, even impressive. But he might also serve up something misleading, shallow or just plain false. And because you’re the boss, it’s your name – and your integrity – on the line if anything goes wrong. Most of us aren’t bosses of our own companies…but every Christian has a calling to steward time, talents and resources. From the beginning, God made man to rule over creation (Gen. 1:26), and that includes ruling – rather than being ruled by – technology. There are valid reasons to approach AI with caution (as we’ve seen in previous Reformed Perspective articles like “Will AI Replace Reading?” and “Is AI Just Another Tool – or Something More?”). Even so, AI is here to stay, and it’s already reshaping the job market, communication, and everyday life for many people. One global management group says AI has the potential to be as transformative as the steam engine. AI is a tool unlike anything we’ve seen before, but at its core, that’s what it remains: a tool. And like any tool, it can be used for good or evil, depending on the people designing and directing it. Used wisely, AI can be an excellent assistant, capable of drafting hundreds of words in a short time. However, not all that AI produces is wise, relevant or true. That is why it’s important to think critically and test everything it says. Proverbs 14:15 reminds us, “The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thought to his steps.” Just as it would be unwise to operate heavy machinery without proper training, Christians should not use AI without preparation and thoughtfulness. Quick answers can be tempting, but Proverbs 21:5 reminds us: “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.” Rushing to use AI without wisdom or careful review can lead to shallow or even dangerous results. I work as a project coordinator for a company that produces curriculum and I use AI almost daily in my work. It’s helped me draft content, edit writing, brainstorm ideas, and even develop Christian material (it does know a thing or two about Reformed theology). But I’ve also seen how quickly it can go off course. Used wisely, AI can be part of faithful stewardship. If you’re considering AI – or already using it – these seven principles can help you use it to the glory of God without compromising convictions or integrity. 1. Be the boss – not the bystander AI is here to assist, not lead. Think of it like a new apprentice: helpful, fast, and tireless – but not wise. AI can draft an article, summarize a report, or give you a list of ideas, but it doesn't know whether those ideas are any good. That’s your job. Use AI to boost your productivity, not replace your discernment. If you're an engineer or electrician, you know how this works already. An apprentice can be a huge help – they might prep materials, run calculations, or handle basic wiring to save you time. But when it's time to sign off on the plans or certify the work, it's your name that's on the line. If the apprentice makes a mistake and the building collapses or catches fire, you're the one held responsible. That’s why every detail needs to be carefully checked and approved by the licensed professional. AI is no different. It's an assistant – not the one who signs the final plans. 2. Think critically and watch for mistakes AI tools are designed to sound convincing – but convincing doesn’t always mean correct. Sometimes they generate information that looks polished but is actually shallow, misleading, or outright wrong. This is known as a “hallucination.” For example, a US lawyer who used AI for legal research is now facing his own court hearing after using false AI-generated information in court. The lawyer didn’t realize that several of the legal cases that AI had cited for him didn’t actually exist. He passed them along unchecked. I’ve experienced many hallucinations myself, such as when I asked AI to clarify a punctuation rule and it said one thing in the rule and presented the opposite in the example it gave. That’s why you can’t just copy AI’s response and hit “send.” You need to review the results carefully. If you’re using AI to explore a topic you don’t know well, make sure you double-check the facts, confirm the logic, and – if possible – ask someone with more experience to give it a second look. AI has saved me significant time researching unfamiliar topics, but before finalizing anything, I verify the sources or have someone with expertise review it. Ideally, you should have at least some grasp of what good work looks like in the area you’re using AI for. If not, treat the AI’s output as a starting point, not a finished product. Use it to learn, refine, and check your thinking… but don’t assume it’s right. 3. Train AI like an apprentice What AI gives you after your first prompt is often just a rough draft. The result might be serviceable, but it’s rarely great unless the task is very simple. After all, apprentices need training. Here are some key tips for getting better results from AI: • Tell AI the role it should take on (math teacher, history professor, writer, business expert, travel agent, event planner, etc.). • Outline as many details as possible – task, tone, purpose, websites it can research, intended audience, length. • Provide examples. • Ask AI what questions it has for you. • After reviewing the output, point out how AI can improve the results. • Do a few edits of your own and let AI know what you did for future reference. For example, a first prompt for writing could look like this – you would tell ChatGPT: “Assume the role of an expert copywriter, familiar with Reformed theology as taught by John Calvin and R.C. Sproul. You are deeply familiar with the Heidelberg Catechism, Canons of Dort and Belgic Confession. Your job is to write articles for Reformed Perspective magazine. Here are some writing guidelines for this magazine… “I'd like to write an article for this magazine titled ‘How to Use AI Like a Christian Boss.’ In it, I'd like to compare AI to a smart apprentice. You can use what they come up with, and it might be very good, but before an engineer or architect can put a stamp on it, they have to go through every detail and make sure that they stand behind it… “Write this article in prose, but structured with numbered points for how to use AI like a Christian boss. Start with an outline. But before you do that, what questions do you have for me?” The first prompt is just the beginning. After that, a “Christian boss” process would look like: • Answering AI’s questions. • Instructing it to draft the outline for the article. • Carefully reviewing the outline, making some refinements yourself and/or telling AI to make refinements. • Instructing AI to draft the article. • Doing a detailed review and editing. The edits can be done on your own or by prompting AI (see the next point for some tips on that). I usually do a mix of both personal and AI-prompted edits. With refinement, specific instructions, and key edits, working with AI can turn a mediocre first result into a solid piece of writing. Note that because getting an excellent AI response often requires multiple rounds of prompting and giving feedback, it’s not always faster to use it for a task that you only need to do once. 4. Use AI like a creative sidekick AI can be a great help when you need a creative boost. You might ask it to: • Rewrite a sentence five different ways so you can choose the best version. • Give practical examples to strengthen a concept you’re trying to explain. • Help you generate ideas for starting or improving a project. • Reword a section of text for clarity, flow, or tone. • Give feedback and ideas for improvement on something you’ve written. • Ask you questions to help you think about something in new or deeper ways. Sometimes AI comes up with something surprisingly helpful. Other times it completely misses the mark. The key is to use it as a creative partner, not a crutch. Be prepared to write things yourself if AI just doesn’t give you what you need. (Yes, AI can have an off-day too.) 5. Protect your privacy – and your mind AI tools aren’t generally private. What you type may be stored or used to train future models, depending on the platform. That means anything personal or sensitive might not stay confidential. So be cautious. Don’t share anything you wouldn’t want repeated or misunderstood. Because it can mirror your tone and affirm your ideas, AI can start to feel personal, to the point that some people have started treating it like a friend, therapist or romantic partner. However, hearing exactly what you want from a machine can pull you away from real, God-given relationships. God calls us to grow in community, where we can be encouraged in our faith and held accountable when we wander. Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (ESV). AI can echo your own voice, but it will never call you to repentance, speak truth in love, or walk alongside you in genuine discipleship. 6. Train for discernment before you use it Just as students need to understand what 2 + 2 means before using a calculator, Christians need foundational knowledge before turning to AI. Skills like reading, writing, theology, math, and logic help us recognize when AI is inaccurate, shallow, or biased. AI is trained on massive amounts of data, and although it can recite the Heidelberg Catechism, most of its data likely didn’t come from a Christian perspective. One English teacher shared that when her students used an AI tool to give feedback on their writing, it consistently flagged Christian content as “too one-sided.” Romans 12:2 warns: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” God calls us to use discernment. Without a strong grounding in Scripture, truth, and general knowledge, we won’t have the tools to spot harmful ideas or use AI wisely. 7. Don’t let AI replace real mentors AI can be a useful support for learning, without replacing skill development. It can offer feedback, generate ideas or ask helpful questions to deepen your thinking. But it should never replace the guidance of real people. For Christians, learning isn’t just about improving skills or producing results. It’s about growing in wisdom and character. AI can’t be trusted to help you think biblically, challenge you in love or walk you through real-life decisions. That happens best in relationships. God commands, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6). That is not a task we should trust to AI. If young people are going to use AI, they need a strong biblical foundation and wise guidance. Without that, AI becomes a shortcut rather than a tool – and we can’t shortcut godly wisdom and discernment. Conclusion Used wisely, AI can strengthen our work and spark new ideas. But as Christians, we don’t just care about what works, we care about what honors God. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10). Faithful stewardship isn’t measured by cleverness or creativity, but by our trust in Christ and obedience to His Word. AI reflects the priorities of the person using it. So let’s bring ours under the lordship of Christ. Take responsibility. Stay alert. “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Col. 3:23). Whether you use AI or not, let this be your aim: to honor God in all things, rule over creation, and never let created tools rule over you. P.S. In case you’re wondering, I did use AI like a Christian boss to write this article. See the short article below. ***** WHOSE SPEECHES WERE THEY? A quick conversation on having AI, and others, writing for us JON DYKSTRA: The one question I know readers will be asking, so let’s give them an answer, is, approximately what percentage of the article is AI written? Or is that even something you can put a percentage on? VALERIE VANDENBERG: That percentage question is a tough one. My process with AI involves a lot of back and forth. To give some more details, by the time AI drafted the article, I had already given it about 1,500 words of my own instructions (including the ideas I had for the article and answering AI's questions for me) in addition to giving it your writing guidelines from the Reformed Perspective website. JD: Can you get into the process just a bit more? VV: My first prompt included my ideas for the article and detailed instructions for my vision for it. Then I had AI draft an outline, which I adjusted until I was satisfied. After that I instructed AI to draft the article itself, which was followed by detailed editing (sometimes done by me, sometimes prompting AI to edit a section, and usually a mix of both). I often have AI write things a few different ways so I can glean the best ideas from the list. Or I just write it myself if I think my idea is better than what AI suggested. JD: This is something Reformed Perspective staff have been wrestling with, trying to think through the extent or limits we’d want to use ChatGPT or other AI. To this point I haven’t used it to generate text, but that’s been more a hesitancy – I’d like to listen in on the debate some more before coming to a firm conclusion – than any specific principled objections. Your article is a part of that debate, and I’m grateful for it. My initial take is that using AI to generate text, as in this article, is akin to a president using a speech writer. The writer crafts the words, but the president sets the direction, and adds in his own tweaks and orders rewrites, such that at the end he will so completely own these words, that we will fully attribute this speech to him, and not the writer. VV: Yes. The key Christian boss part of the process is that by the time I hit send to submit the article, every aspect of it (tone, content, structure, wording, etc.) is something I can stand behind, and as good as I could do alone or ideally better....

Assorted

Fun is something you make

11 tips for family road trips ***** “Bored” is a curse word in our house. Say that word, and my mom is liable to wash your mouth out with soap. ...

Pro-life - Euthanasia

Ontario shows why euthanasia “safeguards” can’t work

News

Saturday Selections – June 7, 2025

Remy on tariffs If Scotland noticed how much more wine they import vs. how much they export, they'd discover they have quite the wine trade deficit w...

Assorted

Our family’s trip to the Ark

Ken Ham’s creationist organization Answers in Genesis has built a life-size replica of Noah’s Ark in the State of Kentucky. These Christians are p...

News

T-Rex leather coming to a store near you?

According to the Interesting Engineering news site, three companies have joined forces to develop “the world’s first T-Rex leather made using the extinct creature’s DNA.” Reporter Mrigakshi Dixit noted that the first product could be available for sale already this year. The leather is made from “ancient protein sequences.” Already back in 2005, soft tissue was found in a T-rex femur and since then additional soft tissue has been found in a variety of fossils. According to Answers in Genesis’s founder Ken Ham, “the companies working together to make this ‘leather’ plan to use fossilized dinosaur collagen (a protein found in skin) ‘as a template’ to ‘generate a complete collagen sequence for the T-Rex to cultivate new skin. The collagen sequence will be translated into DNA and introduced into Lab-Grown Leather’s cells.’” Although it remains unknown if the plans will come to fruition, one thing it has accomplished is to perplex evolutionary scientists since soft tissues like this shouldn’t survive for millions of years. As Ken Ham commented: “If these researchers can create T. rex ‘leather’ in the lab, they can only do so because of the global flood that rapidly buried billions of creatures, preserving them – sometimes including soft tissue – for only thousands of years.”...

News

1 in 10 women who take abortion drug experience serious complications

The largest study ever done on the abortion drug mifepristone has found that 10.93 percent of women who were given the drug experienced a “serious adverse event,” such as sepsis, infection, or hemorrhaging, within 45 days. This is 22 times higher that the “0.5 percent” figure reported for clinical trials, as noted on the drug’s label. Unlike clinical trials, the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) study’s new data is based on what actually happened to 865,727 women who took the drug between 2017 and 2023. The EPPC also found that the “failure rate” of the drug was 5.26 percent, double the rate from the clinical trials. This was evidenced in how one in 19 women resorted to another abortion method within 45 days of taking the drug, proving that the drug didn’t accomplish what they hoped it would. It might seem strange for a Judeo-Christian group like the EPPC to critique an abortion drug for not killing as well as advertised, but they are using this as ammunition against the use of mifepristone overall. It’d be wonderful if this drug could be banned or limited in any way, because 18 times out of 19 it is horrifyingly effective at killing the baby. In Canada, mifepristone has been legal since 2015, and is provided for free in most provinces and territories....

Culture Clashes

Get out of the game

Christians need to steer clear of sports gambling ***** When I was a kid, I remember my aunt asking, whenever we were traveling somewhere, “Are we having fun yet?” Of course, we usually said “Yes!” However, by the time I reached my teens, I thought (briefly) that my leisure activities needed just a little bit more to really be entertaining, so I came up with a way to make a pinball game at the neighborhood arcade more interesting – bet on the outcome. My idea was that whoever had the lower score would pay the other player a certain amount, based on the difference in the scores. Math must not have been my strongest subject at the time, and I wasn’t any better at pinball, because after just one game, I owed my friend six hundred dollars. Thankfully, he was a generous soul, and never did make me pay up. That is not the case for sports betting online. Countless commercials play up the excitement of being more involved in what’s happening out there on the ice, or field, or track. We’re told we can “get in the game” if only we put money down on the score, or how many points or penalty minutes a player will get, or what minute the first goal will be scored – there are dozens of betting possibilities for every game. But the company on the other end of your bet is not going to forgive you if you get in over your head. Still, what if you’re not as foolish as I was? What if you bet small, and you even use apps that restrict how much and how often you can bet? Is “just a little” sports gambling online still a problem? Yes it is. And God’s Word gives us several reasons to stay away from any sports gambling. 1. Christians are called to productivity An article on ARPACanada.ca titled “Gambling: Value or Vice” points to several risks of gambling, based on Lord’s Day 42 of the Heidelberg Catechism. Among other reasons, the article notes that in the unlikely event that you do happen to be successful in betting online or any other form of gambling, you are making money without creating anything of value – the exact opposite of the creation mandate of Genesis 1 – and at the expense of others. Any money you won could only come because many others lost. Your gain is their pain. 2. Love your weaker brother And that pain can be of the life-destroying kind. Saagar Enjeti, an American anti-gambling activist, notes that online sports betting companies make about half of their revenue from about five percent of their clients, because they are targeting the problem gamblers: the addicts. Enjeti cites the notorious example of a man whose wife is suing a sports betting company, because her husband gambled away his salary, his wife’s retirement account, and even the money he got by selling a baptism present for his children. For a Christian, if you know of any brothers or sisters in the Lord who are gambling addicts in your congregation, this is even more serious, since your (extremely unlikely) success is made at the expense of someone who is not only going into debt, but destroying their family, and even possibly endangering his relationship with God by making money, that next win, their god instead. In 1 Cor. 8:13 Paul writes, “Therefore if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.” When Paul makes this commitment, it is in regard to an activity – eating food sacrificed to idols – that is not wrong in itself. How much worse it is when you continue to indulge a sinful habit that destroys your brother! 3. Don’t be a fool The same ARPACanada.ca article shares how gambling is just plain old unwise, since “the house always wins.” Saagar Enjeti notes that as foolish as gambling in a casino is, since the odds are stacked against you, sports betting generally offers much worse odds. Our provincial governments look to betting as a major revenue source – they’ve got billions dependent on you losing …and that you’ll eventually lose is still the only sure bet in all of gambling. 4. Do we really need to “get in the game” more? When I asked an Edmonton-area pastor about sports gambling, he could, thankfully, share that the young people he worked with most (from the pre-confession class) are not, by their own account, involved in any online or sports betting. However, he did address another, related, issue. In his preaching and catechism classes, he warns against the potential for idolatry in viewing sports. If your team is heading to the NHL finals, there’s a vibe in your city that is hard to describe as anything short of a religious devotion. If you don’t have God, a winning team becomes a stand-in for many. For them, “Hockey is life,” as one t-shirt proclaims. Obviously, if you are tempted toward an obsession with watching professional sports, the opportunity to bet on them is not going to help you overcome that. Are we having fun yet? As I am writing this, “my team” is winning in the second-last round of the NHL playoffs. Obviously, I will not be betting on the results, but the games will be just as exciting. Just how enjoyable is watching sports when there is money on the line anyway? Even the sports betting companies themselves are, ironically, admitting how corrosive betting is to the real enjoyment of rooting for your team. Slogans like “Your loyalty is real, but so are the odds” and “Sometimes it pays to be a bad fan” speak to how in the world of sports betting, money is the only thing that many fans now care about. Are we having fun yet? In a recent broadcast of The Agenda on TVOntario, entitled “Is Business Ruining Sports?” Morgan Campbell, from CBC Sports, notes, “We’ve seen coaches like J.B. Bickerstaff saying that they open up their social media, …their email, and there are these angry fans in here berating them about, ‘You made me blow my parlay’…. And… the specter that’s overhanging all of this is match-fixing…. And so what we don’t want is this idea that this match is fixed, that the outcome is predetermined.” Are we having fun yet? With all of the problems that we could criticize in professional sports, there is inspiration in seeing “your team” play with heart. Paul even uses sports as a metaphor for the Christian life, exhorting the Corinthians to emulate the athletic virtues of self-control and self-discipline (1 Cor. 9:24-27), just as the writer to the Hebrews commands them to “run with endurance” (Heb. 12:1). With proper discernment, we can admire honorable, excellent (Phil. 4:8) sports competition, but not if we are focused on the financial payoff for ourselves. Conclusion ARPA Canada has more articles on its site about recent provincial responses to sports betting (in Alberta and Ontario), but we do not need to wait for the government to react (wisely or unwisely) to the rise in sports betting to make up our minds. We do not want to test God by placing even small bets, thinking that we can beat temptation. We also shouldn’t want to take advantage of the weakness of others by gaining their money without working for it. Instead of trying to make the game more interesting – whether pinball or polo – let us “flee youthful passions” (2 Tim. 2:22) and follow the example of Christ: “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself….” (Rom. 15:1-3a). ...

Adult non-fiction, Book Reviews

Transgender to Transformed

by Laura Perry 2019 / 192 pages This may not be a book for everyone. It’s a hard-hitting, at times overly graphic, account of one person’s struggle with transgenderism. While painful, it’s also a hopeful book because it peels away the layers of lies, deceptions, and mistruths commonly found in most media outlets. It’s most definitely a book for mature and discerning readers only. Laura Perry, the author of Transgender to Transformed, grew up in a Christian community. Already at an early age, she felt trapped in her female body, and she eventually had her breasts cut off, and began living as a male. She soon become disillusioned with transgenderism. Rather than feeling free, she was bound to a growing snowball of lies and fakeness. However, she did love presenting herself as a man and even thought she could be a “man of God” after she returned to Christianity. But God laid it on her heart that He does not make mistakes and it was her feelings that had to change, not His reality. Convinced she had to completely submit to God’s will, and acknowledging she could only do it by His power, she left her partner, her job, her fake identity as a man, and returned to God and embraced being a woman. In her words: “When I left the lifestyle, I didn’t know if He would ever take away those feelings. But if I had to suffer with the feelings the rest of my life and feel like a freak in a body I hated, I was willing to endure it to serve Jesus Christ.” A troubled childhood and youth Already as a child Laura began to hate the body she was born in. A noisy, rambunctious extrovert in comparison to her quiet, obedient brother, she thought her mom would love her more if she was a boy. Her innocence was stolen when she was only eight years old, and this set her on a path of sexual promiscuity. Feeling that boys and men seemed to have all the power in a relationship, Laura fantasized about being a boy. Supremely angry at her parents and at God, and addicted to her self-centered lifestyle, she made a conscious decision to sin in every way possible. As a teen, Laura struggled with her health, especially her monthly cycle. This made her jealous of men. Then, when her mom found nutritional supplements that helped improve her health, it didn’t change Laura’s attitude – she still hated her female system. In fact, she refused to take the supplements, causing her health to spiral out of control, and then she blamed God for her misery. Her ballooning weight made it difficult to find men interested in a relationship. Turning to pornography and casual sex left her feeling dirty, used, and broken and she wished she could become the boyfriend she so desperately wanted. Life-changing decisions As Laura drifted through life searching for happiness, she became certain that her life would improve if only she became a man. Desperate to escape the prison of her female body, she surfed the web. This was in 2007, prior to transgenderism becoming a buzzword, and when she first learned the term “transgender,” it opened a whole new world for her. Finding a support group for people who wanted to be the opposite sex seemed like an answer to prayer. The first few years were a honeymoon period. Physically, the male hormones she started taking began to change her, and she was elated when strangers started seeing her as a man. Living as a man (renamed Jake), together with a biological male identifying as a woman (renamed Jackie), Laura was in love with her new identity. Disillusioned with the transgender lifestyle But over the next years Laura became severely depressed. A piece of paper now said she was a man, but the promised freedom had become a prison cell: clothes that didn’t fit, ongoing monthly injections, the feeling of living a lie. She was especially afraid of discovery when using the men’s restrooms. Laura started realizing she was never going to truly be a man, but she resolved to live her life in limbo rather than embrace her female reality again. While summarizing Bible lessons for her mom’s Bible study group, she came to realize there was life in the Bible and that it wasn’t just an old-fashioned rule book. The Bible and God were becoming real to her, but she still clung to her feelings, convincing herself she had a birth defect, and that God intended for her to be a boy. But as she pored over the Bible over the next few years, Laura became more and more convinced of her sin of living as a man. Then, while listening to a conservative radio show one day, Laura heard: “We are made in the image of God, and we can choose our behavior despite our feelings.” This cut her to the heart, and she began to admit to herself that she needed to repent. She realized that on Judgment Day, God would be calling her by name, and it would not be “Jake.” Finally, Laura did the hardest thing she had ever done, even more difficult than her identity change eight years before. She left behind her male name, her partner, her home, and her job, and returned to her parents and church, as a woman. Conclusion In reading Laura’s story, young adults – and older ones – will realize that growing up in a Christian community won’t insulate us from transgenderism. Fifteen years ago, Laura had to intentionally search the Internet to discover the world of transgenderism and a support group. Now, rough estimates are that 65% of youth who change their gender identity are first introduced to this confusion by influencers on social media… without any prior struggles or thoughts about being the other gender. Do you know someone struggling with feelings of wanting to be another gender? Show compassion – and tough love. Laura credits her family with being a lighthouse in her storm. They stood unwavering, refusing to affirm her feelings, and continuing to call her by her given name. Although she hated them for it at the time, she now knows it was the most loving thing they could have done, and she says: “Despite the fact that I had rejected God and all the truth I had heard growing up in a Christian home and attending a Christian school, it was not in vain. Everything I had learned had planted the seeds that were just waiting to burst forth to life.” Individuals truly struggling with their identity are often hurting. Pain may come from past abuse, or trauma can transform into self-love, with the desire to escape reality and put on a mask. This is in direct rebellion to our Creator. The Potter creates vessels for His use and purposes, but it is fallen human nature that rebels and says God must not have known what He was doing (but as we read in Isaiah 29:16: “…shall the thing framed say of Him that framed it, He had no understanding?”) In Transgender to Transformed, hurting individuals can find hope and help without turning their back on their family, their faith, and their community by self-creating a new identity. Although Laura loved her life masquerading as a man, she quickly became disillusioned with the transgender lifestyle. Eventually she came to realize that breast amputations and chemical cocktails can never change gender: she could never become a man. More importantly, she could never call herself a true Christian without denying herself. This crushing reality brought with it a true struggle against self, and only with God’s power could she fight her fleshly desires and live as God created her....

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