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Blessed are the busy?

Should we be trying to be less busy or be busy better?

*****

It’s not really the worst problem to have: too many good things to do, and not enough time to do them all. Maybe that's why, when I talked to so many women about busyness, they admitted to stress and struggles around their busy schedules, but also expressed gratitude for all the things that fill up their days.

The question for most of us isn’t whether or not we’re busy (and sometimes too busy). Rather, we wonder if we’re always busy with the right things, and for the right reasons. We want to figure out how to cope with the reality of busyness, and maybe find a way to bring a little more balance and sanity to our lives.

BUSYNESS: A HEART ISSUE

“I don’t want to miss out on opportunities, mess up relationships by disappointing people, or misstep right out of God’s will. I struggle with keeping some sense of balance in my life. I struggle with worrying about what others think of my decisions...”
– Lysa TerKeurst, The Best Yes

For better and worse, busyness is as much a heart issue as it is a physical one, and maybe that’s why it’s such a hard one to grapple with. It’s difficult to untangle our motivations for the choices we make with our limited time and energy.

Sometimes our busyness is driven by the wrong things, like a desire to please or earn admiration, or by misplaced priorities. Often, though, we’re acting out of a sincere desire to serve God and others, and to be good stewards of the time and opportunities God has given us. We feel keenly the weight of others’ needs and expectations. At the same time, we constantly fight the temptation to compare – and judge.

These struggles of the mind and heart lead to a lot of soul-searching. And, as was made clear by some of the thoughts that were shared with me, they are the cause of very real distress for many Christian women.

“It can be really quite hard to assess if I am truly called to a new thing or if I should stay the course on what I am doing. It’s hard to assess my motives. And even when I make a decision, I easily second-guess myself.”

“Do we make ourselves busy to avoid judgment from others who look at us and think we should be doing more? I feel that sometimes.”

“Too often we connect our personal worth and value to the stuff we are busy with.”

“... this is what drives me: If I don’t do it, I’ll disappoint someone who matters – or even who doesn’t really. If I don’t do it, I’m lazy... or I’m unstewardly: I can save money by canning and baking and freezing. I’m failing my kids: if I don’t bake, and can, and preserve, I’m feeding them cancer or other diseases. I’m not letting them grow to their fullest potential by taking their sports and music from them... Will I fail my calling and deny my promises at baptism if I don’t do all these things? ... where am I trusting God in all this?”

We really do want to be “Proverbs 31 women,” capably accomplishing all our tasks (and then some) with a godly heart and a serene smile on our face, but there just isn’t enough time for everything. We’re only human, but sometimes feel guilty about our very natural weaknesses and limitations. When can we legitimately say that we are “busy enough”? As Kevin DeYoung puts it in his excellent book Crazy Busy, we’re constantly told that:

“we should pray more, give more, show hospitality more, share our faith more, read our Bibles more, volunteer more.... Where do I start? Where do I find the time? How can I possibly meet all these obligations?... I think most Christians hear these urgent calls to do more (or feel them internally already) and learn to live with a low-level guilt that comes from not doing enough.... That’s not how the apostle Paul lived (1 Cor. 4:4), and it’s not how God wants us to live either (Rom. 12:1-2). Either we are guilty of sin – like greed, selfishness, idolatry – and we need to repent, be forgiven and change. Or something else is going on. It’s taken me several years, a lot of reflection and a load of unnecessary busyness to understand that when it comes to good causes and good deeds, ‘do more or disobey’ is not the best thing we can say.”

PRIORITIES

“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”
- attributed to Martin Luther

When the author to the Hebrews encourages God’s people to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” he doesn’t just tell us to throw off “the sin that so easily entangles,” but also urges us to lay aside everything (or “every weight”) that hinders. These “weights” aren’t necessarily bad in themselves – they’re distinct from the “sin” that’s also mentioned – but they draw our attention away from the race that’s in front of us.

At its most simple, figuring out a way forward comes down to priorities. If we’re not able to do everything (and we’re not!), we need to identify and prioritize the most important things, the things that can’t be left undone.

I think, at heart, most of us know what those most important things are: our relationship with God, our relationships with those closest to us, the daily calling God has put in front of us in our different roles, our own wellbeing (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual). But sometimes taking time for devotions can feel like a leap of faith (“How can I sit down now if I hope to get everything done this morning?”) or, worse, like just another chore; and it’s easy to brush off “relationship time” or adequate sleep when other things feel more urgent.

The women I talked to also pondered the importance of well-ordered priorities in their lives, and how to stay focused on the things that really matter. Their helpful suggestions included asking ourselves some pointed questions.

“How does my time use match, or not match, what I’ve identified as my priorities?”
If God is number one in my life, does my daily and weekly schedule reflect that? Or do things that are far less important, but feel more urgent, keep crowding out Bible study or church activities?

“What are my personal non-negotiables?”
For one woman, these daily must-do’s are “devotions, going outside into God’s creation (even if it’s just for a short time), and making a good dinner. These are non-negotiables for me because they’re all very important for my physical, emotional and spiritual health as well as my family’s.” Others’ lists are different, but making conscious, deliberate choices about our priorities is key.

“Is any one part of my life drastically out of balance?”
We’re complex beings, and the different parts of our lives and selves – mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, social, work – affect each other. A Christian counselor shared with me that the biggest cause of stress, in her experience, is an imbalance between these areas. We need regular sleep, exercise, and healthy food. We need relationships that rejuvenate us (especially when other relationships in our lives are more difficult or draining). We need Sunday rest, breaks, and times of quietness.

“Am I minimizing ‘artificial busyness’?”
Some of the things that make us feel busy actually lack substance. Social media is a big one for many of us. As one woman commented, “This isn’t natural human connecting and working on relationships, this is a substitute” – so we’re better off focusing on the people in front of us, rather than on the virtual relationships and conversations that can divert so much of our time and energy.

“Am I too worried about what others think?”
Peer pressure, and others’ expectations (real or perceived), are a huge factor in keeping us busy – sometimes with the wrong things. Maybe if you’re willing to raise some eyebrows by challenging or resisting an unhealthy trend, others will gratefully follow.

“Am I bringing my decisions, and my struggles, to God?”
Many women emphasized the key role of prayer and time in God’s Word in their decisions around time use, and their struggles with feelings like guilt, discouragement and inadequacy. Making time for personal devotions actually is a leap of faith – one that not only honors God, but also grounds us, reminds us to trust God (and humbly recognize our own limits), and helps us make wiser decisions.

So how can you have a Mary heart when you have a Martha to-do list? Start by knowing your priorities, focusing on them first, and trusting God to help you sort through the rest. As Kevin DeYoung put it, “The antidote to busyness of soul is not sloth and indifference. The antidote is rest, rhythm, death to pride, acceptance of our own finitude and trust in the providence of God.”

WHAT DOES GOD REALLY WANT FROM US... AND FOR US?

“It is extraordinary how little the New Testament says about God’s interest in our success, by comparison with the enormous amount it says about God’s interest in our holiness, our maturity in Christ, and our growth into the fullness of his image.”
– J.I. Packer, Rediscovering Holiness

We all want to be faithful and fruitful... but this desire can easily veer off course. What is it that God most wants from us, and for us?

The fact that He made us with very real weaknesses and limitations tells us something. He created us to need sleep, and in fact a substantial number of hours of it. He sometimes gives us extended, enforced periods of waiting and inactivity. These realities can be very frustrating for us. Couldn’t we accomplish so much more for Him if we didn’t have these limitations?

But evidently – and amazingly – God is more interested in us, and the sanctifying work He’s doing in us, than simply in our raw productivity. We’re not merely servants with long and burdensome lists of tasks; we’re loved children. What a freeing thought, and what an undeserved honor!

When we start evaluating ourselves (or others) based on how much we can accomplish, we’re using a skewed measurement – and not the one God uses. On a personal level, we may be showing Pharisaical tendencies, trying to earn the favor of God and others. On a larger scale, we’re starting down a very dangerous path, as we buy into a worldview that equates worth with ability, leading to devastating social consequences.

By all means, let’s do our best to be faithful stewards of the time, energy, resources, and opportunities God has given us, and let’s be busy with many good things for Him. But let’s not forget His priorities for us, since “we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (1 Cor. 2:12).

STEWARDING OUR TIME

“Stewarding my time is not about selfishly pursuing only the things I’d like to do. It’s about effectively serving others in the ways I’m best able to serve and in the ways I’m most uniquely called to serve.”
- Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy

Sometimes we live at the pace of craziness because of unconsciously wrong priorities or confused expectations; other times it’s because of factors that really are outside our control, and we just have to hang on for a season that’s busier than feels ideal. (Often we learn a lot in these seasons, and God certainly uses them too.) But sometimes we bring the craziness on ourselves, and change is needed.

It takes mature self-discipline, planning, and some self-denial to be good stewards of our time. But, by God’s grace, these things are within our reach. So let’s take the steps needed to curb our bad online habits. Let’s stick to a reasonable bedtime, or maybe meal plan (I know that makes some of us shudder), or say a polite “no” to something good so we can say “yes” to something better – whatever it takes in your particular life and circumstances. (See the sidebar article “Taming busyness” for more practical tips from other women.)

One helpful but sometimes hard-to-implement principle is to leave room for “margin” – defined by Christian author Dr. Richard Swenson as “the space between our load and our limits.” For most of us, there’s rarely a week or even a day without some unexpected interruption, need, or crisis – a fender-bender, a lost pair of glasses, a washing machine malfunction, an unwelcome visit from the flu bug – and if we don’t have any “wiggle room” in our schedule, these unexpected problems can quickly derail us and cause disproportionate stress. Again, knowing our priorities helps us in this area too; if our secondary to-do’s don’t get done because of a sudden change of plans, we’ll be less fretful if we know we at least made time for our key tasks or goals.

We also need to realize that using our time well doesn’t always look like we think it should. As Kevin DeYoung points out, caring for people – which should be a priority for all of us – is “often wildly inefficient. People are messy, and if we are going to help them we will wade into a lot of time-consuming messes.” Many of the most important things we’re busy with don’t fit nicely on a to-do checklist.

Finally, being stewardly with our time means making constant choices, big and small, based on our priorities and on other factors. We may care about a lot of things, and be concerned about a lot of things (and people), but that doesn’t mean God is calling us to meet every need. So how do we decide if a new commitment should be a “yes”? Here are a few questions that other women have found helpful to consider:

“Have I counted the cost?”
Like the builder in Luke 14, we need to “count the cost” before we start a project. As one woman commented, “The task itself is always only a fraction of the commitment”; but too often we aren’t realistic about what something will required from us. Most activities involve not only a time cost, but also a mental/emotional energy cost – which affects both you and the people in your life.

“Does this fit with my strengths – or, if not, will it stretch me in a positive way?”
It’s okay to play to our strengths. One woman I know dislikes making meals for other families, but enjoys cleaning and organizing. For years she would feel stressed every time a church meal request came out – and either sign up and dread the whole experience, or not sign up and feel guilty. Now she offers to help in other ways: “I often will say “what is causing you stress right now?” – and then see if I can help in that area. I’ve done anything from researching and buying an iPad for someone to re-organizing a pantry or cleaning out a shed.” Another woman agreed, “When we use our strengths, things tend to go more smoothly and with less stress.”

Of course, there are times when we might be ready for a helpful “stretch,” so it’s good to keep an open mind – and a prayerful heart – about new opportunities as well.

“Do I feel passionate about this?”
Although some things aren’t particularly exciting and simply need doing, we’re naturally drawn to some tasks more than to others, and it’s okay to factor that into our decision-making. Do I believe this activity is really worthwhile? Does this activity “fill me up” or drain me? Do I feel energized when I think about doing this?

BLESSED TO BE BUSY

“Lay your life down. Your heartbeats cannot be hoarded. Your reservoir of breaths is draining away. You have hands, blister them while you can. You have bones, make them strain – they can carry nothing in the grave.”
- N.D. Wilson, Death by Living

Busyness means life – the blessings of relationships, of talents, of energy, of opportunities, of good tasks to do. As Kevin DeYoung puts it, “the reason we are busy is because we are supposed to be busy.” We are blessed to be busy.

It’s okay to work hard; the Bible has nothing good to say about “the sluggard.” It’s okay to be tired – as long as we recognize the line between healthy fatigue and unhealthy exhaustion. It’s okay to be stretched; often it’s how we grow.

So let’s be busy carefully and deliberately, prayerfully and peacefully – not taking on burdens we were never meant to carry, and not because we find our self-worth or our life’s meaning in the things we’re busy with.

And let’s give grace to ourselves and others – the same grace God extends to us in our weaknesses. We can never truly know what our neighbor is dealing with, or what limitations he or she grapples with, so let’s be careful about judging, pressuring, or comparing. “For each will have to bear his own load” (Gal. 6:5).

A quick note to the married and mothers among us: don’t add to the strain of your single/childless friends by assuming they have all kinds of time you don’t. They may not have a family to take care of (though they may well be caring for parents, without the help of a spouse), but they also aren’t sharing the daily tasks of cooking, shopping, car maintenance, and so on. Let’s “bear each other’s burdens,” not add to them.

“Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls.... So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:4, 12).

“So let’s do what needs to be done with a happy heart, thankful for each of these opportunities and the evidence of life they represent. Whistle while we work. Do a great job.... Just remember not every responsibility can be your responsibility.”
- Lysa TerKeurst, The Best Yes

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Assorted

My journey with books

It has been a long journey of books for me. I grew up with books, and as a child read from The Book of Knowledge encyclopedia, the Bobbsey Twins se...
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Assorted

Navigating failure

Fear of failure can paralyze you. There’s a lot to be said about how, in order to succeed, you need to be comfortable with failure – but that d...
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Culture Clashes

There is a Hell. Jesus Says So.

Some theologians, included big names like Rob Bell and John Stott, don’t believe in hell, or at least that it is eternal. Instead Stott suggested th...
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Assorted

Taming busyness: practical tips

“If I’m caught up on my laundry, does that mean I’m not doing enough for the church?” “Am I allowed to fit in time for exercise, or only if...
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Science - General

Topsy-turvy world of bats

People have a love/hate relationship with bats. While these animals are interesting and exciting to some, the more common response is very negative, to say the least! This sharp difference of opinion also occurred in my husband’s family. When he was thirteen or fourteen, he worked in the summers harvesting tomatoes in market gardens in southern Ontario. The appropriate strategy, he says, is to feel for the ripe tomatoes as well as to visually examine suitable specimens. Thus at each plant he reached from below into the foliage, feeling the bottom of each tomato. The soft ones he picked; the hard ones were left for another day. On this particular occasion he happened to feel something warm and fuzzy among the tomatoes. Further research showed that it was a snoozing bat. Since he was interested in all natural phenomena, he promptly placed the bat in his lunch bucket, shut the lid, and forgot about the incident. Once home, he placed the lunch bucket on the kitchen table. The story stops with his mother’s discovery of the bat in the lunch bucket. You can well imagine the scene. She might enjoy nature too, but not this kind of nature and not in the kitchen! If bats were prettier to look at, we might appreciate their amazing talents more. The fact is, bats exhibit some astonishing design features that our engineers and technologists greatly envy. Three types Traditionally, scientists have grouped bats according to their food preferences. There are: 1) fruit bats with good eyesight 2) insect-consuming, echolocating bats 3) vampire or blood-consuming bats Further research has revealed how amazingly these animals are designed for their lifestyles. Such studies have also revealed that the old-fashioned ways of categorizing the creatures, according to lifestyle and physical appearance, do not really work. This has had some serious implications for ideas concerning whether Darwinian evolution could ever arrive at a plausible explanation for bats. Heat-seeking vampires The vampire bats all live in the new world (the Americas). There are only three species, each quite different. These ugly-looking creatures need blood meals to live. That means they must find a blood vessel in a victim that will allow blood to flow freely. This is not the easiest of tasks (as some nurses will attest), but vampire bats have a special design feature that allows them to find good blood sources. In their upper lip and modified noseleaf, they have special nerve endings that are much more sensitive than most nerves to body heat. These special tissues in the face allow them to find hot spots on the bodies of their victims. These hot spots are caused by blood vessels located close to the surface. The bat nips the skin with his teeth in order to drink the flowing blood. The whole situation is horrifying to us, but this ability of vampire bats to sense elevated body heat clearly is an interesting design feature. We may not like what the vampire bats do, but how they do it exhibits great finesse. Apparently only some snakes and vampire bats have this ability to detect infrared radiation (heat). However, the bats do it very differently from the pit vipers, pythons and boas. Snakes, for their part, make use of receptors on nerves that normally respond to chemical irritants or cold. In the case of these snakes, however, these receptors instead respond to the body heat of victims. Now many animals have heat receptors all over the body. These receptors are designed to respond to heat that is dangerous to the health of the creature (we can sense the heat of a fire, for example). Vampire bats also have these normal heat receptors. However, in some nerves in the face of vampire bats, the nerves instead respond to a heat source which is much lower – about 30 degrees C. The ability by bats to detect infrared radiation (heat) is so different from in snakes, that evolutionary scientists consider that there is no connection between the two designs. Either each appeared as a spontaneous or novel feature, however complicated, or each was separately designed in its entirety. Echolocation is a marvel But it is the engineering triumph of echolocation (like sonar) that really commands our attention and awe. This system is complex, with many features that must work together precisely. The bat must produce powerful ultrasonic signals which will bounce off objects and travel back as echoes. The creature must know the mathematic characteristics of the sound emitted in order to be able to compare it with the echo. The echo will be much softer, so the creature must be able to hear the incoming signal. Often the tempo of sounds emitted will include intervals between notes so that the incoming echoes can be heard. The bat must be able to judge its own position and speed relative to the returning echo which indicates the position and speed of the target object. This ability requires special mathematical programs in the brain to calculate the differences in speed and constantly changing location. Although the requirements for the system are so fancy, there still is lots of room for variation in details. Some bats use a constant frequency (narrow band or single tone), while others use many more tones for frequency modulated (broadband) emissions. The tempo of the sounds can vary with the species and differences in intensity (from 120 decibels at 10 cm to 80 decibels at 10 cm) are possible. Many bats make sounds with their larynx, but one species uses tongue clicks. One might imagine that so fancy a sonar system would be found only in a closely related cluster of organisms, if descent with modification (evolution) had taken place. However, we see similar fancy systems in whales, bats, shrews, tenrecs (hedgehog like mammal native to Madagascar) as well as in oilbirds and cave swiftlets (another bird). Obviously, these creatures did not descend from a closely related common ancestor, so either these organisms were designed, or spontaneous processes produced these fancy systems on a number of occasions. As far as the bats themselves are concerned, one might imagine that the echolocating bats would represent a cluster of creatures with other features in common. Even when the echolocating system is similar however, there are bats which seem closer in their genetics to the fruit bats. In addition, one fruit bat echolocates by means of tongue clicks instead of noise from the larynx. Does this represent a separate group too? Bats are cousins to… cows? Altogether, bats represent a fascinating example of evolution theory gone wrong. During the past century for example, scientists considered that bats were related to organisms like lemurs which display similar arm bones used for flight. Such anatomical similarities to lemurs, caused scientists to classify bats with monkeys, flying lemurs and rodents. Then, however, on the basis of more obscure biochemical details which come from the genetic code, bats were grouped with horses, dogs, cows, moles and dolphins. The physical and behavioral similarities to these latter creatures are obscure to say the least. Nevertheless, scientists said this latter group is evolutionarily related through descent from a common ancestor. When one considers echolocation, scientists now declare that this complex capability arose spontaneously at least seven or eight times. And the ability to detect infrared radiation arose scientists now declare, twice independently in snakes and once independently in bats. Scientists use the word convergence to cover situations where descent with modification is not a convincing explanation for the source of the feature. Thus convergence means separate appearance of the same abilities, for no obvious cause. It was not convincing when the argument was for the spontaneous appearance of a complex system on one occasion, but to suggest that it could happen multiple times really strains credulity! The alternative explanation for these situations of course is separate designs. God used his tool kit of wonderful design features as he saw fit, conferring them on similar or very different creatures for our interest and delight. What these amazing designs really demonstrate is the action of a mind, creative intelligence, and choice. Only scratching the surface! So far we have barely scratched the surface of the wonderful design features in bats. Recently scientists have discovered that the ability of bats to sense their environment is even more sensitive than previously imagined. In 2010, a team of scientists reported that some echolocating bats can control the width of the ultrasonic beam which they emit. The subject of this study involved bats that release sounds from their larynx, which is by far the most common method. More recently, another team investigated whether the tongue clicking Egyptian fruit bats are similarly versatile in their ability to respond to variation in the environment. This team found that Egyptian fruit bats simultaneously direct one beam of sound to the left and another to the right. They do this by aiming consecutive clicks in opposite directions. As the environment becomes more cluttered with objects, the angle between the two beams of sound becomes wider (and the beam thus broader). This enables the animal to focus on a particular object while paying less attention to other distracting structures in the environment. Also as the bat closes in on his target, the beam becomes broader and the sound more intense. This degree of sophistication in this echolocating system is a surprise to everyone. One interesting other characteristic of bats is their wonderful wings. Bats can carry up to 50% of their weight (as we see in pregnant bats) and they execute maneuvers that would cause a bird or plane to crash. Unlike birds, bats have wings that are thin and flexible. This is the result of more than 20 independent joints in the structure covered by a thin flexible membrane. Bats can curve their wings too, thereby providing for greater lift which consumes less energy. What is more, bat wings are covered with tiny sensory hairs that provide information to the bat on flight speed and air flow. As one commentator on bats remarked: “The perceptual world of bats undoubtedly has many more intriguing secrets yet to be discovered” (Nature August 4/11 p. 41). The large number of precision machines or systems in bats which enable them to live challenging lifestyles, surely proclaims the work of God, the creator of all things. We may still not love these interesting creatures, but we can certainly regard them with sympathetic respect. Probably however no amount of talking will make bats welcome in the home! A version of this article was published in the December 2011 issue...

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Politics

Canada’s law was based on God’s Word

Blackstone, Britain, the Bible and the legal heritage of the English-speaking countries ***** Canada’s law was largely based on God’s law. That’s a claim many would dispute – they don’t want to give God credit for the freedoms, and legal protections we enjoy in our country. But disputing the facts doesn’t change them. Canada’s political and legal institution can largely be traced back to Britain – our “mother country” – and when the British laid down the foundations of their own legal system, they were an officially Christian country (with Anglicanism in England and Presbyterianism in Scotland) that had set out to build their laws and legal system on a biblical foundation. It is this Christian legal and political foundation that Britain transferred to Canada. Documenting Scriptural influence During the eighteenth century an English legal scholar, Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780), wrote a multi-volume set of books called the Commentaries on the Laws of England. This was no ordinary set of legal books. Blackstone’s Commentaries were quickly accepted as the authoritative account of English law and philosophy of law. This is noteworthy because in the Commentaries Blackstone was very explicit about the influence of the Bible upon the law of his time. Robert Stacey, a professor of government at Regent University in Virginia, has written about the significance of Blackstone in his book, Sir William Blackstone & the Common Law. In our day it often seems that the law works against Christianity, so Christians need to be reminded that our current legal situation is a deviation from our country’s history. In this book Stacey briefly traces the development of common law in England and how Blackstone deeply influenced the American colonies and the early American republic. 800s - King Alfred’s “Dooms” A key figure in the initial development of common law was King Alfred the Great of England. He formulated a body of law known as “Alfred’s Dooms” in the ninth century that relied on the Ten Commandments as well as other aspects of the Mosaic Law and the New Testament. Stacey writes that the Dooms were “steeped in Christian principles of right and wrong” and they “became the starting point for English law to come.” 1200s – Magna Carta In 1215 some prominent English citizens forced King John to sign the Magna Carta which placed significant limits on the monarch’s power and recognized certain rights and liberties for English subjects. The idea that monarchs are not above the law, but are under it just as their subjects are, was a central theme that reflected Biblical ideals. 1600s – King and country are not above God During the seventeenth century, Edward Coke, a major judicial and political figure in England at that time, led the fight against Charles I, a king who claimed illegitimate powers for himself. According to Stacey, Coke “resisted both Crown and Parliament whenever either attempted to operate outside its common law boundaries or act in violation of God’s law.” He also wrote a multi-volume Institutes of the Laws of England which was the standard work on English law until Blackstone’s Commentaries in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Anyway, the overall point that Stacey is trying to make by surveying the history of English law is that “the common law emanates from a distinctly Christian worldview.” More precisely, “the common law traces its origin to two sources, Holy Scripture and the natural law.” It’s important not to be confused by the term “natural law” in this context – today that term is often used to describe foundational law that finds its origin in Nature rather than God. But Blackstone did not see it as a rival authority to the Bible. Rather, in using that term he is “acknowledging the common law’s roots in Scripture and God’s created order, as applied to the circumstances of England by many past generations of great Englishmen, exercising a providentially granted wisdom that was perhaps less common in Blackstone’s own, more humanistic age.” Or to put it another way, Blackstone was using the term “natural law” for what the Apostle Paul describes in Romans 2:14-15 as the law that is written on our hearts. 1700s – Christian legal heritage challenged Already in the eighteenth century, English law was being challenged by Enlightenment-inspired secularists. Blackstone defended the earlier Christian heritage of the law. In contrast to the man-centered concepts of law, “Perhaps the most foundational principle for the whole of common law is the axiom that the source of all good and just law is outside of man. Man does not act on his own to produce justice, but acts justly only when he conforms to external standards of justice, in short, the law of God.” Blackstone was very influential in his own day as well as during much of the nineteenth century. His Commentaries appeared in the late 1760s and sold thousands of copies in England and America. According to Stacey: “His intellectual and practical impact on American political philosophy, governing institutions, and legal system being more profound than it was even in England, Blackstone’s Commentaries may be justly counted among the foundational canon of America.” “According to some estimates, the Commentaries were the most widely read work in revolutionary America after the Bible.” Blackstone’s Commentaries remained the standard for American legal education until the second half of the nineteenth century when secular theories of law began to dominate the field. The United States and Britain were not the only countries where law was powerfully affected by Blackstone: “Blackstone’s influence was also felt in such far-flung corners as Canada, Australia, New Zealand . . .” and certain other countries. The fact that Blackstone helped to shape the law and legal education in the English-speaking countries is not just historical trivia. His influential perspective on law both reflected and helped to develop the Christian foundation of law in these countries. “Blackstone effectively advocated a God-centered legal system at a time when many leading culture-shapers sought to impose a man-centered system.” Christian influence waning Looking at Blackstone’s Commentaries reveals the degree to which the common law of England – and therefore also the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – was rooted in a Christian worldview. This Christian influence on the law has been progressively discarded over the last few decades, but it was there for hundreds of years previously. It’s not a coincidence that these countries are becoming less hospitable to Christians as the Christian foundation of law is being lost. Law is always rooted in a particular philosophical perspective, and if that perspective isn’t shaped by Christianity, it will be shaped by a different worldview. Modern law in the developed English-speaking countries is increasingly shaped by secular humanism which is inherently hostile to Christianity. It is a very different perspective on law than the original perspective Canada inherited from its “mother country.” This first appeared in the April 2011 issue....

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News

Saturday Selections – Dec. 6, 2025

Rosaria raps? Here's the wild, wacky, and wonderful side of AI – Reformed rap battles that never were, but brought to you anyway with this newest tech. This time we have one on homosexuality, with Rosaria Butterfield taking on a "woke leftist" and what's awesome here is there is no caricaturing happening – the young lady gets to say her piece in as convincing a fashion as you'd ever hear it. And Rosaria offers her up the truth unvarnished. An upside-down guide to high school A recent high school grad remembers what it was like to start high school, and the three major "traps" high schoolers face: I have to make a name for myself The more friends, the merrier My grades = my future Number killed via IVF surpasses those of abortion Approximately 96,000 US babies were born via IVF in 2023 and for some that is reason enough to call government policies promoting IVF "pro-family" and "pro-life." However, while in the US 1 million children are murdered each year via abortion, a new report says that between approximately 2 million and nearly 4 million children were murdered during the IVF process. That means that abortion and IVF combined likely account for more deaths than all other causes combined. And that is not pro-life. 3 quick tips for teaching delayed gratification This is an economics website, but even economists seem to understand that gratitude starts with expressing our thanks to God. If I invest based on my values, won’t my investments underperform? We'd never invest in an abortion clinic, but some of the large investment funds many of us have in our portfolio might well invest in abortion, risqué entertainment, gambling, and other ventures we'd certainly want no part in. But if we are more selective in our investment, does that have to come at a cost to our returns? Maybe. But not necessarily. Real communism has never been tried? (5 min) Communism has failed everywhere it's been tried, so how do today's communists explain that? Well, they claim that real communism has never been tried. But what does that even mean? ...

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Adult non-fiction, Book Reviews

How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes

by Peter Schiff and Andrew Schiff 2014 / 304 pages Economics affects everyone but few people care to learn much about it. All the numbers and graphs make it seem complex and quite boring. Of course some subjects are so important that even if they were boring we’d just have to soldier on and learn them anyway. And you could certainly make that case for economics – every citizen has to get a handle on the basics of economics so we can properly evaluate government policies and get a handle on where the economy may be heading. However, Peter Schiff and Andrew Schiff have done us a service by making it possible to learn economics without being bored to sleep. Peter Schiff is an investment manager who was also an economic adviser to Congressman Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign. Andrew, Peter’s brother, is the communications director for Peter’s investment firm. In 2014 they released a Collector's Edition of their book How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes that is part fiction, part comic book, and educationally entertaining throughout. . A fish story Their book is written in the form of a story, with some cartoon illustrations thrown in, which makes this a lot easier to digest and follow than, say, a university economics textbook. The story begins as follows: Three men, Able, Baker, and Charlie, live on an island and survive by catching fish with their bare hands. They just barely subsist from day to day, catching only enough for their next meal. Then Able gets the idea of making a simple net to catch fish, but to make it, he has to invest a day’s worth of time. Instead of going fishing, he spends the day crafting the net. This investment is not only costly – he has to go a day without food – it is also risky: he doesn’t know if his net will work. But Able is an entrepreneur, so he takes the risk, and makes the investment. And work it does. The net enables him to dramatically increase the amount of fish he catches, and therefore improves his lifestyle. The net is “capital” he created that increased his productivity. He subsequently catches more fish than he can consume, and this situation initiates improvements on the island. The lesson, as the Schiffs write, is that “spare production is the lifeblood of a healthy economy.” Because he has surplus fish, Able lends them to Baker and Charlie. Those two fellows can then take time off from catching fish with their hands to make nets for themselves. That is, they too create capital to improve production. With the extra fish they can now catch, they pay Able back with interest, and all three of the men are better off than before. Even though they had to pay interest, Baker and Charlie increased their own standard of living. Able’s motivation in loaning the fish was to earn a profit. But the loan he provided benefited the other two men as well as himself. As the Schiffs explain, The pursuit of profit drives innovation, business formation, and economic growth. It’s the force that raises everyone’s living standard. A big profit just means that a business is good at satisfying customers. Those who earn it should be celebrated not vilified. Increasing productivity The story continues from this point with the three men able to spend less time fishing, and more time developing other tools and implements (capital) for improving their lives. For example, they make more nets to build larger fish-catching devices. The new capital they create increases productivity even further. The Schiffs strongly emphasize the importance of increasing productivity as the key to a successful economy. It benefits everyone. Besides using their story to show how, they also add a real-life example: the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century. They write that the …vastly increased productivity of the industrial revolution made it possible for working-class people to afford all kinds of goods, like upholstered furniture, tailored clothing, plumbing, and wheeled transportation, that were previously available only to the rich. Eventually Able, Baker and Charlie begin trading with people on other islands. Immigrants come to their island, a government is formed, and the economy becomes more complex. Their island society becomes known as Usonia. It’s an easy story to follow with lessons on basic economics interwoven with the story’s events. Paper currency Fish function in this story not only as food but also as currency. Everyone eats fish and they are easy to exchange for other items. Once a government is created for Usonia, it issues paper currency backed by fish. Each “Fish Reserve Note” could be redeemed for actual fish at a central bank. Using paper money was much easier than carrying actual fish, so it became the common currency. Over time, though, the government produces larger and larger amounts of paper currency without maintaining enough fish to redeem the notes. Eventually the government declares that the Fish Reserve Notes could not be redeemed for actual fish after all. The value of the currency then becomes based on the citizens’ confidence in the government. This is much like the situation with money in the world today. The currencies of modern nations are no longer based on particular sources of value (like gold) but on confidence in the nations’ governments. The Canadian and US dollars were at one time backed by gold (that is, a dollar represented a specific amount of gold), but that is no longer the case. Now they are just paper. The Schiffs point out that this kind of paper money is commonly called “fiat” money. The word “fiat” comes from Latin and literally means “let it be done.” The word applies because paper money does not have any intrinsic worth, but rather derives its value from government decree. Right now the worldwide economy based on fiat money seems to be working. But the Schiffs do not think it will last. They do not consider fiat money to be real money because it has no inherent value, the way gold and other precious metals do. In their view, we are in a “through the looking glass” world where, for the past 40 years, no country issues real money. This is the biggest monetary experiment ever conducted. No one knows how or when it will end. But rest assured, it will. Government debt The government of Usonia, like actual governments today, increases spending beyond its means and finances its operations through increased taxes, borrowing money, and also printing more paper money. These activities are harmful to the economy in the long run. The Schiffs state that Taxes and borrowing merely divert private-sector spending or investment to government. Printed money has the same effect. Newly created money spent into circulation by the government depresses the purchasing power of money held by the public. In the United States, President Barack Obama has pursued a policy of high government expenditures financed by borrowing and printing money. The US government debt is so large, in fact, that the Schiffs do not believe it can ever be paid. They paint a rather unnerving picture: Ultimately the U.S. government will have only two options: default (tell our creditors that we can’t pay, and negotiate a settlement) or inflate (print money to pay off maturing debt). Either option will lead to painful consequences. They believe that the value of the US dollar will drop steeply because so much is currently being printed. However, its status as the official “reserve currency” of the world keeps its value artificially propped up. Being the international reserve currency means that the dollar is accepted as the exchange currency for any international transaction. This means that everyone, not just the United States and its trading partners, needs dollars to conduct trade. So even if no one actually buys things that are made in this country, dollars are always in demand. No other country has this monetary good fortune. In their view, if the US dollar was to lose reserve status, its value would drop severely, wiping out much of the wealth Americans currently possess. Its present value only remains high because of its wide acceptance around the world. Conclusion Economics may not be inherently exciting to many people but it affects everyone. The basics are understandable if they are presented properly, and the Schiff brothers do a great job in their book. They provide a simple basis for understanding the kinds of measures that help an economy grow as well as those that stifle growth. Some policies (such as printing more money) provide a temporary illusion of prosperity followed by a financial downturn. Politicians campaigning for re-election love policies that provide an illusion of prosperity. They often make decisions that will benefit themselves in the short run but actually harm the economy in the long run. The Schiffs emphasize work, saving, thrift, and innovation as keys to economic success. To a large degree the virtues that lead to prosperity are also Biblical virtues. Therefore, even though the book is not specifically Christian, it reflects much that is compatible with Biblical Christianity. This was originally published in the May 2015 issue under the title “Economics for Everyone.”...

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Pro-life - Abortion

You can save pre-born lives this summer

Yesterday I stood on a sidewalk holding a sign. It read, Pregnant? Need Help? I watched as the crowds hurried by and saw, on our other signs, what...
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Dying Well

Moth and rust resolutions

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures...
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Interview with an artist

Created to create: a practical person’s thoughts on creativity
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In a Nutshell

Tidbits – December 2025

Go Ukrainian While canvassing for money-saving ideas I came across one appropriate for this season. As many of our readers know, the Dutch traditiona...
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News

Saturday Selections – Nov. 29, 2025

One reason God gives us each other None of us are God, so we aren't going to know it all. And sometimes we aren't even going to know what it is that we don't know, as John Cleese notes below. That's one reason God gives us the communion of saints so we can support each other (Eccl. 4:9–12), including learning from our brothers and sisters. As Solomon tells us in Proverbs 12:15: "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice." Speak, even if they don't listen? Ezekiel was commissioned to speak God's truth whether His people listened or didn't. The results aren't in our hands, but His. Only two-thirds of US Christians believe we've all sinned If evangelizing to non-Christians is intimidating, George Barna's latest study shows there's plenty of evangelism that needs to be done among those who profess to be Christian. The lesbian seagulls that weren't For a while there, Christians who were too afraid or too embarrassed to cite the Bible, would instead try to point out the wrongness of homosexuality by highlighting how "unnatural" it was. And that is certainly true – God designed our parts to interact a certain way, and if you try the other it can result in incontinence. So it was a thing when an island of lesbian seagulls was discovered – look, homosexuality in nature, so it is natural! But now it has turned out, the lesbian birds were probably due to some chemicals being sprayed about, and once that stopped, the lesbianism stopped too. So, disappointment for the LGBT advocates. That doesn't make the "unnatural" argument one to fall back on again. We live in a broken world, so we can be certain that somewhere in Nature homosexuality exists – shucks, as this author notes, some animals eat their young, so Nature shouldn't be our guide for how things should be. And even the world knows that. So let's point them to where guidance can be found, with God, and in His Word. The secular liturgy of Goodnight Moon "Here’s the point for Christian parents. Goodnight Moon reads like a bedtime prayer for a reason. Brown’s experimental writing was part of a modernist movement to shape an alternative moral ecology for children.... The next time you read Goodnight Moon with your kids at bedtime, don’t stop at 'goodnight noises everywhere.' End your routine with bedtime prayers..." The Gray Havens' "Sirens" The lyrics are worth a read too! One taste of the sound From the Sirens in the water And I'm thinking I should get out The sharpest sword and suit of armor So I can be ready to strike But I pause, one more time One last taste of the sound Then I'll cut these Sirens down But as they sang, I forgot They were death, so I brought them my heart To be filled, and I followed them No trace could I find Of any joy the Sirens promised They had found a way with a lie To turn what's good and should be wanted Into what is highest above, all desires and loves Til’ my heart would obey Whatever it wants whatever it takes To feel alive and set free Only bound to the sea Where the sirens are leading me on Hold on, hold on, my heart You once were full and sang of grace Hold on, hold on, my heart You've tasted joy that's more than this Hold on, hold on, my heart You once were full and sang of grace Hold on, hold on, my heart You've tasted joy that's more than this...

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Assorted

The evil of simplicity

If ever there was an idol thoroughly ripe and ready for a great heaving into eternal hell fire, it has to be the idol of simplicity. This leapt to my attention, not for the first time, this morning when I made the grave mistake of wandering from the “Holds” section of our depraved local library and into the cookbook aisle. My sight was immediately accosted with drivel — 5 Easy Ways to Feed People So That They Will Never Ask You to Do It Again, Eating with No Grain and Only a Fraction of a Grimace, and Whole 30 to Become Half a Human. I might be paraphrasing. A little. We are people captivated by convenience and ease, by a false simplicity. The only simplicity worth having is that simplicity we don’t want: simplicity of heart, childlike faith, accepting what our Father gives us without throwing a fit about it, because He is our dad and if He says we need it, then we do. Everything spelled out? No, we have no use for true simplicity. We want systems. We want all the ways to save time, money and calories. There is a paradox here – true simplicity gives rise to perfect complexity, the sort that can be in awe of fungus that is good to eat, and in awe of the mystery of breastfeeding, the sort that can know it is worthwhile to make a thing with your own hands, and that saving time can be the most deadly waste of all. But when simplicity is the goal in and of itself, all such glorious complexity is once and for all abandoned for the sake of efficiency, of economy, of a time-saving system or technique. Ironically, our quest for simplicity often goes hand in hand with a devotion to busyness, and thus the vicious cycle is born. You worry that if the only socialization your kids receive is at home (gah, what if they start talking like me??) and at church, such that they will grow up to be like that oddball who sings with a sign on the corners of intersections trying to get you to buy mattresses. So you sign them up for activities and sports and lessons (I wonder how many of the decisions we make as parents have their beginnings in fear...). This busyness drives you to seek out ways to “maximize your time.” You meal prep – perhaps you cook one day a month and freeze it, if you are an ambitious homemaker at heart, or maybe you just buy pre-packaged meals and snacks, things that can be heated up quickly or eaten on the run. You make a detailed plan for getting all the laundry done as you seek the simple life... but true simplicity just does the wash, and thanks God for having people to dirty the clothes He gave you. The quest for simplicity blinds us to the stunning complexity that is living. Simple shouldn’t drive Don’t get me wrong – the frozen pizza is not the problem. I love frozen pizza and canned food is a gift. It is always about the heart. Simplicity is a bad master. So is complexity, for that matter. Pride creeps in on both fields and makes a mess of our enjoyments and our work. All well and good, you might be saying, but the laundry actually does need doing and I think better with a system! Without a plan, my whole house reeks of stinky socks! Take a breath (well, unless you haven’t been doing your laundry). This is not an indictment of planning or of systems. It is not even necessarily a criticism of trying to find the easiest, fastest, cheapest way to do things. There are good reasons for pursuing all of these goals. The evil I find is when the means becomes the end. We are a forgetful people; we build idols out of anything and everything. So much to appreciate Let’s contemplate an example of what I am talking about, shall we? It is August as I write this and all the vegetables on the farm are ripe for the taking. There is tremendous abundance. I am delighted by everything about summer squash: the color of sunshine, the smooth, thin exterior, the butter-colored flesh, and a flavor mild enough to serve with anything. Our visit to the library was cut blissfully and providentially short by the knowledge that we needed to get back home in time to bake a Yukon gold potato and summer squash torte that I had prepared for lunch. This delicious dish was new to me and I think it demonstrates the principle I am fumbling around to express. There is nothing inherently difficult or fussy about this torte. It is thinly sliced potato and squash, layered with drizzles of olive oil and a cheese and salt and pepper mixture, with green onions sprinkled throughout, baked to a golden, crispy-edged perfection. Yet it was captivating – appreciation led me to take the time to slice, to stir, to grind, to arrange, to bake. It took time and attention to use the gifts of the ultimate Husbandman well, and the result was lovely, a feast for the senses. It was not the easiest way to use the vegetables, it was not the least expensive lunch, it was in no way time saving. But there is glory in gratitude. One of the interesting side effects of offering up your time and money and effort during the preparation of a thing is that it tends to encourage a similar offering up in the receiving of the thing. A torte that took two hours to prepare (not even considering the time and effort spent in the growing of the vegetables) could certainly be scarfed down in mere moments... but it felt so natural to eat it slowly, to lift layers and perceive what the heat of the oven had accomplished in the time it was given. Simple, right? His world is far from simple You are up to your eyeballs in the generous, way over-the-top gifts of God. And the only simple part of this gift-giving is meant to be the receiving – wide-eyed, hands clapping, laughter bubbling out of you because He did it again! He made wild things grow in the wood, He caused the carpet fibers to hold their form and be soft under your feet, He spoke flowers and hummingbirds and green lacewings into existence and taught them to dance. So sing while you work, drink your water from a pretty glass, be in awe that hair can be combed, live amazed. He has not given you the future; today’s gifts are more than enough to keep you occupied, to fill your arms and your thoughts and your affections. This story is way too big to waste on simplicity....

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Articles, Articles, Book Reviews, Entertainment, Movie Reviews

We are not trashcans: how to analyze stories

Why is it important for Christians to understand stories? Obviously, God loves to tell them. Our world is saturated with His stories and the stories of those who emulate Him, stories that teach, inspire, entertain, and more. However, Christians aren’t the only ones with access to this tool. The secular world pumps out hundreds of movies every year, and millions of books. Modern men and women sit with slack jaws, swallowing as much as can be shoved down their throats, without any active discrimination or discernment. But, just as stories can be edifying and beautiful, they can even more easily be toxic and destructive. The fallen world has all sorts of corrupt messages it would like to slip you, like a pill wrapped in cheese for a dog. With enough explosions and drama scenes, the lies often pass by unnoticed. Worldview workout Let the unbelievers be duped if they insist, but Christians should not be such an easy audience. We don’t need to exclusively consume explicitly Christian content, but we should not be caught unawares or slowly marinated in lies we not only fail to resist, but fail to even notice. We need to watch and read with open eyes and active, and even cynical, minds. We are not called by God to serve as the world’s trash cans taking in whatever’s pitched at us. However, the ability to intelligently analyze stories isn’t a light switch you can just flip on. I can’t give you three simple steps that, if followed exactly, will instantly turn you into the perfect movie critic. This is something that takes practice. We do brain pushups. We change the way we look at stories; and then, over time, it becomes second nature. Can’t spit out what you swallow whole To start us off, it’s important to be a participant, not just a consumer. Every story has a message, even if only in its worldview assumptions. This message isn’t always deep and philosophical. You will find children’s movies with the simple message of, “we don’t really care about quality and are just here to provide vapid stories in the hopes of getting your money.” But even that is a disrespectful statement about beauty and children. To be a discriminating consumer means being engaged. When you open your novel, when your audiobook starts playing, when the TV turns on, don't let your brain switch off. Regardless of the depth of the message, there is always a message. A story is always insinuating judgements of one kind or another, and those judgements are true or false, wise or foolish, edifying or unedifying, engaging or a waste of your time. And when it comes to analyzing a book or movie, you can’t participate in a discussion that you don’t know is happening or that you can’t follow. Once you learn to pay active attention to what stories are actually doing, you can join the conversation. You can agree or disagree with another Christian about the value of a story, but the most important step has been made. You are no longer a passive consumer. Sneaky one is what matters A big note to remember is that stories often have both explicit and implicit messages. It will tell you what it’s saying, and then it will show you what it really thinks (and what it really wants you to think) as the story plays out. In a good story, the explicit “tell” and the implicit “show” will match. But in a poorly done, incoherent, or problematic story, they often do not. And in those cases, the implicit message should be treated as the real one. After all, monkey see, monkey do; not monkey hear overt instruction, monkey do. Hunger Games One such example of explicit-implicit messaging tension is The Hunger Games novels. There is a stated morality: it’s bad to kill. But our heroine Katniss’s situation is claimed as an exception. Katniss steps into her position in the deadly games sacrificially, taking her sister’s place. That initial ethical move is explicit messaging that any Christian could appreciate. However, Katniss then kills other children, some in self-defense, some not. And the readers/viewers are meant to treat her behavior as noble. However, the self-sacrifice is just tacked on to make the audience sympathetic to the murders Katniss commits. What is demonstrated by the series is that Katniss actively chooses to kill when there are other options. Several other characters only hurt people in cases of self-defense; and in the second book, a group teams up against the real enemy and breaks out of the games. The implicit messaging of the books contradicts the explicit moral messaging, which keeps readers feeling guilt-free and loyal to Katniss as they vicariously enjoy the violence of a truly selfish character. And that loyalty to Katniss is so strong that people who disagree with my take tend to have very strong emotional reactions to my criticism. Encanto and Barbie Another example of implicit vs. explicit messaging is Pixar’s Encanto. The movie very clearly discusses heroine Mirabel’s problems and her need for growth; however, the action of the finale is purely affirmation that she was always great, and it shifts all blame to others. Turns out, all Mirabel was missing was confidence, and the movie ends by cosplaying self-affirmation as self-improvement. In the Barbie movie, there are lines in the conclusion that affirm true equality, which are then immediately followed up by mocking the Kens (the stand-ins for all men) and banning them from holding any political power in Barbieland. Just like with people, when in doubt, believe the actions in a film, not the words. God’s Not Dead This goes for Christian movies, too. Faith films love to front-load positive explicit messaging, as if it can somehow redeem all the sentimentality, saccharine action, and clumsy filmmaking that follows. Bad news, kids. A movie that sets out to emphasize the importance of forgiveness on the most shallow level, without truly bringing God into it, might actually just convince viewers that Christianity is hollow and ugly. And yes, that should be treated as its real (even if unintended) message. We should care less about what you were aiming at, and more about what your bullet actually hit. What a film does and shows you will always be a better representation of its impact on viewers than what it might tell you. Even the author can miss it A downstream effect of all this is that, funnily enough, authors can be wrong about their own works. Stories are slippery things. They can grow and move on their own. A petty example is Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s understanding of her own character, Draco Malfoy. As she sees him, this pain in Potter’s side is just a flat and unredeemed bully. Rowling has admitted to being unnerved by Draco fans and has even claimed people only like him because of the actor, Tom Felton, who played Draco in the movies. However, is it possible some audiences saw something in the character that she, the author, missed? Of course it is. Her idea that an 11-year-old who was rude and used slurs can’t ever be sympathetic is silly. Draco Malfoy is a child with a horrible family situation, both his parents being elitist and racist murderers and Death Eaters. Draco also had no real friends and was unsupported by teachers. Later on, he is fully isolated, with the biggest, baddest villain in the story, Voldemort, holding Draco’s parents hostage and threatening to torture and kill them if the boy doesn’t completely destroy himself for Voldemort’s cause and commit murder. This child is so broken at that point, he’s crying in the bathroom when Harry walks in and goes, “ew, Draco” and almost kills him with a curse. Worse, the supposedly wisest and best adult figure in the story, Dumbledore, knows all about it, and allows it to continue for the greater good (and the good of Harry). Is it all that surprising that Draco’s character inspires pity and hope for redemption in so many fans? J.K. Rowling is surprised. I am not. Consumer questions There are many more such examples, but let’s get into some specific questions you can ask as you consume, and things to look out for in a story. First up, the theme. What’s the theme statement? It normally happens in the first five minutes of a movie. It’s stated, and then contested in some ways, it is debated by the rest of the film, and it is the question the story will attempt to answer. This is a discussion you should be joining. A pristine example is in the movie Gladiator. In the first scenes, the Roman soldier Quintus looks over the battlefield and the final barbarian horde as these Germanic tribes ready themselves to fight on to their inevitable doom. He then says, “Men should know when they’re conquered.” Should they? Really? Men should become submissive when up against overwhelming odds? Maximus answers, “Would you, Quintus? Would I?” As everyone should know who has seen it, the movie answers Quintus’ statement with a resounding “NO.” If you’re on the right side, you should not know when you’re conquered. Fight until the bitter end. Do not allow yourself to be steered by a fear of death. So, watch for overtly stated themes and questions early in a film – that’s what the film is going to be about. After the action of the plot, the second major progression of a story is often the movement within the main character. Having identified the theme, character growth is the next thing to pay attention to. The key questions here are, where do they start and where do they end? In stories with a strong character progression, there will be gradual change leading to a true pivotal moment, often at the beginning of the third act, sometimes right before the finale. Disney’s animated Mulan is about a young woman who disguises herself as a man so as to take her elderly father’s place in the conscripted army. She starts out with a good heart but is caught up in her own insecurities and foolishness. Through the movie, Mulan is getting smarter and better, all leading to a big moment just after she’s busted for being a woman. Then, she looks at her reflection, admits to her foolishness and self-absorption, and casts aside her reflection. The next time she stands up, she does so in true selflessness. Compare that to the more recent live-action version, and you’ll encounter an entirely different worldview. The older one actually has something healthy to offer. The new one… not so much. What makes a book or movie good? Of course, maybe the biggest question is whether a story is worth consuming at all. The three categories I use to determine the worth of a story are technical value, response value, and objective value. These are categories used around our own dinner table at home. Objective value is easy. Does God like this story? If He asked you what you were watching or reading, would you be embarrassed to answer? Response value is a little more subjective. What is the effect this has on you and on others? Watch your own emotional reactions. What does this make me feel? Why? Should I be feeling that? Maybe I felt moved because it was a well done and emotionally compelling story, or maybe I felt moved because it was sucking up to my temptations. Just because something felt good at first blush, doesn’t mean it is good. The road to hell is a primrose path and all that. Or, even if it’s a good story, is it feeding my mind some darkness that I don’t want in there? If you’re a parent, this means watching your kids’ reactions as well. The young will respond differently than you do. The final category is technical value. How well executed is this movie? All the questions I’ve covered up until now are enough to be wise in consuming stories. But if you enjoy thinking about movies and books, and if you want to be involved in storytelling, you can dig into this category as well. Ask the questions, “Why does this movie feel fast?” or “Why do I not care about the main character?” “How was that shot so effective?” “Why do I like someone so unlikable?” For people looking to dive into this, I recommend the book, Save the Cat as a great resource on the story side of things. Here’s a last tip if you’re trying to build these muscles in your kids. I always use these basic questions after every book and movie: • Did you like it? Why or why not? (The words boring, stupid, or dumb are not allowed answers.) • What was your favorite part or character? (Even if you disliked the movie.) • What was your least favorite part or character? (Even if you liked it.) Engage, wrestle, consider… All in all, analyzing stories is pretty simple. I can distill it down to one simple instruction: ask questions. Don’t be passive and mindless. Question it. Poke at it. Wrestle with it. If you’re a Christian, pursuing holiness in your life, and you become intentional and intellectually active in your consumption, you’re most of the way there. I hope you all enjoy stories as much as I do. Not as trash cans, but as active participants....

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Bible labelled as hateful by government MP

Liberal MP Marc Miller serves as the chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. On October 30, 2025, he made these comments about the Bible during a committee meeting: “In Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Romans – there’s other passages – there is clear hatred towards, for example, homosexuals… I mean, clearly there are situations in these texts where these statements are hateful. They should not be used to invoke or be a defense.” The committee was studying Bill C-9, which the Liberal government is calling the Combatting Hate Act. When a government leader publicly calls passages of Scripture clearly hateful, it reveals something far deeper than a policy debate. It shows a government forgetting its duty before God. Civil authority is not ultimate. Scripture teaches that those in power are ministers of God, called to uphold justice and protect truth. From the very book Minister Miller referenced, Romans 13:1 reads, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” And in Psalm 2:10-11, we are told, “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” John Sikkema, Legal Counsel and Director of Law and Policy for ARPA Canada, had the opportunity to present to the same committee a few hours after Miller’s comments. As Mr. Sikkema said in his statement before the committee: “….today in Canada, people are being accused, often by government officials, of promoting hatred simply for expressing moral or political views. Earlier this month, the British Columbia Legislature condemned ARPA as hateful... A B.C. government MLA even told a story… defamed and vilified Reformed Christians as criminal harassers, which seems like a way, frankly, to stir up hatred against this group, while at the same time accusing these Christians of promoting hatred for the views that they hold.” When leaders begin labelling parts of the Bible as dangerous or hateful, they place themselves above the very law that gives their authority any meaning. Our concern is not merely for Christians, but for Canada itself. A nation cannot claim to pursue justice while rejecting the standard of the One who defines it. Government serves under God’s authority, and it has a duty to ensure that His Word and those who live by it remain free to speak. This gets to the heart of Christian concerns about Bill C-9....

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Theology

When God goes to war: holiness, judgment and hope

“Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” – Gen. 18:25 We don’t deny God’s wrath. We just don’t talk about it. In Refor...
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Saturday Selections – Nov. 22, 2025

Signs and symbols Four rappers team up to take on the tendency among some Christians to look outward for God's direction, rather than turn to His Wor...
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Education

If grades are dropping, should we drop grades?

A new trend in Canadian schools ***** Imagine a student who has struggled academically for several years. In the past, their grades would have alert...
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News, Transgenderism

Parents disrobe to make their point

In what seems to be a bit of a trend, parents have gone to school board meetings and, while presenting to the board, proceeded to disrobe to their und...
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BC private property rights in question after court ruling

The City of Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, sent out a letter in October to some of its residents, informing them of a recent BC Supreme Court decision which “has declared aboriginal title to your property which may compromise the status and validity of your ownership.” The court decision, by Justice Barbara Young, is found in an 863-page ruling, resulting from what is claimed to be the longest trial in Canada’s history. She ruled that the Cowichan First Nations “have established Aboriginal title” to about 800 acres in the city, because the ancestors of the Cowichan once had a seasonal fishing village in the area centuries ago. The court ruled that the Crown’s granting of land to settlers was not valid because it infringed on the Cowichan Nation’s title. The decision is causing understandable unrest among property owners in the area and around the province. If the Cowichan Nation still has title, what does that mean for their ownership? And if this is true for these 800 acres, what does it mean for the rest of BC, given that as much as 95% is claimed to be “unceded traditional First Nations territory”? The BC government and City of Richmond are appealing the court ruling, though the NDP government has been promoting First Nations land title extensively in recent years. This included recently handing over title to the entire Haida Gwaii archipelago of 10,180 km² to the Haida Nation (or just over 1 percent of the province). “I think this is one of the most significant rulings in the history of the province, and maybe the country,” Malcolm Brodie, the Mayor of Richmond, said to the Globe and Mail. “I think it potentially could dismantle the land title system, certainly in our province, with ramifications across the country.” This is the logical outcome of “land acknowledgements” being read out before meetings, sporting events, and university classes across the province and across the country. The Left kept accusing us all of living, working, and playing on stolen land, and it was only a matter of time before someone with power realized that if property has indeed been stolen then it needs to be returned – that only makes sense. But so much of this doesn’t make sense. Do the Cowichan own this land because they hunted and lived on it some of the year, hundreds of years ago? If so, then wouldn’t it make sense to apply that same standard towards the Indigenous peoples who did so before the Cowichan? If we are going to restore property said to have been stolen 100 years ago, why not restore it to whatever tribe or nation owned it 200 years, or 500 years ago? Where does it stop? If my great-grandparents stole $10 a hundred years ago, should I feel any obligation to pay it back to the great-grandchildren of the guy whose wallet they took? Lots of questions here, and there are plenty of biblical texts worth exploring for insight (Num. 5:5-8, Matt. 7:1-2, Lev. 6:1-7, etc.) but for now let’s consider just one. A theft is said to have occurred one hundred years ago, and the 8th Commandment, do not steal, is the basis of the Cowichan complaint. But to hand over this land, as it is today, wouldn’t be righting a wrong, but perpetuating another. If my great-grandparents had invested $10 they stole into starting a business that, through the work of our family’s next three generations, became a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, would I be responsible for returning everything that $10 became? Because that’s what’s being considered today: were the Cowichan to take over this chunk of Richmond, they would be taking developed property worth thousands of times more than the open land that existed there before. The 8th Commandment, do not steal, is the basis for private property rights and, as economist Barry Asmus and Bible scholar Wayne Grudem have explained, it is “the necessary foundation for all human flourishing on the face of the earth…. Whenever this commandment is ignored, entire nations remain trapped in poverty forever.” It’s easy to see how that is so. If this ruling stands and this becomes the new normal in Canada, who would invest here? Who would want to put money down if a judge can decide with a stroke of their pen to give over everything they’ve developed? It’ll be impossible to build an economy without a stable foundation of private property beneath it. Map at top of article produced with materials from the Native Land Digital App (https://native-land.ca/) ...

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Arctic sea ice remains steady for past two decades

If you’ve ever fallen for the “Heads I win, tails you lose” trick, the mainstream media’s climate change reporting might strike you as familiar. Whatever the latest news might be, the spin is in just one direction: the planet is in crisis. It happened again, just recently, with what should have been good news for all. Based on data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, Arctic ice decreased to 4.602 million square kilometers on September 10th, the low point for the year, corresponding with the warmer temperatures of summer. The number is 1.2 million square kilometers greater than where it was at in 2012, and close to half a million more than 2007 levels. In general, the ice trend has been close to flat over the past two decades. Hurrah, right? Where the mainstream media did cover the story, the data didn’t change their long-standing climate alarmism. As EuroNews.com reported it: “Scientists say this is a temporary slowdown that may continue for a further five to 10 years. When it ends, it is likely to be followed by faster-than-average sea ice decline.” The spin goes beyond the media. “While this year’s Arctic sea ice area did not set a record low, it’s consistent with the downward trend” reported NASA. And the World Wildlife Federation still warns: “Polar ice caps are melting as global warming causes climate change. We lose Arctic sea ice at a rate of almost 13% per decade…. If emissions continue to rise unchecked, the Arctic could be ice-free in the summer by 2040.” What isn’t being publicly acknowledged is that the projections of the leading scientists and their spokesmen have often been wrong. One example: the former US vice president Al Gore, while accepting a Nobel Prize for his climate advocacy back in 2007, spoke of a study saying the North Polar ice cap could be gone during summer months just 22 years from then (or 2029). He went on to add, “Another new study, to be presented by U.S. Navy researchers later this week, warns it could happen in as little as 7 years” (i.e., 2014). This doesn’t mean that the Arctic ice won’t decrease further, or that the climate isn’t changing (it has been changing since creation). But it does mean that we need to humbly acknowledge our finite and limited understanding of this world, in contrast to God’s sovereign hand over His creation, including Arctic sea ice....

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Saturday Selections – Nov. 15, 2025

Women don't belong in combat (5 min) That world won't acknowledge that it is Who made us, and in Whose Image we are made (Gen. 9:6), that makes us valuable. So, instead, the world evaluates people on the basis of what a person might have, or how they look, or what they can do. All of these other evaluations cause troubles, especially the last. An abilities-based assessment is what's behind both dehumanizing the unborn, because they can't yet do many of the things the already born can do, and dehumanizing the elderly and disabled because they can't do what the young and more able-bodied can. Valuing people on the basis of what they can do is also what's been behind the push for women in combat roles. If you are what you can do, then we would be forced to conclude that women aren't the equal of men if there is anything men can do that women can't. So, in rejecting God, the world also has to reject the reality that men are stronger and make more capable soldiers. The world puts on blinders, because the only alternatives are equally unattractive to them: either to believe that men are better than women, or to believe that our worth is found in God and not in ourselves or anything we can do. Another problem with the minimum wage It's said a person will judge himself by his intent – "It doesn't matter how it went, after all, I meant well" – and judge others by their actions... or, in other words, by whether it actually went well. The minimum wage is an example, implemented in the name of helping the poor, and therefore judged by its implementers to be a success, no matter what results. But with the newly elected New York mayor having campaigned on a push for a $30 minimum wage, it doesn't take much imagination to see the harm that could result, with all sorts of businesses closing because they can't afford to pay those wages. Then, instead of the poorest getting paid more, you have the poorest getting fired. Now a new study finds that the harm the minimum wage causes hurts blacks more. This is a US study, and the racial aspect doesn't translate directly to Canada. But the fact that the minimum wage hurts the most vulnerable certainly does. The woke mob doesn't forgive, but God does Malcolm Gladwell became one of the first big names to admit peer pressure cowed him into saying guys in dresses should be able to compete against women. His admission – both to being cowed, and owning up to it now – are remarkable in a culture in which forgiveness is in low supply. A whole list of reasons to consider marrying younger Tim Challies with a bunch of benefits that come with marrying younger. On marital nakedness What the world cheapens, God's people can enjoy as He intended. Nick Fuentes: a name your kids may know (15 min). Nick Fuentes is big in the US, and probably leaking across the border, so if your kids don't know about him yet, they may soon. Whether or not you've heard of him, there's a reason to watch this video – Fuentes' rise is an object lesson in how taking a strong stand against what's wrong can be both attractive and still really, really evil. Too many think we can find the the truth simply by pushing back against the lies of the Left. But that forgets that there is another side of the horse to fall off of. So, for example, feminists who say motherhood is slavery are calling good evil, but when Fuentes hits back at feminists by degrading women, he's just turning his followers in a different evil direction. So Truth isn't found by rejecting error but by turning towards Christ. While Fuentes says he is Christian, he wears his "faith" like an outfit, to be put on or taken off whenever it suits. Maybe we can use this video with our kids to show how being loud while professing "Lord, Lord" (Matt. 7:21-23) can be a very different thing than being bold in our submission to the LORD (Matt. 10:32-33). The one concern I'll offer with the video below, is that it includes, near the end, depictions of Christ as He has been portrayed by actors through the years, including some quite bloody, graphic portrayals.. I'd have loved if they'd steered clear of visually depicting Jesus (my concern is the 2nd Commandment), but share this anyways because of the insight offered. ...

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Fewer young people identifying as “queer” or “trans”

A recent research report based on polling tens of thousands of American college students each year shows a significant decline among those who identify as “Trans” or “Queer.” The poll, conducted by the Centre for Heterodox Social Science, found that the number of students who identified as transgender peaked in 2023 at 7 percent but has since nearly halved to under 4 percent. Not quite as steep a decline, those who simply identify as being “not heterosexual” declined by 10 points from approximately 28 percent to 18. Of this group, those who identify as homosexual has remained stable, but those who identify as “bisexual” or “queer” has decreased. The report’s author, Eric Kaufmann, reflected in a post on X that: “The fall of trans and queer seems most similar to the fading of a fashion or trend. It happened largely independently of shifts in political beliefs and social media use, though improved mental health played a role.” While identifying as trans or queer may be less socially popular today, the underlying search for identity and meaning remains. This can only be satisfied when we understand who we are: human beings made by a loving and powerful God, who has a good plan for our lives, including our sexuality. Far from being repressive, conforming our lives to God gives lasting joy and freedom. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36)....

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