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News

Walmart rolls back the woke

Walmart is rolling back more than prices. In late November, Walmart’s CEO John Furner shared that the company is pulling back from some of its “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) efforts.

Walmart is the latest and largest example from a growing list of companies – John Deere, Ford, Target, and Lowes, to name a few – who have been walking away from DEI policies this year. Walmart’s decision made headlines because the company is the largest retailer and private employer in the USA, and the largest company in the world by revenue.

DEI is a central plank of critical theory, an ideology that separates the world into categories of “oppressed” groups and “oppressors.” The ideology is now the guiding force in Canadian public universities and drives the agenda of “progressive” activist organizations and political parties, including most of Canada’s political leaders. Sadly, Christian families, churches, and schools are also ingesting this ideology, as it masquerades under the banner of opposing racism and hate.

But we can see what it’s really about in what Walmart is now removing. Specific changes include plans to remove sexualized and transgender products that were targeted towards children. Walmart funds have previously been linked to groups that do drag queen story hours, but the company is promising to now ensure the community events that it supports are appropriate for children. It is also ending its participation in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, which rates American companies based on their policies for LGBTQ employees.

“This is the biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America,” noted Robby Starbuck, an activist who has been very effective in calling out the woke activities of major corporations on social media. Starbuck had warned Walmart’s executives that he would be highlighting their woke agenda. This resulted in “conversations” and Walmart’s announcement followed soon after. The company clarified that it had been working on changes well before the Presidential election or discussions with Starbuck.

For an excellent discussion on critical theory and DEI, be sure to listen to the recent Real Talk podcast interview with apologist Neil Shenvi.

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Christian education

What about a Christian university? My experience at Dordt University

I love learning. Whether that love is innate or whether it was instilled in me as I grew up, I don’t know. I’ve always loved learning about pretty much anything. The biological intricacies of life, the vastness of space, the stories of history, the nuances of political philosophy, or the mysteries of the end times have all taken their turns at seizing my imagination. And that learning didn’t stop at head knowledge. I remember a specific story from Ralph Moody’s Little Britches, a novel that my dad once read aloud to me and my younger siblings. I’ve forgotten most of the plotline, aside from the fact that the homesteading setting reminded me of the Ingalls in The Little House on the Prairie, but I remember the analogy that the father  relayed to his younger sons. “Your character is like a house,” Pa said, “You can either add boards to build it up, or you can tear boards off.” Ever since, that idea that your character requires constant building and maintenance has been etched into my mind. And so, when I was in my final year of high school, I naturally looked for places to pursue this love of knowledge and continue to build my character as a young Christian man. I didn’t even bother applying to secular institutions. I knew that I might glean some knowledge there, but that they certainly wouldn’t form me into a godlier Christian. To borrow from some of the parables of Jesus and the analogies of James, why would I expect a bad tree to produce good fruit or a salty spring fresh water? No, if I truly wanted to mature in my faith, I felt that an education in an institution that is antithetical to God simply wasn’t a wise option. I had spent twelve years being homeschooled, studying at a Christian school, and attending a Reformed church. My parents, my teachers, and my pastors all emphasized the importance of Christian education. Why would I forsake that lynch pin in my Christian formation after graduating high school? And so I applied to the Christian institution I was most familiar with: Dordt University. My parents had both attended the rural university in northwest Iowa. I had just stayed on campus for a week during a family reunion the previous summer. I had extended family in the area. I got a decent scholarship and was lured by the opportunity to play on a university hockey team. And so, two months after graduating from high school, I packed my bags and made the twenty-five-hour road trip stateside. Now, I have no idea what God has in store for me over the remaining years of my life, but my four years at Dordt have been the best four of my life. And I count myself a wiser, godlier, and more successful person for them. The benefits The formal academics were part of it. Dordt is a liberal arts university, meaning that every student has to take a wide range of courses in addition to required courses in their field to graduate. All of these courses were based in a Reformed Christian worldview, focusing on the religious orientation, creational structure, and creational development of all the subject matter and contemporary responses of Christians in these fields. In my experience, this Reformed worldview was applied just as consistently – if not more consistently – than the Reformed high school that I had attended. The relationships that I formed, though, were even more impactful. In university, you might be shaped by professors in the classroom 15-20 hours a week, but I interacted with other students almost every waking hour. Over 90% of Dordt’s student body lives on campus in dormitories or apartment buildings, so you are with fellow Christian students virtually all of the time. Because of this continual contact, I formed more and deeper friendships with fellow students at Dordt than at any other time of my life. I developed deep friendships with roommates, hockey teammates, and members of my “Dordt family.” These friendships even extended to the professors. I visited the homes of three or four professors over the years, attended church with some of them, and even exchanged Christmas cards with one over the years. Some of the godliest role models that I have met were fellow students from Dordt’s hockey team and from student Bible studies. Dordt is also where I met my wife, Jillian. Now, both Jillian and I very intentionally went to Dordt not to find a future spouse. We were there to study and learn, particularly in our first couple years of study. But God, in His providence, had other plans for us. He brought us together in our first year of university. We dated and were engaged most of our university life and got married a few months after we graduated. One of the most important decisions of your life is finding a spouse. I’d hazard a guess that most members of the Reformed community have found a godly spouse from their local church or local Christian high school, though some may have gone further afield to a regional youth retreat in search of marriage partners. One of the advantages of a Christian post-secondary institution is that it brings young Christian men and women from across the country – and, in my case, across the world – to the same spot. And while I firmly believe that the primary reason for education is for personal formation – formation of character as well as knowledge and skills – getting a post-secondary degree is certainly an ancillary bonus. With so many professional jobs today requiring or giving preference to applicants with a post-secondary degree, getting a degree opened up a whole new world of employment opportunities and has made me better at the job that I have now. There would be no way that I could write in this magazine as well, or analyze policies for ARPA as astutely, without having attended a Christian post-secondary institution. And finally, attending a Christian post-secondary institution was just plain fun. I stayed up well past midnight almost every night for four years laughing with friends and engaging in deep conversations with roommates. I hit the ice four times a week for hockey practice and traveled the central states playing back-to-back hockey games Friday and Saturday evenings. I started a Sunday afternoon board games club to challenge friends to friendly games of Settlers of Catan, Seven Wonders, or Tammany Hall. I traveled to Washington, DC, to attend a national conservative political action conference and volunteered at a presidential debate with the College Republican Club. I volunteered to visit a fundamentalist Mormon community in Arizona, a Navajo reserve in New Mexico, and hurricane-battered New Orleans for short-term missions trips on three of my spring breaks. I won a campus air band competition, participated in the campus choir, and jammed with talented student vocalists and musicians. A growing number of people point out that a university education might not have a positive return on investment. In other words, it might end up costing more to attend in tuition payments and lost years of income than would be made up in higher salaries over the rest of your working life. And, depending on your field of study, that can be true. But, in my opinion, that is a pretty bare, narrow calculation. If it is just about the money and just about the degree, don’t bother with Christian post-secondary. You can definitely find cheaper alternatives to get a university degree. But Christian post-secondary is more than just about dollars and cents. If you prioritize deepening your spiritual walk with the LORD, developing a godlier character, making lifelong friends, and cultivating a more consistent Reformed Christian worldview, then Christian post-secondary, especially when it has a solid Reformed base, has a lot more plusses in its column. The dangers Of course, that doesn’t mean that there are no minuses to Christian post-secondary. No institution this side of glory is perfect. Even the best Christian post-secondary institution has its faults. The temptations common to young people in every other sphere of life don’t simply disappear because they are on a Christian campus. Discerning parents and prospective students should certainly be aware of the imperfections of Christian post-secondary institutions. I saw students kicked out because of substance abuse and disciplined because of sexual sins. Some students seemed to be more interested in partying and troublemaking than studying. A saddeningly high number of students didn’t attend church on a regular basis, much less twice a Sunday. Most students thought that it was perfectly acceptable to study on Sundays. Some professors were fired for bad theology or inappropriate conduct. And some unorthodox views will certainly be present on any Christian post-secondary campus, either among the student body or among the faculty. I encountered a belief in theistic evolution, the embrace of LGBTQ identities, and an egalitarian view of gender. Many Christian universities certainly leave something to be desired on these topics. The bottom line In my experience, the perceived and real dangers and costs of Christian post-secondary have led many in the North American Presbyterian and Reformed churches (NAPARC) orbit not to even seriously consider a Christian post-secondary education, much less actually pursue one. At the end of the day, I’m sharing my positive experience with a Christian university. And I’m not necessarily arguing for a specific Christian institution. There are lots of Christian universities, colleges, institutes, and Bible colleges in North America that are faithful to God’s Word to varying degrees, and I think that there is a strong case to be made that new orthodox institutions need to spring up to train the next generation to participate in all areas of society with a Christian worldview. But I certainly am arguing for the concept of Christian post-secondary education. I’ll wrap up with an application of the familiar parable of the talents. In this parable, a master gives each of his servants different amounts of money to steward while he is away. When he returns, he rewards the fruitful servants who grew that money and rebukes the fearful servant who simply hid his talent in the ground. Sandwiched as it is between other accounts of the final judgement in Matthew 25, the central message of this parable is clear. God expects us to develop the gifts that He has given us to their fullest extent. Burying those gifts is not only a waste. It is condemned. Not every high school graduate has the academic aptitude, moral character, or the financial means to attend a Christian university. But to those who do, I encourage you to at least seriously consider one Christian post-secondary institution. It can be an excellent way to cultivate the gifts that God has given you and to grow in your development as a follower of Christ....

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Education

I’m graduating – now what?

You’re a high school senior; you’ve worked hard from kindergarten through 12th grade, and now you’re almost ready to graduate. You’re a little tired of being asked by friends and relatives: What are your plans after high school? You know they mean well, and are genuinely curious about your next steps, but you can’t answer them, because you just don’t know! I was once in your shoes, and I’d like to help you make fewer mistakes than I made as I muddled my way through the morass of post-secondary schooling and different job opportunities, before finding the right path for me. I stumbled, and I muddled, but am grateful that the Lord provided in all circumstances. What direction? When I was your age, most young folks who showed interest or aptitude inside the classroom were encouraged to pursue a university degree, for two main reasons. First, most people believed that to be able to provide well for your family, you needed a college or university degree to get the kind of job that would generate a reasonable income. Second, many Reformed Christians believed that we as the children and grandchildren of immigrants needed to have more influence on the academic and professional culture of North America. Therefore, it would be good if more Christian young people obtained undergraduate and graduate degrees. Have things changed since my high school graduation in 1986? In a word: yes. A college or university degree remains a necessity for some professions, and a helpful résumé addition for many others. But you can go without and still generate an income that will allow you to support your family, your church, and your community. If you have a specific plan that requires a degree – if you want to become a lawyer, or a minister, or a teacher – then university is your path. But what if you’re not sure? Don’t be a Logan Consider this fairly common scenario for two young Canadian students. Good buddies Logan and Josh both got pretty good grades at school, although Logan didn’t have to work very hard to get them, thanks to his good memory. He even qualified for a scholarship to McMaster University that enabled him to get reduced tuition! Josh and Logan both enjoyed working in the summers for a small local company, Boomtown Builders, doing small renovations and building decks, learning from their boss how to build efficiently and safely. Offered an opportunity, Josh decided that he would stay on full time at Boomtown after high school graduation. Logan was looking forward to his new university life at McMaster. But there were a couple of problems: Logan didn’t really know what he should study, and he hadn’t really learned how to study – in high school, he had rarely needed to crack open the books in the evenings. But of course, this was all about to change. In order to find his way, Logan took general courses in English, History, Biology and Calculus – he would have time to declare a major later. But with no one to look over his shoulder and remind him to get his assignments in on time, and without a clear direction and target to inspire him, Logan started to fall behind. Feeling behind the curve, he started to skip classes. Not going to classes meant he was ill-prepared for quizzes and tests, and he didn’t hand in some of his assignments. At the end of his second semester, Logan had failed two courses, and his marks were so poor overall that he lost his scholarship and would have to pay full tuition the following school year. Will Logan end up going back for his second year, or has he just wasted ten months and thousands of dollars? Meanwhile Josh was taking on more responsibility at Boomtown, even running a small job on his own so the company could take on a few more projects. With the boss’s encouragement, Josh enrolled in a college course on estimating, so that he could help out on that side of the growing business. His responsibilities grew, and his income grew, and Josh became a very valuable member of Boomtown Builders, with a promising future. In this simple story, Logan wasted his time and treasure by not working hard, and Josh made good progress and established a healthy direction for his life by applying his skills and working diligently. Had Logan just worked hard, attended classes, and applied himself, perhaps he also would have charted a path towards a successful career. But by enrolling at university without a clear target and direction, Logan ended up spinning his wheels ineffectively. It might have been far better for him to work a year at Boomtown to find out more about what he was good at, and what he enjoyed, before deciding on a target, and how to get there. Have a plan In Proverbs 21:5, Solomon reminds us “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.” Earlier, in chapter 19, he advises “Listen to advice, and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.” There are many resources available to high school students to help you make a plan for your post-secondary life. Your school has guidance counselors who would be glad to make you aware of opportunities that may suit your skills. Your parents, your uncles and aunts, and grandparents all might encourage you in different directions. The next time they ask you, “What are you going to do after high school?” you can ask them what they think you should do! You can’t follow everyone’s advice, but you can certainly listen and reflect on what those who know you well give you as counsel (Prov. 1:8-9). By the end of your high school years, you’ll probably have worked part time, or during the summers, with different employers. These job experiences can be hugely valuable in discovering your skills, your interests, and what long-term prospects are like in these fields. Whatever your current job is, work diligently and industriously for the benefit of your employer and their customers. On your breaks and at lunch time, ask lots of questions to your boss and your co-workers, especially about what this business needs to be even more successful. What kind of talents are needed there, and what kind of education or training might one need to fill the areas of need? Even if you determine that the type of work you did as a student isn’t something you would want as a career, you haven’t wasted your time. The experience will leave you more determined to find an occupation that you enjoy, and more motivated if you do enter college or a trade school to push through to get your qualifications: “I know I don’t want to do that, so I’ll work extra hard to chart out a different path!” Knowing how hard a restaurant server works, or how difficult it can be to work construction on a cold winter’s day will also help you gain appreciation for your neighbors who do labor in these occasionally thankless fields. Consider the cost! In Luke 14:28-29, Jesus says: “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? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will mock him.” It’s a basic principle in life, also echoed often in the book of Proverbs: have a plan, and count your costs up front! Before enrolling at a college, trade school, or university, you should carefully consider how much your certification will cost, and how you will pay for your years of schooling. One financial analyst recommends that a student spend no more on tuition and books over the course of their schooling than how much they could expect to make in their first year of employment in that profession. As an example, if a newly certified teacher could be expected to earn $45,000 in his first year of teaching, then he should find a way to spend less than $45,000 in educational expenses to earn his degree. This is just a general guideline, not a hard and fast rule, but it may give you some direction for a reasonable and prudent budget as you begin your studies. It is even more important to consider how you will pay for your degree. In the United States, it is very common for young people to borrow over $120,000 to obtain a four-year degree, and lenders have made it very easy for them to get these loans. According to Statistics Canada’s latest numbers in 2020, on average, Canadians graduating with an undergraduate degree have $30,000 in student loan debt, and will take an average of eight years to pay off these debts. Avoid the debt trap The Bible has warnings against becoming indebted, at one point comparing debt to becoming a slave: “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is a slave of the lender” (Prov. 22:7). For many, student loan debt is a trap, easy to fall into and hard to get free of, so I would strongly advise against borrowing to pay for your degree. If you find yourself short of your first-year tuition, perhaps you need to work for a year full time before starting school again. Count on working part time during the school year, and full time during breaks between semesters. Yes, homework takes time, and studying requires many hours: that is why it’s great to get your degree while you are young and have the energy and focus that may be more difficult as you take on more responsibilities later in life. Living at home and commuting to school can have a huge impact on your ability to stay out of debt. Moving out into a dorm apartment, or into a house near school with roommates may sound great, but these scenarios introduce all kinds of additional costs: groceries, utilities, rent, fast food, entertainment – these bills go up exponentially when you are away from home. No one cooks like your mother, and she would love to still have you home at dinner time. Your parents would most likely greatly encourage you to live at home so that they can enjoy your contributions to the family culture for a few more years. I know, it may sound lame, and you may wish to spread your wings already now… but your older self will thank you for your decision to study from home! Stay north young (wo)man! While researching this article, I was surprised at how low annual tuition is in Canada compared to the average costs in the USA. A full-time student at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC may pay less than $7,000 CDN for one year; while the equivalent cost at Western Washington University in Bellingham is nearer to $14,000 USD! Costs at private colleges may be considerably higher, but again the rates at Canadian schools can be far more reasonable than those at American institutions. Consider that tuition at Redeemer University in Ancaster is currently less than $10,000 CDN (thanks in part to some generous donors!), while Calvin University in Michigan begins at nearly $40,000 USD annually! (It is very common for Christian university students to get discounts and scholarships relatively easily, but these numbers do provide a helpful baseline.) Since most readers of Reformed Perspective live in Canada, I can unequivocally advise, “stay north to study – your wallet will thank you!” Are you mature enough? University can be exciting and enjoyable when you find the right course of study, but are you ready? It’s possible that you are not yet spiritually mature enough to take on the intellectual challenges of what is often a hostile environment for Christians. Professors and teaching assistants at most colleges and universities are no longer sympathetic to a Christian worldview. When you assert that there are two genders, that life begins at conception, or that you believe homosexuality is against God’s created order, teaching staff and students will let you know you have fallen far outside of the mainstream of opinion. Perhaps even more dangerous, you may begin to feel “old fashioned” or “out of touch” – does the Bible really say that? Christian post-secondary schools are not necessarily havens of safety either. Just consider how many universities were founded as Christian and aren’t now – Harvard, Yale, Oxford, and the University of Toronto to name just a few. So, drift is common, and the lecturer at the front of your class may call himself a Christian, but his view of what the Bible teaches may be vastly different from how you have been taught, and what you know to be true. I don’t mean to infer that every teacher at a Christian college is dangerous – not at all! But you must be thoroughly grounded yourself in the truths of God’s Word so that you can weigh others’ theories in the light of Scripture. How do you know if you’re ready? Ask people whose opinion you trust for their thoughts. Your grandmother, your uncle, your elder, your parents – those folks who know you well will be able to offer good insight on your readiness to make your way in the post-secondary world. Ask them to be honest, and don’t be offended if they give different counsel than you expect! Stay grounded If you haven’t yet publicly professed your faith, continue pre-confession classes while you are at college. Yes, it may fill up one more evening in your busy week, but the Lord gives us the great gift of ministers and elders who are qualified to teach the church’s confessions to young people, and who enjoy the task. So take their instruction seriously – they may be providing the very answers you’ll need when you are challenged in university. If you have professed your faith, stay diligent in your Bible study opportunities with brothers and sisters in your congregation. Take the opportunity to ask questions about anything you’ve encountered at school: you may be surprised at the wisdom of a farmer or framer, or the insight of a housewife or teacher. Chances are very good that what you are wondering about has been faced by the saints before! Closing thoughts University is not for everyone. There is nothing shameful in deciding that you don’t want a degree, and would rather get a two-year college diploma, or a certification in the trades! But if you do decide to enroll at a university, I pray that this short article can give you some guidance in how to plan your years of study. The Lord has given many different gifts to His children: work diligently with what you have, and be wise in how you use the talents He has entrusted to you....

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News, Transgenderism

Trump says what few dare about transgenderism madness

A Donald Trump campaign video made almost a year ago resurfaced after he secured his second term as American president. In Canada, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has spoken against transgender “surgeries” on children, and south of the border, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis denounced them more pointedly, labeling them “mutilation.” But neither was anywhere close to as plainspoken as President Trump in this 4-minute presentation. It is remarkable enough to warrant printing in full: “The left-wing gender insanity being pushed on our children is an act of child abuse, very simple. Here's my plan to stop the chemical, physical, and emotional mutilation of our youth. On day one I will revoke Joe Biden's cruel policies on so-called ‘gender affirming care’ – ridiculous – a process that includes giving kids puberty blockers, mutating their physical appearance, and ultimately performing surgery on minor children. Can you believe this? I will sign a new executive order instructing every federal agency to cease all programs that promote the concept of sex- and gender-transition at any age. I will then ask Congress to permanently stop federal taxpayer dollars from being used to promote or pay for these procedures, and pass a law prohibiting child sexual mutilation in all 50 states. It'll go very quickly. I will declare that any hospital or health care provider that participates in the chemical or physical mutilation of minor youth will no longer meet federal health and safety standards for Medicaid and Medicare, and will be terminated from the program immediately. “Furthermore, I will support the creation of a private right of action for victims to sue doctors who have unforgivably performed these procedures on minor children. The Department of Justice will investigate Big Pharma and the Big Hospital networks to determine whether they have deliberately covered up horrific long-term side effects of sex transitions in order to get rich at the expense of vulnerable patients – in this case, very vulnerable. We will also investigate whether Big Pharma or others have illegally marketed hormones and puberty blockers, which are in no way licensed or approved for this use. My Department of Education will inform states and school districts that if any teacher or school official suggests to a child that they could be trapped in the wrong body, they will be faced with severe consequences, including potential civil rights violations for sex discrimination, and the elimination of federal funding. As part of our new credentialing body for teachers we will promote positive education about the nuclear family, the roles of mothers and fathers, and celebrating rather than erasing the things that make men and women different and unique. “I will ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that the only genders recognized by the United States government are male and female and they are assigned at birth. The bill will also make clear the Title IX prohibits men from participating in women's sports, and we will protect the rights of parents from being forced to allow their minor child to assume a gender which is new, and an identity without the parents’ consent. The identity will not be new, and it will not be without parental consent. No serious country should be telling its children that they were born with the wrong gender, a concept that was never heard of in all of human history – nobody's ever heard of this, what's happening today. It was all when the radical left invented it just a few years ago. Under my leadership this madness will end. Thank you very much.” As thankful as we can be for the President’s courage – can you believe he actually said this? And imagine if he follows through! – Christians mustn’t overlook what he didn’t say, because someone still needs to. Trump has guts, no doubt, but he took this stand more as a matter of smarts – he understood this is still what most of his country believes. But we know from history that this sort of common-sense conservatism is shifting sand. Traditional marriage was once common sense, and only about a decade back everyone knew that killing our elderly was murder, not medicine. That sense isn’t so common now. In Canada, we have Pierre Poilievre and other conservative leaders heading our own “common sense revolution,” and it too has appeal. But what it doesn’t have is staying power: the conservative common-sense of today is merely the liberal’s position of 10 years back. We’re sliding, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, but always in the same downward direction. The only way to turn it around is to set our feet on something solid, and we know the only unshakeable foundation is God and His Truth. It’s up to the Church, then, to tell a very confused world where they can find traction. Will they join us atop the Rock? We can’t know what the Holy Spirit will do with the Truth we share, but we can be certain that we’ll honor God in the sharing of it. So, let’s say what no one else dares to: that God made us male and female, and that only He decides our gender. And let’s explain that when we ignore reality as He has made it, then craziness results, like men playing women’s sports, and people cutting off their genitals. Let’s speak what even our most courageous, common-sense politicians are scared to: that it isn’t just crazy when it is done to children; it is abuse too when mentally ill adults are maimed for some doctor’s profit. We know God’s Truth; our neighbors need to hear it. May God grant us the courage to speak. !function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r||(r=function(){(r._=r._||[]).push(arguments);if(r._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m),l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/u4"+(arguments.video?'.'+arguments.video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble"); Rumble("play", {"video":"v2597vg","div":"rumble_v2597vg"});...

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Gender roles

More to consider: women on setting life and post-secondary goals

The timing of a woman’s life can get complicated, especially when she faces decisions about whether to pursue higher education or not. In a society that insists on women getting an education and establishing a career before even thinking about marriage and family, it’s not always fashionable to point this reality out. But women simply have more considerations to take into account when making these decisions. The challenging part is because there is no guarantee of a husband coming along, or children being born, she faces an added layer of uncertainty. Essentially, a woman who wants marriage and a family is trying to plan for two futures, without knowing which future will happen for her. The questions are endless. Should she pursue practical education and a career just in case she doesn’t get married? Should she work in a dead-end “for now” job because she expects to transition into motherhood soon? Should she take out student loans, which could limit her freedom to make choices in the future? And when a woman is intellectually gifted, or “smart,” the questions can be tougher. Is she “wasting” her gifts if she doesn’t pursue an education? Did she waste her time or money if she does pursue an education and never “uses” it after she gets married? The ultimate answer to this bewildering maze of questions is simply that there is no one-size-fits-all path. The many possible ways an individual woman uses her gifts can look quite different from one woman to another. Life, after all, is not mapped out for us ahead of time, but it is a journey where we take each step as best we can, trusting in God. But in this article I want to explore these challenges in a bit more depth so that, first of all, women see that they’re not alone in facing these questions – especially in a culture that shies away from discussing them. And secondly, I want to explore them so that the Christian community understands how complex (and frustrating!) navigating these questions can be. And lastly, I want to offer guidance where any guidance can be given. Making a life plan For me, deciding what to do after high school was a confusing mess. I was open to marriage and children, but I hadn’t met anyone. I was considered “smart” and everyone expected me to go to university, and I did want to study, but I didn't know what to study. The idea of having a “career” didn't appeal to me – I certainly didn't relate to the idea of being a “girlboss.” But I felt stuck between devoting time and energy and money to studying things I enjoyed, or finding a career that could support me while I was single, or keeping my options open if I met someone. I wanted to go beyond what I personally experienced in writing this article so I reached out to other Reformed women I’d connected with through Facebook. And I received a flood of responses about their own experiences in considering post-secondary education. How women timed their education was an important question for me, because I’ve heard a lot of theories about how college is to blame for the low birth rate in North America. My assumption initially was that women who wanted children had always had that on their mind to some extent. But in my conversations it turned out that not everyone did. For some women, the timing of their life just “worked out.” As Jen Crowder explains, “As a young person in my 20s, there were times where it felt ‘hard’ to not be dating, but the Lord richly blessed me – with peace to be patient, and even more so in bringing my spouse and I together in His marvelous timing shortly after I started my first teaching position. As a young person, it’s very hard to see four, five, or six years as a very short period of one’s life, but looking back on it now, God’s timing is always perfect.” And her experience was echoed by other women who met their husband in their last year of their studies, or just after, and didn’t experience a big conflict between education and beginning a family. Life does not nicely “work out” for everyone, but when considering whether to study or not, this is a comforting reminder to young women that everything is in God’s hands. Sometimes you do borrow worry about the future before you need to. For other women, the timing of life events did overlap. “I remember studying for an exam while in labor at the hospital, and writing an exam a week after giving birth!” says Anna Nienhuis. Some had to fit their studies in around taking care of small children, or put their studies on hold and resume them when their children were older. Some women did not start until later: “I did not consider post-secondary possibilities until I was in my early 30s, married for 12 years, and had five children,” says Sarah Vandergugten. And some found themselves required to go back to school in order to support themselves or their families when they hadn’t expected it. All of these circumstances made studying much more challenging, but somehow they continued to see God’s hand guiding them through it all. Sometimes when you’re young you can feel like you have to be able to predict your future and plan for it responsibly. And to some extent, women do have to consider how their education, jobs and financial situation might impact their freedom to have children. But well-meaning advice can make it sound like your life can all be planned out perfectly. It’s easy to say, “women should pursue marriage first, then children, and then a career if she wants,” or, alternatively, “women should get an education and a career first, and then marriage and children.” But in real life, the path individuals take tends to be more much complex than that, in ways that can’t always be planned out. Even when events in our life overlap in chaotic ways, women and families muddle through while trusting in God. The challenges teach them to trust in Him and the strength He provides. Some women did change their plans when they met their future husband. It might have been a switch from a longer program to a shorter program, such as switching from nursing to healthcare aide. Or it was a switch from something less flexible to something more flexible. “The career I was studying for was not compatible in any way with my husband’s and so I chose to change my plans. Since I had just started my education it was easy enough to change it,” says Deanna DeWit. Others switched from something with fewer career opportunities, such as a Ph.D., to a regular teaching degree which offered more employment. And lastly, some women went the opposite direction, switching from something “practical” to pursuing study at a Master’s and Ph.D. level when they discovered their love of learning, with the encouragement and support of their husbands. This simply shows how, as you grow up, you can become more aware of yourself and your gifts, and what makes sense for the life God has called you to. You can start something and change paths later. Sometimes changing your path while you can is the best decision. Then there were more than a few women who regretted pursuing higher education, or at least weren’t sure it had been worthwhile for them. A few felt they had pursued it because of family expectations, or because they’d absorbed the message from culture to pursue a career first. Some even mentioned in hindsight they felt they’d delayed marriage and hadn’t been accepting God’s will for their lives at that time, though they had come to terms with the choices they’d made. It seems that post-secondary wasn’t a perfect fit for every woman. And it’s true that higher education is not for everyone! For many women it makes sense, especially if there is no husband on the horizon and they may have to support themselves one day. In fact, many women felt free to begin because they weren’t expecting marriage in the very near future. But decisions should never be made primarily because of cultural messages, family expectations, or fear of bad consequences. And cultural messages do shift over time – older generations felt unusual when pursuing higher education, whereas younger generations felt more cultural pressures to pursue it. “I had believed the idea – a lie actually – that if I was to be successful I had to go to university,” says Rebecca Van Middelkoop. “No one ever told me that directly but it was an idea that I seemed to have picked up over the years and I think many people believe it as well. As someone who was academically gifted it seemed like I was obligated to do something ‘big’ ... We often think that some careers are superior or more meaningful compared to other careers, especially ones that are more entry level.” She suggests job shadowing, internships and summer jobs in a field you’re interested in to test out what opportunities exist and whether you do need more education. For other women, higher education could be a path God is calling them to. “God doesn’t have a general plan or calling for all women... God has a specific plan for each of His children,” says Rachelle van Leeuwen. “God’s plan for me was to put people in my life who would continue to encourage me to further my education. If He is putting those people in your life, don’t balk at it; instead, explore different paths that are realistic for you in your current stage of life (not on where you hope to be one day).” Which brings us to discernment, or listening to God’s will for your life. Discernment In the end, making this decision is simply a process of discernment, of drawing near to God. What is God’s call on your life specifically? For me, the phrases “pray about it,” and “seek God’s will,” felt formulaic when I was trying to make decisions, and felt frustrating when it felt like He was silent. But so often phrases become a cliché because they’re true. When I'm making decisions in life, when I feel in the dark and confused, that is when these supposedly tired and formulaic statements hold the most truth. That is when God is teaching me to be persistent in seeking after Him, making decisions as best I can at each step, and trusting that I don’t need to be afraid of the future. You may not hear God’s voice from the sky telling you directly what to do, but you can lean on Him as you study your gifts, circumstances and responsibilities and make the best choices about how you can serve Him with what He’s given you. This means that, yes, if your passion is to be a wife and mother, it’s worth discerning what steps to take to pursue this too! Sometimes we feel we have to leave this area of our lives entirely in God’s hands without taking any action that we might take in other areas of our lives (in the way we might in our careers). Of course, we can’t pursue marriage in the same way as a career, but we can do things like staying social with other likeminded Christians (even if we're busy studying at university), being involved in church activities, being open to being introduced to possibilities, and maybe even visiting other areas of the country. While we should do the tasks God gives us, it’s not an either/or choice when it comes to marriage or career. Society might tell you to not think about marriage until after your career is established but if you want it, it’s worthwhile to keep your eyes open even while you're studying. Lastly, some women mentioned feeling judged, both for looking too “desperate” for marriage by not pursuing a career, or for having a career when most women around them didn’t. But if we truly believe our sisters are looking to God to discern how He will work in their individual lives, we can expect it to look a little different from person to person. God created humans in His image to glorify Him, but this also happens in an individual sense – we are not all eyes, or hands, or heads. We do not start off knowing all that we as an arm (for example) can do, but we grow into it by fixing our eyes on Christ. And so we can also turn to one another and encourage each other, and take the time to truly understand how others navigated their experiences and made their own decisions. And so, my last piece of advice would be to talk to other women! Through writing this piece, I was inspired by my fellow sisters in Christ, as I listened to how God had guided their life journeys. Each story is an amazing story, whether their path was straightforward or more bumpy. In fact, I wish I had more room to tell these stories. In my confused high school years, I could've benefited from having some of these conversations about how life paths can be anything but straight and still be clearly guided by the hand of God. Jenn VanLeeuwen sums it up like this, “If you would have asked me at 18 what my life was going to look like at 24, I definitely envisioned being married and having a few kids and a dog. However, God, in His wisdom, had that in store 10 years later. I was able to complete a number of university degrees and certifications, move across the country a few times for different teaching jobs, travel, and grow so very much as an individual!” Conclusion There are many more considerations I haven’t covered, including financing education and whether debt makes sense, whether to choose a practical career or follow your passion, whether secular college is wise, and when seeking knowledge for knowledge’s sake is worth pursuing. Debt, in particular, can have a huge impact on young women’s freedom to make choices, but her passions and goals can also shape the path of her life. In short, while figuring out how education fits into the timeline of your life is one piece of the puzzle, there are many other factors to take into account. However, ultimately the process is not about weighing every possible consideration, but rather about drawing closer to God and to what He is calling you to. May He guide you....

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Amazing stories from times past

His eyes are darker than wine, and his TEETH WHITER THAN MILK – Gen. 49:12

There are a number of references in the Bible to teeth. The word “teeth” is used on a number of occasions: to indicate blessing, as in Genesis 49:12: …teeth whiter than milk; to present power, as in Job 4:10: …the teeth of the young lions are broken; to signal vexation and pain, as in Psalm 112:10: The wicked man… will gnash his teeth and waste away; to betoken physical beauty, as in Song of Solomon 4:2: Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from the washing; and to suggest punishment, as in Jeremiah 31:29-30: In those days they shall say no more, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.’ But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. Teeth are an important part of our life. When a tooth aches, we often become dysfunctional. C.S. Lewis once said: "If only this toothache would go away, I could write another chapter on the problem of pain." And the Puritan, Richard Baxter, was quoted as saying: "An aching tooth is better out than in. To lose a rotting member is a gain." More dysfunctional still, a 1970s newspaper reported a man taken to court because he had jumped out of the dentist chair in which he was sitting, and bit his dentist in the hand before slashing him with a can opener which he had in his pocket. There is no doubt that toothache is painful and is an ache common to all of mankind. This is attested to rather vividly by a monument put up in the garden of a twentieth-century Japanese dentist. This particular monument, shaped like a tooth, is dedicated to the 105,000 teeth this man extracted during the course of his rather successful profession in Tokyo and Yokohama. You might say this doctor had influence on his surroundings. That is to say, he had a bit of pull. A toothache is never to be desired and is a brokenness in one's body. Anyone who has suffered from a toothache will, no doubt, agree. There is no pain like a toothache, be it a cavity or an abscess. Origins of dentistry Dentistry was not always a profession. In early times, potions and herbs were concocted for sore mouths. The ancient Chinese recommended a dental powder whose ingredients included the mashed bones of mice. Another remedy for a sore tooth was a powder which had to be snuffed up the left nostril if you were male and up the right nostril if you were female. It would, very likely, not be popular for that reason, today. An eleventh-century copyist of Arabian medical practices, one Abulcasis, wrote that a throbbing tooth could be rocked loose with a pair of forceps. When the tooth was fairly mobile, the patient would be required to place his head between the doctor's knees and a stronger forceps would be used for a final yank. (A rather painful form of headship principle!) Barber-surgeon-dentists? By the end of the twelfth century, Europe had cultivated a profession called barber-surgeon. Men in this profession could cut hair, shave beards, and pull teeth – all this for a nominal fee. They were often skilled in these particular tasks and if you had a toothache, you could count yourself fortunate if one of these barber-surgeons was passing through your village. The surgeon aspect of such a man related more to infected limbs. Infected limbs were cut off with knives, and patients, more often than not, bled to death. To this day, the symbol of a barber is a pole striped with red (for blood), and white (for bandages). Less skillful than barber-surgeons in pulling teeth, were twelfth century tooth-drawers. These men were charlatans who sported pointed caps and wore necklaces made up of black and rotten molars. They boldly advertised on street corners, shamelessly misleading passers-by about how painless the extraction would be. It is chronicled that one patient, very upset with his barber-surgeon, exclaimed: "That was not the tooth I wanted pulled." The man unconcernedly replied: "Steady there. I'm coming to it." Perhaps the patient would have preferred to have been treated during the early fourteenth century during which one John Gaddesden wrote a medical manual with advice for extracting teeth. In it, Gaddesden advocated applying powdered cow's dung or frog's fat to the tooth to make it fall out instantly. In this same manual, he advised that teeth could be made to regrow by rubbing gums with a hare's brains. If, at this point, the twenty-first-century dentist is not rising in your estimation, read on. Can we stop with the bleedings? In the sixteenth century, a Belgian named Andreas Vesalius studied a sufficient number of corpses dug up in cemeteries to conclude that teeth had nerves. Although Vesalius was the most celebrated anatomist and physician in Europe, strange things continued to occur in the treatment of teeth for the next one hundred years. If you were to complain of toothache, your treatment might begin with an “arm-bleeding,” followed by an administration of a laxative. If you somehow still insisted your mouth ached, you were bled in the spine, blisters were raised in the nape of your neck or behind your ears, and plasters applied to your temples. It can be imagined that all this distracted from the pain in the tooth, and that thus, in small measure, an alleviation of sorts was effected. Lead fillings? Hmmm… In the eighteenth century, lead, tin and gold fillings began to be used and in the nineteenth century, artificial teeth were devised, as in: "She has an upper plate." "How do you know that?" "Well, it just came out in the conversation." George Washington, who suffered from bad teeth, had a man by the name of John Greenwood as dentist. This New York practitioner claimed the false teeth he manufactured could not be distinguished from real teeth. President Washington once received this note from him. "I send you enclosed two sets of teeth, one fixed to the old bars in part and the set you sent back from Philadelphia, which when I received was very black, occasioned by your soaking them in port wine or drinking it. Port being sour, takes off all the polish. I advise you to either take them out after drinks and put them in clean water and put in the other set, or to clean them with a brush and some chalk finely scraped." Dentures, in the eighteen hundreds, were also fashioned from natural teeth plundered from cemeteries and battle fields. Everyone seemed to have a new handle on how to make false teeth. Apprentices working for dentists were bound to secrecy. They were forbidden to marry, play cards or dice, and kept from visiting bars or theaters – all of these could lead to loose lips and a selling of information. These apprentices also spent time doing fine work at jewelers and practiced what they had learned on poor clients as early morning duties. Anesthesia, the game-changer In the mid-eighteen hundreds, a dentist by the name of William Morton, became one of the first dental surgeons to use anesthesia. He was a successful practitioner, and a man anxious to help his suffering clientele in a painless way. Giving up part of his large dental practice, he enrolled in the Harvard Medical School, only servicing those with a toothache when he had time. There were students at Harvard in those days who had “ether” parties. They inhaled ether for fun, became very happy and apparently didn't feel pain during this time. Dr. Morton began to experiment and had a patient, one Ebenezer Frost, inhale ether during an extraction. Ebenezer was amazed, upon awakening, to see a huge molar on the table. William Morton proved that ether could be used satisfactorily in dentistry. Reading about this in the newspaper a month after Morton's ether extraction, Boston surgeon Henry Bigelow arranged for a demonstration of ether in an operation at a Massachusetts hospital. At this demonstration, a large tumor was painlessly removed from the neck of a man by the name of Gilbert Abbott. God has surely blessed us in that He has allowed us to invent tools to alleviate suffering. Let us use them wisely and let us be properly thankful. And let us philosophize just a bit. Augustus Toplady (1740-1778), Anglican cleric, hymn writer, and major Calvinist opponent of John Wesley, said: "A man's free will cannot cure him even of the toothache, or a sore finger; and yet he madly thinks it is in its power to cure his soul." Top picture is adapted from a photo by “BakedintheHole,” and used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license....

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Married = less likely to be depressed

Want to reduce your chances of being depressed? Get married! Well, maybe not so fast, but a recent study in Nature Human Behaviour did find that married and cohabitating couples are less likely to be depressed. They looked at more than 100,000 participants across the USA, the UK, Mexico, Ireland, Korea, China, and Indonesia, and found that those who did not live with a partner had a higher chance of depression, a finding that researchers suggest might be due to more social support, more access to economic resources, and the positive influence of spouses on each other. As marriage is declining in our society, this study offers a clue into why depression rates have simultaneously been climbing. It’s not surprising that healthy relationships are beneficial for mental health, but the number of Canadians in these close relationships is declining. Data from Cardus’s Canadian Marriage Map show a steady decrease in the percentage of married couples from 1981-2021. While the percentage of common-law relationships has grown during the same period, the overall percentage of people in either married or common-law relationships has declined slightly as well. In particular, the data shows a steady rise in Canadians aged 20-34 who are not married or common-law, demonstrating younger Canadians are less likely to be experiencing the benefits of these close relationships. As Christians, we might be uncomfortable that the Nature Human Behaviour study lumped cohabitating couples in with married couples, but we can still see here that even “marriage-like” relationships demonstrate the great blessings that God built into the institution of marriage. These relationships still point to why God created marriage as a good thing. Just as Adam knew that being alone in the garden was not quite right, many people also experience that doing life alone is difficult. Unfortunately, so many nowadays are hesitant to enter into this commitment, often as a result of the troubled relationships they see around them. Here Christians can take a role in inviting others to witness the radical vulnerability and respect that a God-directed marriage can demonstrate....

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Is it job creation if government is doing most of the hiring?

COVID brought with it huge government expenditures, and the end of the crisis didn’t end the growth of government. Over the four years of 2019-2023, there was a steep increase in new government jobs, contrasted with relatively little growth in the private sector. Data compiled by the Fraser Institute reveals that new jobs created by the country’s federal and provincial governments increased by 13 percent, more than three times greater than the 3.6 percent increase in private sector jobs. But it is the contrast between the provinces that is the most striking. Alberta and Nova Scotia, run by conservative governments, both had a greater percentage of growth in the private sector. Compare this with BC, where under the NDP, government jobs grew by 22% compared to just 0.5% for the private sector. In their report “Economic Recovery in Canada before and after COVID,” the Fraser Institute compared the data with five previous recessions and slowdowns and found that “none of those recoveries were nearly as reliant on job creation in the government sector.” Governments have always been interested in growing – 3,000 years ago the Lord warned Israel that the king they were demanding would want all sorts of servants (1 Sam. 8:11-18) – and times of hardship are often used to justify larger government reach. Checks and balances, including elections, are a crucial part of restraining a government. Unfortunately, in recent elections, the public has been rewarding parties who pledge to increase government debt rather than rein it in....

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Saturday Selections – Nov 9, 2024

Letters from war In remembrance of the many who fought for us... Ants build landmarks for navigation Ants have brains a quarter the size of a honeybee's brain and yet they can navigate across salt plains that have no landmarks. This is a bit of a technical read, but it rewards the effort. Minuscule marchers though they might be, ants shout God's glory. Use any of these 8 phrases every day, and you’re more emotionally mature/secure than most A secular psychologist pitches 9 phrases, but as John Beeson noted when sharing these, one is not like the others "(but I'll let you spot which one is problematic)." His two favorites are "Am I like that?" and "Let me think about that before I respond." Can a Christian be a lawyer? (15-min read/ 25-min listen) The short answer is, yes, of course. The longer answer is, yes, but the job does come with some real challenges. Looking for a loving dentist "Can you help me find a loving dentist? I’m not interested in a loving person who simply hates plaque and cavities. I do not want him to offer wise suggestions based upon what he knows about teeth. Instead, it would be nice for him to just agree with me about my teeth and my diet. I don’t want anyone who will suggest mouth wash, flossing, or brushing – or make me feel badly for not using them. In fact, I simply want one who will agree with all my decisions related to my mouth." The trust about Auschwitz guards Jordan Peterson on how the Holocaust was caused by "ordinary men." We've reviewed Ordinary Men, the book Peterson mentions. ...

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Christian education

Gillespie Academy: a one-year Reformed bootcamp

Whether you’re graduating high school, college, or trade school, the most common question is “What’s next?” For those who are uncertain, let me recommend Gillespie Academy, a one-year, two-semester program in Woodstock, Ontario, as an option to consider. Founded in 2010 by Rev. Brian Murray, Gillespie Academy is named after Presbyterian theologian George Gillespie. It aims to prepare young Christians for future careers, further education, and building homes grounded in God’s Word. While many Christian students have experienced 12 years of biblically-sound schooling, Gillespie builds on these previous teachings and also challenges young Christians to really explore the implications of their faith. Danae Gritter, an alumna from the 2024-2025 class, shares, “Gillespie wasn’t just something I did for a year and moved on; it was a foundation for the way that I think about what I’m learning now in my further post-secondary education.” Running from September to April, the Academy is housed within Grace Presbyterian Church (a congregation of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Canada) in Woodstock, Ontario. Gillespie students attend a four-day week of classes, Tuesday to Friday. Some subjects are in place to help build a strong theological foundation like: ● Old and New Testament Studies ● Introduction to Systematic Theology I & II ● History of Western Thought I & II ● Apologetics ● Christianity in the Modern World Courses in Practical Ethics, Academic Strategies, Oral Communication, and Logic help refine communication skills – essential tools for both professional success and navigating complex worldviews. Students typically handle around 15 hours of homework weekly, balancing rigorous study with practical application. While the program is demanding, it is rewarding. And while Gillespie does not formally organize social activities, it fosters a close-knit student community, with friendships that often extend beyond the classroom. Students are also encouraged to participate in the life of Grace Church, with various opportunities to join church-led activities. The Academy’s success rests on two key pillars. As Rev. Murray emphasizes, the first is "the Lord's blessing," and the second is Gillespie’s commitment to rigorous classroom learning, where students build a strong theological understanding and develop critical thinking skills. With tuition around $4,000 per year, Gillespie offers an affordable Christian education compared to many other institutions, though costs may rise depending on the housing options offered by the Academy. Gillespie decided not to be accredited in order to maintain its commitment to Reformed Christian principles and create its curriculum independently of the government. Traditional accredited schools often focus on preparation for the workforce, but Gillespie stresses a greater goal: knowledge of God. It sees education as an instrument for students to understand God's creation, preparing them to meet the philosophical and practical problems of life, and shaping how they view their responsibility as young Christians. With more than 100 students from three different countries – ranging from ages 17 to 24 – having successfully completed the program, Gillespie’s impact is felt far beyond its doors. Rev. Murray sums up the Academy’s mission: "If we believe that there is a God who made everything and hasn’t left us on our own, but has revealed Himself in His Word and through His Son, the Lord Jesus, then that truth impacts every area of life." To learn more about Gillespie Academy, go to GillespieAcademy.ca. The author is a graduate of the Gillespie Academy....

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In a Nutshell

Tidbits – October 2024

How red tape kills wealth Some years back, Hernando de Soto wanted to discover why capitalism worked so well in the West, but didn’t seem to work anywhere else. So de Sota and his research team headed to Lima, Peru to try to open a small one-person business – a garment workshop. They knew that this would involve paperwork, some permits and forms they would have to file with the government before they could open the business’s doors, but the total amount of paperwork was mind-boggling. The team put their efforts together and worked at the registration process six hours a day and it still ended up taking them 289 days to complete! And to add insult to injury, the cost of the process was $1,231, or roughly 30 times the country’s monthly minimum wage. Little wonder then, that there are few Peruvians starting businesses. Even the hardest working, and most industrious souls would find these costs, and this mountain of red tape too much to overcome. The team also investigated what it would take to build a house on state-owned land in Peru (the state owns much of the land): “To obtain legal authorization... took six years and eleven months requiring 207 administrative steps in 52 government offices.... To obtain legal title for that land took 728 steps.” The team found a similar state of affairs in countries such as Egypt, the Philippines and Haiti and Third World countries overall. In the West we can be thankful we don't have quite the level of bureaucratic regulation... though we do have politicians who are intent on having us catch up. If we're wondering why housing has gone up, red tape is certainly a factor. SOURCE: Hernando de Soto’s "The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else" and Wayne Grudem’s "Business For the Glory of God" “Be home on time for supper!” In Mike Huckabees's A Simple Government, he shared how Columbia University’s Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) has been researching the differences between teens who eat dinner at home frequently – at least 5 times a week – and those who do so infrequently – 3 times a week or less. They found some remarkable differences: Teens who ate at home infrequently were twice as likely to make use of tobacco and marijuana as those who at home frequently They were 50 percent more likely to use alcohol 50 percent more likely to get Cs or lower at school Elizabeth Planet, CASA vice-president, said, “The emotional and social benefits that come from family dinners are priceless.” A Christian might account for that difference by noting that dinnertime is a good time to do what God tells parents to do in Deut 6:6-7: “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deut 6:5-7) Password problems Have you heard the one about the first-time computer user who chose as his password: “TarzanSherlockHolmesHamletCinderellaJeevesToadJulietEmmaGandalfLondon”? His computer told him it had to be at least eight characters long, and include at least one capital. SOURCE: Adapted from a joke in Marvin Olasky’s “Tax Time Coming” April 9, 2011 WORLD Cultural Christians are nothing new In the last couple of years, unbelievers Elon Musk, Jordan Peterson, and even infamous atheist Richard Dawkins have declared themselves "cultural Christians." Why? Because they understand that civil society requires the civilizing influence of Christianity. But, unfortunately, that hasn't gotten them to bow the knee to the God of Christianity. As intriguing as this phenomenon has been, it isn't actually anything new. In an old BreakPoint article by Chuck Colson called “The Gospel According to Jesse.” Colson shared another remarkable but incomplete turnaround. “Guenter Lewy of the University of Massachusetts... is the author of the book, Why America Needs Religion. Interestingly, Lewy is neither a Christian nor a theist. He originally set out to write a book with the opposite thesis: Why America DOESN'T need religion. It was to be ‘a defense of secular humanism and ethical relativism.’ But when Lewy researched the data, he reversed himself 180 degrees. Lewy discovered that Christianity has historically been a strong support for human dignity.... Lewy found that Christians exhibit measurably lower rates of marital conflict, divorce, prejudice, out-of-wedlock births, juvenile delinquency, adult crime, and other ‘indicators of moral failure and social ills.’ Though remaining a nonbeliever, Lewy concluded that Christianity is vital to creating a healthy, humane society. Lewy's research points to one reason why Christians are motivated to seek reform in the public arena: Objective evidence shows that living by biblical principles makes people happier and healthier.” Lyric of the month Jamies Soles is well known among conservative Reformed churches in Canada, but for those that don’t know of him, below are the lyrics of a song based on Luke 7:11-18 from one of his children’s albums “Fun and Prophets” which is available (along with more info) on the artist’s website SolMusic.ca. Gates of Nain My husband died, and now my son I'm all alone though the crowds have come I walk by this bier to a field of stones in my soul I know that death, it awaits us all.... I can't catch my breath from this dizzy fall All that I've hoped for Is lying still and cold in this crowd Crying aloud for the pain Weeping through the gates of Nain Through my tears I see the crowd has grown A Man approaches with compassion shown He says, "Do not weep." And our march of death and time stands still Nothing could prepare me for this What could have prepared me for this.... He spoke to my son, my dead son, my only son And He told him to arise, and he did! My boy sat up and then began to speak This man named Jesus gave him back to me The crowd was filled with awe, and they glorified God "A great prophet has arisen among us! A great prophet has arisen among us!" A great prophet indeed has arisen for me And given me life again In the gates of Nain Are you wearing anything ten years or older? Angela Reitsma Bick, the editor of Christian Courier, once wrote about how friends were surprised to learn that they weren’t wearing anything that was as much as ten years old. The surprise was probably prompted by the realization that thirty years ago the situation would have been quite different. Kids’ clothing, in particular, was treated differently a generation ago, with patches (and patches upon patches) being far more common. Darning socks was more common, and the resoling of shoes too. Whenever one generation decides to do something differently than the previous, it is worth a moment’s reflection - if you aren’t wearing anything from a decade ago, why might that be? Is it a result of living in a throw-away culture? Are clothes simply not made to last like they once were? Are we better off, to the point that we don’t need to wear worn-out clothes? Or have we become financially irresponsible, spending money on clothes when that money could be put to better use? Might it be because clothes have become less expensive to replace than they once were? Or might it mean we are overly concerned with keeping up with the latest fashions? Prayer the way it was… and could be? In the 1940s, in the Netherlands, most men worked six days a week at physically-taxing jobs. So, come Sunday, it could be quite a struggle for these men to keep attentive through the church service, especially when it came time to pray, and eyes were shut and heads were bowed. And to make it harder still, the prayers were quite often fifteen minutes long. In his wartime biography The Way It Was, author Sid Baron notes that to help these men stay attentive it was the practice then to allow the option of standing during prayer. So throughout the church, as most bowed their head to pray, many farmers and laborers would rise. This practice is no longer common anywhere in Reformed churches, most likely because ministers no longer tax their congregation’s attention with fifteen minute prayers, and because far fewer members do heavy physical labor. Still, might it be a practice worth reviving for the most sleep-deprived among us, mothers and fathers of newborns? “The free market is a bathroom scale” “The free market is simply a measurement. The free market tells us what people are willing to pay for a given thing at a given moment. That’s all the free market does. The free market is a bathroom scale. We may not like what we see when we step on the bathroom scale, but we can’t pass a law making ourselves weigh 165. Liberals and leftists think we can.” – P.J O’Rourke Those not so ‘orrible Americans While speaking ill of Americans is a favorite pastime for many, there is a lot to love about them. One example – Americans are generous. In fact, the average American gives nearly four as much of his income, by percentage, as the average Canadian. And yet, that amounts to donating just 2 percent of their income (compared to 0.54% for Canadians). Christians who give a tithe of just ten percent of their income can, therefore, have almost 20 times the financial charitable impact of other Canadians, and quite a bit more than Americans too. SOURCE: Fraser Institute’s “Generosity in Canada and the United States: The 2020 Generosity Index” When two sinners become one I once had the pleasure of hanging out with a young couple who had never yet argued. Of course, if a newly married couple is expecting only bliss, it will be quite a shock when they go from this like-minded state to what might seem like a series of recurring arguments. If a couple has gone from always agreeing, to always arguing, what should they do? Well, it might help to know that many couples go through tough times, especially early on. When non-Christians go through these lows, divorce is an option some investigate – why stay married when you are both miserable? But an American study from a while back shows the benefits that migth come if they stick it out. “ouples… were asked to rate their marriage on a scale of one to seven, with one being very unhappy and seven being very happy. Those who rated their marriages a ‘one’ had incredible turnarounds just five years later – if they stayed together. In fact, 77 percent of those giving their marriage a very unhappy ‘one’ rated their marriage as a ‘seven’ after five years. Was there some breakthrough therapy involved? No. In fact, many did relatively little – they just ‘stuck it out’ and things got better.” “Two becoming one” (Gen. 2:24) is a difficult task for a couple of sinners to do, so it is inevitable that any marriage will go through some tough stretches. That’s why Christians can be so very grateful to God that, except in exceptional circumstances, He has taken the option of divorce from us. SOURCE: “Is There Hope for My Marriage?” by Amy Desai, J.D. as found on www.focusonthefamily.com way back on Dec. 11, 2010 Joke of the month Lady, to her doctor: “My husband, a marriage counselor, often refuses to accompany me to parties and get-togethers. He says that so many people spoil his evening by asking him for advice. Does this happen to you too?” Doctor: All of the time! But it doesn’t bother me anymore. Lady: What do you do? Doctor: “I have a wonderful remedy. When someone begins to tell me his ailments I stop him with one word: ‘Undress.’” SOURCE: Bob Phillips’ "The Return of the Good Clean Jokes"...

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News

Saturday Selections – Oct. 26, 2024

The key to happiness Jewish commentator Dennis Prager makes the case that gratitude is the key to happiness. He makes a good case, but as Christians, why would we think that would be? Prager goes a little stoic - expect nothing, and you will never be disappointed. But I suspect it is more a matter of seeing the world as it actually is. Everything good we get is truly undeserved, and a matter of God's grace. So when we respond in gratitude, we are responding as we have been designed to do. That is, in fact, getting very close to our purpose, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. See no Creator? Evolution blinds scientists from searching for function in supposed “vestigial” organs "Vestigial organs" are presented as evidence of our evolutionary past – these are organs we don't use now, but which are said to have served a function back in one of our earlier evolved states. The human "yolk sac" is one of these. But like other supposed vestigial organs (and our supposed "junk DNA"), that scientists didn't know its function doesn't mean it didn't have a function. Turns out this yolk sac is very important to fetal development. This is another example of how evolution hampers science. It's because they don't understand Man as "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Ps. 139:14), that evolutionists weren't motivated to go look for the purpose of this organ. In their ignorance, they presumed it was only an evolutionary dead-end. The remarkable Katharina von Bora, wife of Luther God used a couple to spark His Reformation... How not to be a grumpy old woman "My ninety-eight-year-old mother recently passed away after living with me for three years. When I spoke at her memorial service, I said, “You could not do what I did for an easier person. She was grateful, cheerful, and never complained.” Watching her made me wonder what sort of old person I will be. Churches hold parenting retreats, marriage conferences, and seminars on managing finances, but have you ever heard of a church that offered a seminar on how to grow old?" Lessons from the USSR on sexual morality The communists blew up the family, and they paid a price. Should Christians celebrate Halloween? 3 points to consider... (5 min) "You’re in a conversation and someone says, 'Christians shouldn’t celebrate Halloween. It’s a pagan holiday that glorifies evil.' What would you say?" ...

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Indigenous peoples, News

112 Canadian churches vandalized and burned

Since the allegations of “mass graves” on Canadian residential school grounds began in 2021, more than a hundred of the country’s churches have been burned or vandalized. A list of these churches is being compiled by True North News, and the number has now grown to 112. True North’s list includes a Google map that identifies the location of the churches. The CBC has examined 33 of the fires that resulted in churches being burned to the ground, noting that most of these were on reserves or in small towns, and to this point only two have been ruled to be accidental. The same article noted that over a 24-month period from 2019 to 2021, the RCMP in Alberta recorded 8 confirmed arson or attempted arson cases against Alberta churches, compared to more than triple that – 29 cases – in the 27-month period from June 2021 to September 2023, after the mass grave announcement in May of 2021. The CBC report quoted University of Alberta professor Paulina Johnson, who explained what she thinks is the motivation for some of the arsonists. "It gives them a voice. Because for the longest time, Canada hasn't really actually acknowledged us." In recent years Indigenous people in Canada have gotten notable acknowledgement, especially in the provinces’ education systems that are replete with mandated materials on Canada’s “first peoples.” But Johnson’s comment does point to a deeper truth: our country’s approach towards Indigenous people – segregating them to reserves, and throwing money and empty words in the face of disturbingly high rates of suicide, crime and incarceration rates, poverty, and unemployment – does little to fix the real hurt. The first real step to meaningful change is a recognition of sin. Sin has been committed against Indigenous peoples in the past. However past sin never justifies more sin in the present. Canada needs leaders (in universities, police forces, law firms, government, and churches) that are willing to acknowledge truth, repent of sin that they have committed, and embrace the peace that comes from forgiveness and grace. But is our secular government capable of real repentance? The critical theory they’ve embraced only exacerbates the problem, focussing on one narrative – overthrowing the “oppressor.” Facts about whether mass graves actually exist don’t matter a whole lot when the goal is to empower the “oppressed.” And what’s more empowering for the “oppressed” than to become the “oppressors”? Burning down churches has its own twisted logic then. But what is the end of this path? God warns us that vengeance will merely continue the cycle of brokenness and despair (Gal. 6:8, Prov. 24:29)....

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