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Saturday Selections – Nov. 23, 2024

Click on the titles to go to the linked articles... Debunking the best proofs of evolution in 12 minutes Some of the best "proofs" of evolution have been shown to be overstated, or have disappeared entirely, in the 150 years since Darwin first published his book. Young men, don’t make that first sports bet! It's impossible to watch sports and avoid all the gambling ads. But if there was truth in advertising, then what they'd promise is, not excitement, but the chance to get money at the expense of others. Or, even more accurately, they offer you the chance to lose your bet, and possibility much much more if you get addicted. So, don't mess with this. How the Marshmallow Test can help you flee porn "We’re always at our strongest in our fight against sin when we see how it trades away God’s goodness for what’s much less satisfying." Caring for the adopted child Our kids' frustrating misbehaviors will often be a matter of déjà vu for parents who recognize they acted similarly when they were kids. But adoptive parents can face the additional challenge of dealing with behaviors they haven't seen before, perhaps because of their child's very different history, or physiological repercussions that might have come from having an alcohol- or drug-addicted birth mom. So how can adoptive parents be sensitive to their child's different needs, without succumbing to the temptation of just excusing bad behavior? Two biblical counselors offer some helpful biblical advice. It's time to rethink retirement The Bible doesn't speak to retirement. It does speak to becoming elders. Carrot juice is murder Babylon Bee is finding it hard to satirize our culture, because their mock-headlines are turning prophetic. This is an old Arrogant Worms song that has yet to be fulfilled, but it does seem only a matter of time. ...

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Saturday Selections – Nov. 16, 2024

Click on the titles to head to the linked articles... How knock-knock jokes are a problem for evolution (14 min) If you found a knock-knock joke carved on a rock in the forest, you'd know that it wasn't the result of natural forces randomly acting over time. And the origin of life is way more complicated than that! This winsome Intelligent Design presentation also highlights 5 problems the evolutionary account can't surmount. (This is worth watching twice!) The porn talk – 9 ways parents can lead children The first might be the biggest: cultivate the conversation – don't avoid it, seek it out. What two unbelievers got right about morality (10-minute read) Tim Keller on how two unbelievers – philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and historian Tom Holland (1968- ) – still recognize that without God there is no basis for right and wrong. The two-book fallacy... again (15-min read) God revealed Himself to us in one book, the Bible, and in a second volume too, which we could call the "book" of creation (Romans 1:19-20, Ps. 19:1-4). But some Christians buy into evolution because they think that this second book is every bit as clear and authoritative as Scripture. Practically speaking, that has them reinterpreting the Bible in light of what evolutionary scientists say they've discovered in Creation. But in this article, Dr. Lisle rebuts this belief and a particular gentleman who holds to it. He writes “If Shane disagrees with my conclusion that words are far superior in communicating truth than rocks and fossils are, then I would ask him to reply using only rocks and fossils – no words please.” Why do even kids' movies take God's Name in vain? Otherwise-family-friendly fare will routinely throw out an abuse of God's Name. Nobody blurts out Mohammad or Allah. No one drops an f-bomb. So why God's Name, so often? The folks at the Christian film review site MovieGuide.org offer their best explanation. The bee-apocalypse: there's always another scare Environmental groups have their apocalyptic bent, and reporters have their own "if it bleeds it leads" motivations, so when they pitch doom and gloom, we shouldn't just swallow their warnings. John Stossel is, of course, not free of his own biases, so caution is needed in ingesting his conclusions here too. But what he highlights that you probably didn't hear about before, is the human cost that comes with the pesticide bans that were pushed. In our fallen world, there is no perfect, negative-free solution – there are always tradeoffs – so we need to hear about the other side, which is on offer here (Prov. 18:17). ...

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Saturday Selections – Nov 9, 2024

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

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Saturday Selections – Nov 2, 2024

The robot repairman inside you (12 min) In the latest must-see episode of Dr. Michael Behe's "Secrets of the Cell" series, we look at some of the amazing repair mechanisms inside the cell. That our cells have so many different ways of breaking down, and need so much upkeep, creates another “chicken and egg” problem for evolutionists. As Dr. Behe explains: “You can’t have one without the other. The first life necessarily had a complete maintenance system. And just like so much else we’ve seen about the cell, its remarkable repair machines, which sustain you every moment of your life, are products of forethought and purposeful planning. That is, they are products of intelligent design.” Behe's "Secrets of the Cell" series should be required viewing in our Christian schools. For more, check out Season 1 and Season 2. YOLO and FOMO forget you don't only live once (5-min read) This is a bit of a philosophical read, but one worth considering for our own sake, and to help out our kids. When they are battling FOMO because they have to choose to do one thing or the other, or we're contemplating that we not likely to ever go on an African Safari, it's worth remembering that this life is not all we have – God has given us eternity! Euthanasia for homelessness? When you can call murder "medicine" what reason could you give not to extend the metaphor and see it as a medicine for other societal "ills" like homelessness or loneliness? And as this AP News report details, it is happening in Canada. What they don't offer is the only firm line that can be drawn to prevent such abuses - the biblical understanding that life is a gift from God, and therefore not ours to dispose of as we will. "The committee noted that legally mandated safeguards likely were not met in nearly 2% of cases. Despite that, experts say, no doctors or nurses have ever been prosecuted." The state of Christian persecution God has no interest in hypocrisy (Isa. 29:13, Amos 5:21-27), which is one of the Christian basis's for religious freedom – God doesn't want us forcing anyone to go to church, or compeling them to say what they do not believe because He isn't interested in fakery. That's not true of many other religions, including our culture's secular religion, which demands we use "preferred pronouns" no matter that we all know better. Just do it anyway! That's why, then "...over 365 million Christians, or about one in seven globally, face high levels of persecution today, including one in five Christians in Africa and two in five in Asia. And it’s getting worse. In 2023, 4,998 Christians were martyred, an average of over 13 per day." The pot experiment has been a disaster "Legalizing pot correlates with a rise in auto crashes, as well as property and violent crimes. Also, despite the fact that this is now a multibillion-dollar industry, legalizing pot has grown rather than reduced the black market. Promises of health benefits have also proven to be more smoke than substance. Pot’s most devastating impact has been in the arena of mental health, which has declined to epidemic levels in the U.S. This is largely due to the increased potency of pot that is sold today..." Fade to black One that'll grow on you. ...

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Saturday Selections – Oct. 26, 2024

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

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Saturday Selection – Oct 19, 2024

4 minutes of penguins being brave and cool In this clip, penguin chicks jump off a 50-foot cliff for their very first swimming experience. And while, admittedly, some are only doing so because of those jerks in the back pushing, most are up for taking that very brave first step. One of the most remarkable features of early Christian manuscripts The earliest documents show Christian scribes were already showing reverence, in their copying, to the name of Jesus Christ. Is in vitro fertilization (IVF) pro-life? Do you really believe that what you believe is really real? Say that out loud and it is quite the mouthful to consider, but it is an important question for Christians to ask when it comes to the unborn. And that's especially true now, in light of the recent political popularity of IVF, with both Donald Trump, and BC Conservative Party leader John Rustad pledging to make it affordable. The Christian pro-life position is that the unborn's worth – and everyone else's worth too – comes from being made in God's Image (Gen. 1:26-27). This isn't something we grow into, or increase in, but is simply an attribute given by God. That we are all made in God's Image is why the just-conceived embryo is as valuable as the fetus, newborn, toddler, teen, and adult. It is also the only basis for equality. This Christian pro-life position stands in sharp contrast to the world's evaluation of human worth, which bases it on what we can do. They might differ on what exactly we need to be able to do to be worthy of life – some insisting it is consciousness, others saying it is viability, brainwaves, a heartbeat, or being able to feel pain – but in some form or fashion the world says human worth is based on being able to do something and if you can't do it, then you aren't deemed fully human yet. The linked article is an op-ed from a conservative but not Christian publication. What's worth noting is how this "pro-life" piece leaves it as an open question of if we believe that an embryo is a person. I'm not trying to throw this writer under the bus – they are raising an issue that few are willing to even discuss – but read through this asking yourself if, at the end of it, you are left thinking the "discarding" of 1.7 million embryos from 1991-2012 is anywhere near as horrible as the murder of 1.7 million newborn, or elementary-aged, children would be. If you don't – and I'll admit to that feeling too – it is only because you and I don't really believe that what we say we believe about the unborn's worth is really real. But it is real. So we need to stop being doubleminded (1 Kings 18:21, James 4:7-9). There is a pressing need for the Church to speak with clarity against the horrors caused by IVF – especially because conservative leaders might actually listen to us – but God's people will only be able to do so if we're willing to submit our own feelings and thinking to the Lordship of Christ. How the Internet made vibes more important than arguments (10-min read) For Christians, truth must matter. But in our culture, it's all about impressions now: "The vibe world is Memes over messages. Aesthetics over arguments. Relatability over rightness. Feelings over facts. Mood over meaning...If I care about issue X and can find evidence a certain candidate somewhere, at some point, said he shared my view on issue X, I can permit myself to support that candidate (even if elsewhere he said he doesn’t support issue X, or said he supports issue Y that contradicts issue X). Incoherence is an electoral asset in the internet age. What matters more than coherent views is a compelling vibe. Politicians know this...." The seat of scoffers There is a lot of scoffing online because it is easier to tear down than it is to build up. So in your intake of social media, what is your diet of scoffing compared to wisdom? Your sense of hearing is a masterpiece of engineering (6 min) There's nothing to indicate this was made by a Christian, but if evidence alone could change a man's heart, then this video (and the accompanying article – click the title above) most certainly would! This looks at our hearing, and any time we dig down into the workings of our body, God's genius becomes all the more evident the further we explore. Some technical terminology means the video requires a little effort to stick with, but it rewards the investment! ...

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Saturday Selection – Oct 12, 2024

Click on the titles for the linked articles... Public school vs. home school The Babylon Bee, helping us tell the difference... Noise cancellation: a remarkable design solution in biology Here are some biological features that require precise design (and which therefore evidence a precise Designer) that you've probably never thought of before: "Snakes should be immune to their own poison. Electric eels should not shock themselves. And protection from self-generated noise requires a preplanned noise cancellation system." Kevin DeYoung on making better arguments The key here is to argue the facts of the matter – the what rather than the why. You might think you know why your opponent is taking their stand, but if they haven't stated it, then don't pretend you are a mind-reader. Address the argument they have made, rather than the secret motivations they may or may not have. The four gifts children need from their fathers It's not complicated. It does take effort. Here's an article every father would benefit from reading. The four gifts are: Presence Other mentors Wisdom Blessing 3 painfully obvious suggestions to reduce your child's screen time "A major concern of paediatricians today is excessive screen time in children. Here are three (painfully obvious) suggestions for avoiding and reducing screen time. Unfortunately, these are increasingly becoming viewed as unnecessary or unreasonable by some parents: Read a lot of books Talk to your kids about normal life every day Don’t use digital devices as the default activity..." Anne Wilson - Sunday Sermons Catchy song, with a curious video about a helpful man who stops to help a stranded woman... but first takes time to teach a kid how to hit a baseball. Guess he knew she wasn't done singing yet. ...

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Saturday Selection – Oct 5, 2024

Click on the titles for the linked articles... Christian filmmakers are getting creative... The knock on Christian films has always been two-fold: poor production values, and a shallow depiction of good and evil with the good guys simply too good and the bad guys utterly soulless. There are some bad folks who are simplistically wicked – I just saw a chilling bit about a euthanasist in Canada who reveled in her death-dealing – but as the Bible shows us with the wise and weak Solomon, the righteous and murderous David, the believing and mistrusting Abraham, God's people sure aren't saved by their own merits! Even the best people are seriously flawed. Now, I've only watched the trailer for Average Joe (see below), so I can't speak to the characterization. But I wanted to share it for the production value side – it shows a level of skilled playfulness that we haven't seen often in Christian films. Coming out later this year, Average Joe is the true story of a public high school football coach who got in trouble for praying publicly after games. Funnest bit of the trailer is when the coach and his wife break the fourth wall, the two of them sharing their different recollections of a kiss. I hope the film is as good! Did God create life on other planets? Otherwise, why is the universe so big? "The Bible’s ‘big picture’ seems to preclude intelligent life elsewhere" but it wouldn't seem to preclude something like bacterial life, or even animals, on other planets. So why haven't we found any? Might it be because, while the Bible would allow for alien life, evolution needs it? Evolutionists argue that life from non-life is plausible, and if it is, and it has happened here in abundance, then of course it must have happened elsewhere amongst the billions of stars and planets. So the lack of alien life is a message from God – another blessing from Him – highlighting just how impossible life from non-life, without an Omnipotent Creator, really is. How was the pronunciation of God's Name lost? Today Christians treat many words as absolutely forbidden - you won't find a Christian novel using the F-word, and Christian movies don't have anyone, even farmers, using the other four-letter word for "poop." But you will regularly find both using God's name in vain. Thousands of years ago, the Israelites had it the other way around, being so careful about God's Name that the pronunciation of it was lost – no one living today knows how to pronounce YHWH. So, "why did the Israelites go from swearing by Yahweh’s name, and using it in prayer, song, and greetings, to forbidding its use altogether?" Tim Challies: Stop swiping, start serving You probably didn't get drunk this past week. But you likely succumbed to other forms of escapism whether it was hours of video games, Netflix binging, or swiping through your phone's feed. 11 reasons two-parents is the ideal Sometimes it isn't possible, but let's not lose sight that it should be the goal. Contra mundum Here's one for Church History teachers when you're tackling Athanasius. And here's one for politicians when the media, or your party leader, directs their attention your way. And here's one for all the rest of us when we are tempted to back down, not because we are wrong, but only because we are standing against the room. ...

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Saturday Selections – Sept 28, 2024

Click on the titles for the linked articles... Glen Campbell: I'm not going to miss you Before his death in 2017, Glen Campbell had become about as big a musical star as can be. But then dementia hit, and even as performing was one of the last things he forgot, most everything was taken away from him bit by bit. In this song, he shares how the worst wasn't his to bear – that was going to be on his wife and family – because "I'm not going to miss you." A kick in the pants reminder that to dust we will all return (Gen. 3:19). But God's people can endure even this, knowing that something better waits (John 14:2-3). Defying the trend: mothers of large families Catherine Pakaluk is a Catholic who wrote a book about the 5 percent of US women who chose to have five or more kids. She interviewed 55 women from different religions and races and here's some of what she found. Is it biblical to want to influence our culture? Christians sometimes act as if we think God's Word is only relevant to believers. But if God is sovereign over the whole world, and if His ways are the best ways, and if His love is evident in His commandments, then of course we're going to want to point others in a Godward direction. Loving our neighbors as ourselves means sharing how we've been blessed so they can be too. Rules of success for motivated 13-year-olds There's a pretty clear biblical backing to many of the 50+ tips this 73-year-old Christian economist offers up. I might pick nits with a few (like his pre-nuptial suggestion - I'm not marrying anyone if I thought I'd need a pre-nup with them) but overall these could make for some great conversation starters with your kids just before they hit their teens. 5 things Science can't explain, but Theism can Christian philosopher J.P. Moreland once described himself as a creationist 3 days of the week, and a theistic evolutionist the other 4. In this article he's leaning more into the latter than the former, but shares points that creationists can largely agree with too. You're woke, why aren't your jeans? Was it only 5 years ago that woke was a joke? (If you haven't seen Real Talk's episode on woke-ism, check it out here.) ...

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Saturday Selections – Sept 21, 2024

Actions speak louder than words During the COVID lockdowns political leaders were caught, with some regularity, violating their own rules, so this just-released clip might not even seem all that newsworthy. It is particularly scandalous – in this undercover video, Dr. Jay Varma, senior advisor to the New York City mayor, and, in his words, the architect of the city's COVID rules, admits to holding a sex party that violated those rules. What makes this notable is what Steven Crowder highlights: "This is a story about those in charge not fearing what it is that they demanded you fear..." The lesson here is that when something is outside our expertise and we have to trust someone else's evaluation, their actions – not their words – tell us what they really believe. What we have here is a COVID expert telling us that this virus was dangerous enough to shut down our church services but not his sex parties. And that's a bit of hindsight worth filing away. How women survive breastfeeding There is so much more going on in our bodies than anyone has ever imagined. Scientists just discovered a hormone produced when a mother is lactating that prevents her from going into a calcium dive – otherwise the baby getting calcium from mom would come at a cost to the calcium in mom's own skeletal system leading to osteoporosis. This is a longer article, and a bit technical, but the gist is amazing. Helping others trust God in the face of infertility and miscarriage (20 min) Jeremy Pray, the author of Infertility and Miscarriage: Helping Others Trust God in Every Season, discusses how to counsel couples facing infertility. How should they understand what God is doing? This podcast is intended for biblical counselors but would be a good listen for friends and family of anyone facing this struggle. Listen to this as a 20-minute podcast or, for those who prefer to read, there is also a transcript. When therapy harms instead of helps The Bible speaks to the value of wise counsel. But it shouldn't surprise us that some secular counseling makes things worse. How green energy endangers us in an emergency How far is your EV car going to get you when a storm knocks out the grid? But a truck with a full gas tank can get you out of the danger zone. And a tank of gas can get ambulances where they need to go. And power the semis bringing in emergency supplies. And etc. and etc. Gavin Newsom signed a deepfake ban so The Babylon Bee responded AI advances now allow the quick, cheap, and easy creation of "deepfake" videos that can depict people saying things they never did or would say. A fake but realistic depiction of Joe Biden could be made to say, "The nomination was stolen from me," or an indecipherable-from the-real "Donald Trump" could be shown talking about how the Russians backed him. These sorts of deepfakes could cause enormous problems. Some sort of regulation would seem a must then. However, when regulations come from unprincipled politicians we have to remember what Obama's former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said about using trouble to push an agenda: "never let a serious crisis go to waste." When California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law banning deep fake election ads, it would have been naieve to think it won't be weaponized against his enemies. After all, we're seeing more and more "lawfare" – lax enforcement of the rules for friends of the government, and the strictest application of the law against their enemies, So The Bablyon Bee stepped up to be the first target, creating the ad below. There is supposed to be an exception for satire, but Newsom agitated for this bill in response to a clearly sataric ad against Kamala Harris, so we will see. Got to love the very last line. ...

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Saturday Selections – September 14, 2024

Why not raise the minimum wage to $100? Transgender thinking has infected economics too, with politicians applying the same wishes-can-reshape-reality thinking as they hike the minimum wage. They've decided if they say workers are worth $15 a hour, then they will be. But if such wishing really did make it so, why not hike it to $25 an hour? Or $50? Or as this video (from 7 years back) asks, why not $100? It's because in the real world, the minimum wage is actually an employment ban on anyone who can't bring that amount of value to their employer. Inexperienced workers, handicapped workers, or elderly workers who might work at a slower gear could all be barred from employment. And if we made the minimum wage $100 an hour, that would ban a lot of people. But why is it okay when we ban smaller numbers of people at $15 a hour? And how did it become the government's role to decide not simply whether or not people should be allowed to offer their labor at a lower rate, but whether they should be allowed to work at all? Why did God create viruses and bacteria? While we don't understand all that bacteria and viruses might have done before the Fall into sin, some of their current useful functions give us some clues. 4 arguments against doctor-assisted murder These are 4 really good arguments to stack on top of the foundational truth that our lives are given by God, and therefore are not our own to dispose of as we would. As He has said, don't murder. Psychology of marriage There's an old joke about a band of scientists and researchers who set out to scale Mount Intellect, rising up from the valleys of ignorance. They scrape their way slowly up, and as they finally summit the highest peak, they find a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries. God made us for marriage, for commitment, and thus that's so much better for us than "shacking up." And now some psychologists have discovered and explained how making the choice to commit is better for us. Welcome to the summit, gentlemen. A Christian’s practical guide to reproductive technology 3 key takeaways: Doctors create an average of 15 embryos in a single round of IVF. Unfortunately, only 3-7% of all created embryos result in the live birth of a child. The outcomes of IVF are not neutral. Children born through IVF have a higher likelihood of cancer, autism, minor cleft pallet, or a congenital heart defect. A diagnosis or season of infertility does not mean that a couple will never have children; only that it may require more work and time than they initially expected. Is Gen Z really the poorest generation?  God forbids covetousness in the 10th Commandment, and one powerful way to counter temptation in this direction is to count our blessings. So, yes, many are worse off than they were just 5 years ago. But even the struggling Gen Z is probably doing a lot better than their grandparents were in the 70s. This video is American, but there's a lot of transfer to what's going on north of the border. ...

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Saturday Selections – September 7, 2024

The importance of "social trust" What can we do when people stop trusting? One common approach is to outsource trust to the government. Get the government to inspect, certify, and license folks to prove they are trustworthy. The problem here is that this makes trust an expensive commodity: licenses, inspections, and certifications all cost money and time. And it also presupposes that the one entity we can trust is our government, and their competence to be able to assess everyone else. The video supposes we can turn the tide by being trustworthy ourselves. That's a start, certainly, but while that would benefit your customers, it wouldn't benefit your interactions with the rest of your untrustworthy society. What this video is calling for then (though it doesn't know it) is revival. Only God can change hearts en masse! It's a young world after all On offer here, four evidences of a young solar system. 11 things to know when Jehovah’s Witnesses are at the door They might present themselves as Christian, but they believe in a very different God. How do we give hope and help to women who struggle with postpartum depression? Two biblical counselors offer hope in this 30-minute podcast that's also available as a 15-minute read. Are the "5 Love Languages" real? Gary Chapman's 1992 bestseller The Five Love Languages proposed that there are 5 very different ways that people express love, and that we could all get along better if we understood each other's primary love language. I had a friend who benefitted from the book when she realized that while she appreciated physical affection – she was a hugger – her mom just wasn't. But, she'd often buy her daughter presents. Chapman's book helped my friend realize how often her mom was thinking of her, how much her mom did indeed love her, even though her mom never gave her an encouraging hug. So, for some the book was quite impactful. But further study finds that while we might have different tendencies, our "love languages" aren't as distinct as the book made them seem. Even my friend's dear ol' mom, who wasn't a hugger, might have appreciated a hug. Why Christians need to stop using the term "same-sex attracted" English professor and former homosexual Rosario Butterfield explains that we should not identify with our sins. She is not speaking primarily to Christians who are simply using this term for the sin they are struggling with (though she has thoughts for them too). Rather, this is directed more at Christians who, though they might be remaining chaste, are claiming same-sex attraction as a part of their identity. ...

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Saturday Selections – August 31, 2024

Click on the titles to go to the linked articles... Jordan Peterson pressed on whether he is Christian or not (10 min) Jordan Peterson has seemingly been on the cusp of repenting and believing for a long time, speaking glowingly about both Jesus and His Word. But past examinations of Jordan's beliefs have shown him to be Jungian rather than Christian. So has anything changed? Well, in late July he talked with John Rich, best known for being half of the country/pop duo Big & Rich. I only recently learned that Rich professes to be Christian (during his Tucker Carlson appearance) as the duo's best known song, Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy), wouldn't have you thinking so. But in a July 26 interview on Peterson's podcast, Rich pressed Canada's most famous psychologist on whether he is or isn't a Christian. The video below hits the highlights, but if you want to listen to the whole 90-minute original, click here. Was Jesus just a good moral teacher? As John Stonestreet notes and as C.S. Lewis did before him (and as Jordan Peterson should consider – see above), you can't call Jesus a good teacher if you don't acknowledge Him as God. Limiting my phone expanded my view of God "I’ll always remember summer 2024 as the first 'real-world summer' of my adult life—the summer I fundamentally changed how I interact with my smartphone. I left social media behind in 2022, but according to my screen-time reports, I was still spending around two hours a day on my phone. Two hours. I have a full-time job and two kids. Surely I could have been doing something else with all that time..." 11 statistical tips for a healthy marriage Some great points here for couples to ponder, whether these are reminders or entirely new thoughts for you. The great myth of the Sexual Revolution: you will always be young Jonathon Van Maren reports on how egg-freezing for women employees is becoming a common thing, promising that they can first establish their career and then have children later. But it is a false promise. The myth of "Junk DNA" Evolutionists predicted that much of our DNA would be junk – it was just the remnants of our long-ago evolutionary ancestors. Creationists and Intelligent Design proponents made a very different prediction: we'd find functions for this "Junk DNA" since we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Guess which prediction came true? It's important to note, too, that the secular assumptions discouraged inquiry – atheism stymied science, and an acknowledgment of a Creator furthered science. ...

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Saturday Selections – August 24, 2024

Abe Lincoln with a lesson on lying The smartest politicians don't break promises; like Abe here, they try not to make any promises at all. Pro-life voters need to watch out lest their votes go to politicians who won't be pinned down as to what they'll actually do for the unborn. Aging peacefully It comes to all of us, that moment when we realize that there's that certain something that we enjoyed before, but we have to let go of now because of age. This is a mom writing, but I think guys will empathize too. An old challenge to old earth assumptions 20 years ago creationists sent coal samples to secular labs to test for Carbon-14, which has a half-life of 5,730 years, and shouldn't exist in coal beds that are said to be 50 million, 100 million, and 300 million years old. And yet, it was found. So either those coal beds are much, much younger or.... Well, two decades later, evolutionists still don't have much of an answer to offer. How to minimize digital distractions in your marriage "Do you struggle with digital distractions? Is it sleeping next to your phone? Watching TV at night to 'wind' down? Most of our time is spent in front of a screen instead of being in front of real people – most importantly, our spouses – who are looking to us for connection." When “helping” kids hurts them Christians should be wary of secular psychology (and any Christian counseling that leans heavily on it) as it understands us as minds but not also as souls. It also doesn't recognize our true purpose and true identity (as created by God to glorify and enjoy Him forever) and so can't offer any sort of corrective to patients confused about these most important matters. It's lack of any firm footing means it's liable to fall for the latest thing, as it has in siding with the transgender agenda, pushing the impossible notion of "transitioning" on already troubled patients. And it also means that, as this article details: "...over 40% of young adults have a mental health diagnosis, twice the rate of the general population. So, the generation most treated for psychological well-being is doing the worst psychologically." More unintended consequences One of the premises behind government-run economies is that people are simple. The socialists don't put it quite that way, of course, but that's what they'd need if their governments were to have any chance at managing the economy: citizen's interests, desires, and actions would need to be easy to predict and easy to direct with just a push or pull of the right political lever. But what this video, and the many others in this series, show, is that leaders is government and industry too repeatedly fail at properly predicting how folks are going to act. And if people are complex, then the best government is going to be the one that recognizes its own inability to know, let alone meet, those less than predictable, desires. ...

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Saturday Selections – August 17, 2024

Click on the titles below to go to the linked articles... The wrong folk think God, the Bible, and Christianity are relevant in the political sphere After Trump was shot, a picture circulated showing Christ with a bandage on his ear – they were equating Trump with the Son of God, and that wasn't the first time either! On the Left, California governor Gavin Newsom's campaign paid for billboards to run in Mississippi that read "Need an abortion? California is ready to help" and underneath were the words from Mark 12:31: "Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these." In the clip below you'll see 50 preachers who are taking their talking points from the Kamala Harris campaign, preaching to their congregations that they need to support one of the most pro-abortion candidates ever. This isn't a reason to keep religion out of politics. It is a reason for God's people to speak up more, lest we abandon the public square to blasphemous pseudo-Christians. SUPERCUT: The week after Biden dropped out of the presidential race, I found over 50 churches hyping Kamala Harris during their worship services, clearly using shared talking points. Here we see some of them sharing the good news of the Vice President's fundraising numbers: pic.twitter.com/Z7BPr8x6VZ — Woke Preacher Clips (@WokePreacherTV) August 9, 2024 How long pets live Parents, if your kids are asking you for a giant tortoise, just say no! They might not eat all that much, and be easy to keep up with, but getting one for your family is a commitment that could last 300 years! To find a pet that won't outlast your children's children, click on the link above for a very helpful chart. Conspiracy fact: there really is a brilliant malevolent force working behind the scenes Peter Mead writes on how Christians are "inclined to bury our heads in the sand regarding evil in this world." We'll affirm Satan is real but won't acknowledge his work "in almost every layer of human influence and authority." And the problem with overlooking our spiritual adversary is that we're liable to miss the spiritual nature of the battle we're in – it's all about God's glory. The Devil would love it if he could get the world to follow their feelings, but he'd also enjoy everyone submitting to an objective reality so long as they do so without holding to God as the Author and Creator of it. When we mistake the battle we're in for some sort of merely political or cultural one, then we'll defend it as such, never mentioning God and robbing Him of the glory that is His due... which is the end the Devil was after in the first place. The curious case of the Christian Reformed Church (10 minute read) "'How many denominations have gone this far down the road toward theological liberalism and then put on the brakes in a significant way?' Monroe asked. None." This is a longer piece, but a fantastic overview of the liberal and orthodox twists and turns that have happened in the CRC denomination over the last 40 years, and in particular the last half dozen. On the brink of plunging into all sorts of sexual perversion, the CRC seems to be solidly reversing course. Praise God! Green Greenland was good A headline from the New Scientist this month read, "Fossils show Greenland was once ice-free – and could be again." That has some rather big implications for our climate change catastrophists who hold that it is a crisis for the Earth to be warmer. A shovel dance? (3 min) I'm not going to bother mentioning the title of the old Western this comes from because this is the best scene in it. And boy is it good! ...

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Saturday Selections – August 10, 2024

Click on the titles below to go to the linked articles... Red Green's pit crew "You know when a flatbed gets ahead of you in a race it's not going well..." India turns to coal The solar panels installed in a village in India are being put to good use... as shelter for their village cattle. Vijay Jayaraj makes the case that climate change motivated policies are the "real existential threat to billions across our planet" because they force the poor to rely on unreliable power sources. Can a Christian date an unbeliever? "Who you marry will likely shape who you become more than any other human relationship. If your husband runs from Jesus, you won’t be able to avoid the undertow of his lovelessness. If your wife runs from Jesus, you will live in the crossfire of her unrepentant sin. You may survive an unbelieving spouse, but only as through fire..." Daniel’s 3 tips for surviving university Christian young people who are not able to resist peer pressure will need to steer clear of university, because standing out is an absolute requirement. Screentime in schools "In recent years, groups of Christians, including families, have joined together to take the 'Postman Pledge,' a year-long commitment to raise kids without phones and in community with one another." But is more needed? Do we need the State to help? Springtails do their own stunts They jump the equivalent of 6 stories, exploding upward 150 times faster than the blink of an eye! ...

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Saturday Selections – August 3, 2024

Click on the titles below to go to the linked articles... Are memories stored in the brain? History shows that the deeper we delve into how wondrously we are created, the more mysteries there are to investigate. This shouldn't surprise us, since we worship a God without end. But I think the arrogance of the evolutionists – the guys who say we are so simple we came about without direction or design – has impacted even God's people such that, with the possible exception of seeing a newborn baby, we don't marvel like we really should when we look across our table at another person created in the very image of our Creator. How fascinating then, to discover that scientists are still working out where our memories are stored. Thought it was the brain and that's that? Not so fast! "There is no question that proper function of the brain is necessary for ordinary memories — that is, the ordinary acquisition of knowledge and its retention. Yet removal of major parts of the brain — including removal of entire lobes and hemispheres — does not usually remove memories. That should not be surprising if we assume that psychological things like memories are not the kind of things that can be cut out with a scalpel." The verse that shuts theistic evolution down Christians are sometimes confused about whether the theory of evolution can be meshed with the Creation account in Genesis 1 and 2. But whereas Evolution says we are continuing to change from one species to the next, Genesis 2:1 tells us that the job is done: "Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished." Free books on the "realities of socialism" Socialism is pitched as the compassionate economic system. But in reality it is the envious system, always looking over the back fence and making plans for what our neighbors have. It violates the Tenth Commandment, and because God's commands are also an expression of His love for us, protecting the obedient from self-induced harms, violating them brings real harm. And socialism causes real harm. The folks at the Fraser Institute aren't explicitly Christian, and may not be Christian at all, but they are very familiar with the harms caused by socialism. They've come out with a series of five books on the "realities of socialism" as it was experienced in Poland, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, and Singapore. Power outages bring hurricane of EV buyers' remorse The switch to EV has a downside that is dangerous: when a hurricane takes down power lines, what are EV users going to do to get out of Dodge? Tim Challies on 10 serious problems with Jesus Calling Challies takes issue with a book that millions of Christians have bought and enjoyed. Am I a racist? From the same folks who brought us the fantastic What is a Woman? comes a new film this fall. So, it could be really good - check out the trailer below. ...

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Saturday Selections – July 27, 2024

How questions can help you offer a good answer (7 min) In the New Testament, Jesus asks as many questions as he offers answers. Why? Maybe because questions can be a helpful way to cut through people's obfuscations, as Greg Koukl also shows here. Counsel the bitter person A bitter person can't forget the wrongs done to them, but can only do so by forgetting the vast registry of wrongs they've committed against their great God. This article presses hard on the need to forgive, noting that God even makes it conditional for us to forgive if we expect to be forgiven by Him (Matt. 6:12, Matt. 6:14-15). That's not a requirement to do so perfectly, but it is a requirement to try, however falteringly. Read like a Christian Samuel James offers up 5 principles to help Christians dive into a book. I think the first one here might be key: reading can be done just for fun, and that can include reading light, fluffy "candy" books... but don't get stuck on vanilla ice cream. Have you tried salted caramel? Read whimsically, not wastefully Read personally, not performatively Read with generosity, not grievance Read with wonder, not weariness Read for eternity, not ephemera How breastfeeding changed my view of God Rebecca McLaughlin reflects on a favorite verse she understands very differently after her first child: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you.” Why don't electric eels shock themselves, and other remarkable design solutions in biology Here are some biological features – that you've probably never heard about before – which require precise design and which therefore evidence a precise Designer: "Snakes should be immune to their own poison. Electric eels should not shock themselves. And protection from self-generated noise requires a preplanned noise cancellation system." The astonishing human egg! The link above is a part of a series of Intelligent Design articles on the amazing complexity of the human reproductive system. The video below is brilliant 10-minute overview from conception to birth. If high school students actually learned this, in detail, I don't know that any of them could fail to recognize themselves for the special creation that they are. This really is a must-see for our older kids. That said, while it is not graphic, it is detailed, and could prompt younger children to ask questions you might not want to answer quite yet, so be sure to preview it before sharing. ...

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Saturday Selections – July 20, 2024

Reagan's deeply personal argument for a Creator (10 min read / 1 min video) It was an analogy he returned to frequently, with students at an evangelism camp, and even with the leader of the Soviet Union... Syphilis is up this year. What can a godless government do? "Just as smoking a cigar is bad but puffing on a joint is OK, so spreading illnesses by being unvaccinated is evil while spreading disease through sexual indulgence is a mere technical problem." Christian nationalism is a much discussed topics these days, and while this article doesn't make the case for it, it does highlight the problem with the opposite: a godless government simply isn't able to offer the moral answer needed to stop the spread of a sickness that is caused by immoral choices. US women to be draft eligible? US men over 18 have to register for the draft so that, should a war occur, the government will have a list at the ready of fighting-age men. And now they want women to register too, pretending that women are just as capable as men of being mean, green, fighting machines. But when most women failed the required fitness standards, the problem was addressed by lowering the standards. Why does the world cling so desperately to the pretense that men and women are not simply equal, but identical in all abilities? It's because ability is their basis for equality. We don't normally treat dissimilar things the same – a kid's art is hung up on a fridge, and a Rembrandt is hung up in a museum even though both are art. So on what basis would we treat men and women – obviously dissimilar in many ways – the same? All the world's got is pretending that they are equal in all abilities...even though they are obviously not. Christians too, believe in an equality of the sexes, but we have a firm foundation for it – one that does not require us to willfully blind ourselves to reality. God made us male and female, and our worth comes not from being identical in ability, but in us all being made in God's Image (Gen. 1:27). Thus, the argument we have to offer against women in the draft is also the evangelistic one: to point people to reality as God defines it.  Best predictor of happiness? Marriage More than money, location, or education, the God-given gift of marriage turns out to be the best predictor of happiness. Archeology shows the Bible was telling the truth All sorts of experts have critiqued the Bible as not being based in history. And when such a critique is first offered, it might be hard to counter it. But, eventually, the truth comes out: "a recent article in Britain’s The Daily Mail suggested that the prophets Amos and Zechariah may have had something right." Rachel Holt's heartbreaking pro-life song, "I was gonna be" This young lady's first big song had a hundred thousand hits this past month. ...

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Saturday Selections – July 13, 2024

Click on the titles below for the linked articles... One thing Trump and Biden agree on: tariffs Both Trump and Biden want to protect American producers by imposing tariffs (i.e., fines) on foreign goods. Their approach would make those foreign goods more expensive for Americans. If the fine is high enough, it will also make American-made versions of those same goods look comparatively attractive.... which is then supposed to save some American jobs. While tariffs do save some local jobs, they can do so only at the expense of other local jobs. Any American company that uses a tariffed good to make their own products, will have to pay these inflated prices, which in turn will make their own products more expensive... and less competitive in the international marketplace. Thus the tariff will cost them jobs. Tariffs also help some local producers by hurting local consumers, who have to pay more now. The overall impact of tariffs, then, is to help some domestic producers... but only at the expense of other domestic producers and domestic consumers overall. That leaves us with the question: why should the government be picking winners and losers, giving advantages to some citizens at the expense of others? How the US Republicans became pro-choice This is a US article but with real relevance to Canadian voters for its explanation of "median voter theorem." As Joe Carter outlines, it is only when a block of principled voters are willing to abandon a party that they gain influence over that party. If all their voters will always vote for the slightly lesser of two evils, then that is what their party will give them. The party only takes more extreme positions to appeal to voters who won't otherwise vote for them. Southern Baptists take on IVF Last month, the US's biggest protestant denomination passed a resolution on IVF. As Albert Mohler shares: "Far too many Christians say they believe in the sanctity and dignity of human life at every stage, from fertilization to natural death, but when the issue turns to the massive ethical issues related to IVF, many evangelicals, including far too many Southern Baptists, have refused to connect the dots." Jack Phillips still won't bake the cake After 12 years of legal battles and a Supreme Court victory, a Colorado baker is being dragged to court yet again for the same supposed crime – he will not decorate cakes to celebrate depravity. John Stonestreet explains that Baker Jack Phillips won't live by lies – it would be easier to bake the cake, but he will not call good what God calls evil. So, Phillips is working out his theology of getting fired. Forget grocery store boycotts - to lower food prices end supply management instead "...regulation that restricts supply and controls imports... shields Canadian producers of milk, eggs and poultry from competition, allowing them to maintain higher prices for their products than would otherwise exist in a competitive market.... due to supply management the average Canadian household pays an estimated extra $300 to $444 annually for groceries." Don't fall for projection Projecting is a particular form of hypocrisy in which you accuse others of the sin you are guilty of. A recent example is Kamala Harris accusing Donald Trump of planning to use lawfare on his opponents. Paul has an answer to the vice president in Romans 2:1: "Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things." A recent, particularly blatant, instances of projection happens is this commercial below from Australia's Victoria State government below – they accuse a smaller woman of making a big guy in a dress feel "unsafe." The Left uses projection as a weapon to deflect, much like when one of your kids is called to account and wants to talk about what their sibling, neighbor, classmate, or even you did, rather than facing accountability for what they've done. Projection works on the soft-hearted, so it's a particularly effective tool against Christians. But there is a time and place to acknowledge your own sins, and a time when it isn't about you. When the prophets confronted God's people, they didn't do so as perfect representatives of God. Sinful though they were, they brought His Truth. So, if a homosexual accuses you of being unloving – if they are screaming it in your face, OR TYPING IT IN ALL CAPS – then now is not the time to acknowledge how you could have said things better, parsed your words more carefully or expressed the grace of God more clearly. Think like a parent, and realize that if you let their projection deflect you from expressing the truth they need to hear, you aren't doing them any good. ...

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Saturday Selections – July 6, 2024

How social media keeps you poor (10 min) Though the two commentators here aren't Christian, the warning they offer may help us better resist social media's siren call. Spider silk might be ideal for nerve repairs Spider silk may be a great medium to regrow severed nerves in people, and that's just one of its amazing properties. If Man could make it, he would, but despite all our genius and equipment, we can't duplicate what a spider, with a brain the size of a pin, can make all on its own. Motherhood myth busting Feminists have women fearful of having children, with fertility treated more as a problem to be solved than as a gift (or if they deny God, an ability) specific to women. They look to children from a cost/benefit perspective and don't see how the pleasure derived from children can outweigh the bother. And from that self-absorbed perspective, it will be hard to enjoy any kids you might have. But, "if life has meaning beyond comfort and pleasure, then something can be difficult and worth pursuing at the same time. " Parents' guide to smartphones (10-minute read) The folks at Axis cover the highs and lows. It's a longer read but there is so much helpful material in here that this is a must-read for parents with teens. Communicating about sex in the first years of marriage "How can you have meaningful conversations about sex with your spouse? You should be sure to address wants, worries, ways, and why's..." When the government bets your house Like previous installments in this "Unintended Consequences" series, these are well-intentioned plans going wildly awry. While this is a secular presentation, the lesson being pitched is one Christians can get behind: there is an overall need for humility, because even (especially?) experts can get things really, really wrong. This humility wouldn't simply mean leaders, and the experts they follow, need to double-check their work. What it means is that our leaders and these experts need to admit to not being able to do many of the things they are currently trying to do now.... and they need to stop meddling in them. Just consider if, in the Sri Lankan case presented below, only some of the farmers had tried organic pesticides. Maybe they would have tried it as a marketing effort – get your organic rice from us! It would have been an experiment, but the farmers would have been gambling with their own land, money, and work. That's high stakes for them, but they are betting on themselves, their own smarts, and their efforts. And because it is only some farmers, win or lose, it isn't a high-stakes gamble for the whole country. If they had succeeded, they would have gotten the benefit and they would have been an example for others to learn from and copy. And if they'd failed, then others could also learn and avoid their mistake. However, when the government made the decision to ban inorganic pesticides for everyone, they were gambling with land, money, and work that wasn't theirs. And they were forcing everyone into just the one experiment. If it succeeded, wonderful, but the problem is, were it to fail, they were taking everyone down with them. That makes it a much, much higher stakes gamble. And anyone who has any humility shouldn't even think to bet someone else's house on their best guess. ...

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