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Magazine, Past Issue
Nov/Dec 2025 issue
WHAT'S INSIDE: You can't fight screens with nothing
Given how popular our summer screen-fast challenge was, it’s evident that our tech usage is an issue that deserves ongoing attention in Christian homes. It was great so many of us could take a break from our phones, but if we’re going to limit our screen-time for the long-term, we need to think of what we’re going to do instead. So, what alternatives do kids (and adults) have to screens?
1. Get outside
One option: in this issue, school teacher Dave Penninga shares stories from his own childhood to speak to the impor- tance of risky play. He’s also working from Jonathan Haidt’s recent book The Anxious Generation - How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. Penninga makes the case for parents to back off some, and allow more unsupervised outdoor play.
2. Stack bricks – our “Building Block” contest is back!
Lego is another great alternative to screens. Earlier this year, more than 500 youth pulled out their bins of Lego and entered our first-ever “building block” contest. It’s back and in time for Christmas break. Be sure to point your little, and not-so-little, ones to the back cover for details.
3. Write or record – we need you to share your training, experiences, wisdom, or story
In light of what we confess in Lord’s Day 12 of the Heidelberg Catechism, that every Christian shares in Christ’s anointing as a prophet, priest, and king, we are grateful to launch a new contest where you have an opportunity to share your own message in writing, audio, or video. Perhaps you have training and education that would be a huge help to others, or you have experienced a trial and have learned lessons that you could share to the benefit of many. Maybe you have a story to encourage or warn your siblings in Christ. This is your opportunity to inspire and bless Christ’s Church!
Not only could your work be published, thanks to the generosity of a donor, there is a whopping $7,000 in cash prizes! Find the details on pages 2-3.
Keep the printing presses rolling
As the year draws to a close, we respectfully remind our readers that Reformed Perspective is only able to publish this magazine (and produce many other resources) and give it away for free because of the generosity of people like you, who recognize the importance of thinking, speaking, and acting for God’s glory. As you can read on pages 82-83, our donors allowed us to take 4 big steps forward this year. Are you willing to help keep the presses rolling through 2026?
We have three options for you to read the magazine. First up is the flipbook edition, with its turning pages. Below that, you can click the cover to view the pdf in your browser, or click here to download the PDF (13 mb)
INDEX: RP Contest: Your Turn / What will Canada look like in 2040 / Vera's story: the fight for her life... / Why Charlie Kirk's death hit so hard / The importance of risky play / Introducing the ARPA Academy / Why you (or someone you know) should plan to go to Calgary's 2026 Summit Reformed Young Adult Conference / Why I don't have a bucket list / Christine Farenhorst's annual Christmas story: Learning / Interview with an artist: Paul Roth loves painting her studio / Come & Explore: Have you ever wondered... / Why it's good for teens and kids to do chores / In a Nutshell / Post Tenebras Lux: Martin Luther and the road to Reformation / More than the magazine / E.D. Update: our donors enabled us to take 4 big steps forward in 2025 / RP contest: can you build it better?
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 underwear or bathing suit. Why? To protest school policies that tell girls they need to be okay with boys in girls’ locker rooms – changing in front of them, and watching them change – when those boys say they are girls.
On September 18, 55-year-old mother Beth Bourne wanted her Davis, California school board to feel some of the discomfort they were forcing on the girls in their schools. So, during the public comment section of the school board meeting she spoke while disrobing to a bikini swimsuit. As the LA Times’ Nathan Solis reported it:
“‘Right now we require our students to undress for PE class, and I’m just going to give you an idea of what that looks like while I undress,’ Bourne said while she stood behind the lectern and removed her shirt…. ‘So right now, this school district is saying that depending on a child’s transgender identity, they could pick which bathroom they want. Right now we have children self-identifying into different bathrooms,’ she said as she removed her pants…”
At that point the board’s vice president gaveled the meeting to recess, making Bourne’s point for her: if the board can’t deal with this discomfort, why are they subjecting girls to it?
Then, in October, a man and two women did the same, undressing to their underwear before changing into other outfits. This time it was in Maine, and the spokesman for the group, Nick Blanchard made sure their point was understood:
“You feel uncomfortable? Because that’s what these young girls feel like when a boy walks into their locker room and starts unchanging in front of them.”
Awkward? Certainly.
But is it a sinful way to make a point? After all, God calls us to modesty (1 Tim. 2:9-10). But God has also used immodesty to make a point, having Isaiah walk around naked (or, like these folk, in no more than his underwear) for three years (Is. 20:2-4). God also calls on us to defend our children and take the hit for them (2 Cor. 12:14, 1 Thess. 2:7-9, John 10:11). The school was set on humiliating children, and these parents were willing to be humiliated instead. That’s admirable, and while neither school seems to have listened, these educators’ lack of concern for their girl athletes was now exposed for all to see. Hopefully these brave parents, and the many more they alerted, took matters even further and pulled their kids out.
Today's Devotional
November 21 - Tempted to drift
“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” - Hebrews 2:1
Scripture reading: Deuteronomy 30:11-20
One of the board games our family likes to play still has the rule book in the box. We laughed when we finally got around to reading the rules. The rules tell players they can make up rules, if >
Today's Manna Podcast
God's Grace for the Depressed and Suicidal
Serving #1033 of Manna, prepared by Wes Bredenhof, is called "God's Grace for the Depressed and Suicidal".
