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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
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 walked through it hundreds of years ago? If so, then wouldn’t it make sense to apply that same standard towards the Indigenous peoples who walked through it before them? 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/)
Today's Devotional
November 18 - Opening up for hospitality
“Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” - Hebrews 13:1-2
Scripture reading: Acts 2:40-47
Someone dear to my heart used to joke around during that dreaded time of COVID-19, “I was made for times like these. I am required to have a six-foot personal bubble, and no one can unexpectedly hug me.” >
Today's Manna Podcast
God's grace for the Guilty
Serving #1030 of Manna, prepared by Wes Bredenhof, is called "God's grace for the Guilty".
