by Jonathan De Groot
…e medium is the message.” In other words, the manner in which we choose to com municate shapes us more than the content found within the medium. Today, our com munication mediums are instant, convenient, and customized. If we want food, sex, money, or popularity, we have immediate pacifiers in fast food chains, convenience stores, Viagra, pornography, credit cards, instant loan centers, Facebook likes, and Twitter feeds. People used to journal; now…
Christian Views of the Student
by Steve Holtrop
…de in the image of God and the refore full of creativity and potential. For exam ple, since the wider culture offer s so much inspiration and opportunity to kids today – “the world’s you r oyster” — the school should be doing whatever it can to expose kids to wonderful new areas of knowledge and creative expression. This perspective may emphasize sweeping away any impediments to creativity and awakening in each child the wonder of creation and the var…
Your Candidate Probably Won’t Destroy ISIS
by Joel Veldkamp
…I do tend to think that one has to have a com prehensive plan that the y can com pletely com mit the mselves to, one with a definitive end in sight, i.e. I think that we should only take actions with outcomes that we can predict, and when we’ve essentially won before we’ve even begun. As far as I can tell, the two options you see are the only ones that seem plausible and moral. You r observations have really confirmed this, and sadly it also increases m…
Transhumanism and the Incarnation
by Derek Schuurman
…ists predict a future event called “the Singularity” when com puters will become com parable in power to the human brain. At this point, the y argue, we will be able to download our brains into a com puter and live indefinitely in a virtual paradise, an event that has been coined the “rapture of the geeks.” With the current pace of advances in com puting, some believe this will happen by 2045. I believe such a view assumes a profoundly mistaken notion…
Interpreting and the Church
by Piet Koene
…me more and more diverse, interpreting languages for church services has become increasingly com mon as churches try to be more welcoming. Also, interpreting at church services and religious conferences reflects the changing reality of today’s global church. By including those brothers and sisters who speak different languages, the church becomes more inclusive—barriers of division and distrust are broken down. Perhaps Sunday morning will no longer…
Protests and Personal Responsibility
by LaKeta Coates
…g a t-shirt with a slogan on it. Change com es when you do the work! Change com es when you join neighborhood com mittees. Change begins with teaching our children at an early age right from wrong and knowing the ir self-value. Change begins when you see that teenager standing on the corner and sow a seed, whether it is knowledge or sharing the love of God. Change begins when you decide to go back to school for a law degree, a teaching degree, or deci…
Technology is Imagination Incarnated
by Douglas De Boer
…r, or an intangible object such as a standard. By standard I mean a set of guide lines on how something should work. An exam ple of a standard that readers of iAt benefit from would be the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)!5 Technology can also refer to a body of knowledge and techniques used to build things. Thus a welder must learn how to weld—must learn the technology of welding. The same goes for plumbers, electricians, machinists, and other, “…
by Carl Fictorie
…interpretation is clear enough; creation suffers because of human sin. The pass age refers back to Genesis, where Adam’s first sin resulted in God’s judgment, including a curse to creation itself, which would now bear weeds and thorns. It is pretty obvious that human actions have caused creation to suffer in various ways. We routinely dump toxic waste into waterways or into holes in the ground, resulting in the death of fish and animals and polluti…
Small Habits, Big Changes: A Review of Atomic Habits
by Kayt Frisch
…e”10. Even with Clear’s guidance, “simple” may be an overstatement when it com es to figuring out how to implement habits effectively, but through the exam ples and research the author highlights, it is obvious that the se steps are effective. The majority of the book is devoted to unpacking the four laws of behavioral change, which derive from the “four simple steps.” Through anecdotes, research summaries, and exam ples, Clear unpacks each law and se…
Those Who Came Before Us: A Review of Tell Her Story
by Hannah Landman
…may have differing opinions, I found that Nijay Gupta brought a reasoned, com passionate perspective to this issue. Gupta’s book offer s a refreshing look at women in ministry before, during, and after Jesus’s time on earth. The book begins before the New Testament Church was established. Gupta explores the leader Deborah, revisits Genesis 1, and fleshes out Roman hierarchal society. By pointing out that the introduction to men and women’s relation…
Caring for Someone with a Mental Illness
by Shirley Matheis
…esult in other medical illnesses. The causes for mental illnesses are very com plex–often a com bination of genetics, biology, and life experiences–most of which are beyond one’s control. It’s no more reasonable to blame a person for being depressed than it is to blame her for having a stroke or ovarian cancer. Just as we say, “She HAS cancer,” instead of “She’s cancerous,” it’s preferable to say, “He HAS bipolar disorder,” rather than saying “He’s…
A Reformed Approach to the Interactions of Science and Religion (cont’d)
by Tony Jelsma
…ost problems actually seem to com e from a demand for facticity. We are not com pelled as Christians to believe the concepts of sin and fallenness require a grounding in fact and still less in doctrine. (The church existed for four centuries without “original sin,” and the eastern churches never accepted it. Judaism has no such concept.) We are simply com pelled to believe the se ideas reveal the truth however the y came to be expressed and handed down…
How Did We Get our Tax System? (And What Can that Teach Us About Reforming It?)
by Donald Roth
…com e until that individual made over about $440,000. ↩ An income tax is a reliable income stream for a nation suffering the trade upheaval that usually accompanies wartime, and war is one of the most expensive endeavors a nation can undertake. This is why we see the shift to reliance on the income tax heavily tied to the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. ↩ For a great historical survey of tax reform efforts through the mi…
Populism and the Challenge of Democracy in 2016
by Donald Roth
…ulist movements of the past in the United States cropped up, the y have not com pletely dialed back the clock. Roosevelt’s populism didn’t ultimately kill corporations; Nixon’s populism didn’t com pletely undo the Civil Rights movement. Society keeps evolving at a rapid pace, and a reaction that slows that pace isn’t likely to stop that. If you ’re someone who is happy with the political revolution, the n push you r leaders to make the most of it. Repub…
Immigration: A Tale of Two Grandfathers
by John Lee
…ho in my childhood. My maternal grandfather had immigrated on a whim of com passion. His older brother Kees had booked pass age on a boat to New York with the goal to establish himself and the n send for his wife and you ng children. On the Saturday morning before his departure, however, the prospect of separation proved too much for his wife. To the sad sound of her weeping, a family meeting was called. By that afternoon, my bachelor grandfather agre…
The Meaning of Christmas in Chicago
by Caleb Schut
…door. Holding the door back with one arm, he waves us in with the other. “Com e in! Com e in!” he shouts. The whole mess of humanity—the shirtless, the begging, the grieved, the rejoicing, the one who has lost her marbles, and the one who has yet to—all of it com es traipsing through the door. We are welcomed to the manger, in all its unedited glory, like the shepherds, by the same refrain that the angels proclaimed so long ago: “Do not be afraid! G…
A Tool for Translation: A Review of The Path Between Us
by Dawn Berkelaar
…not accept that other ways of seeing the world than the ir own are equally valid ? After thinking about this, I’ve decided to act in much the same way as I do when I think about one of my children, recognizing certain behaviors but trying not to label the m as a particular Enneagram type. In her book The Enneagram of Parenting, author Elizabeth Wagele points out that children try out different ways of behaving as the y grow. She refers to children’s…
The Birth and Progression of the Black Lives Matter Movement: A Review of On the Other Side of Freedom
by Chelsea Maxwell
…r the scope of this book, Mckesson uses personal experiences to speak to a com munity he identifies with. That com munity is not white Christians. The premise every reader must accept is that what he has to say about his experiences, both individual and com munal, matters. For white Christian readers like myself, reading this book requires a posture of humility, listening, and learning. The re is much with which to grapple. But, not everything is new…
A New Resolution: A Review of Resolved
by Bruce Kuiper, Donald Roth
…s world we live in would be better served through rationale dialog. Yes, a com prehensive program like Debate-Centered Instruction probably would have amazing effects across the board in our schools. Yes, debate is a time-honored, fun, challenging, rewarding, thought-provoking, issue-raising skill that more people should be involved in. All the se are great ideas, but the reality is pretty stark, not to be overly pessimistic. Debate participation h…
Revealing History’s Underlying Layers: A Podcast Review of Revisionist History
by Jackson Nickolay
…o see more of society’s under layer being pulled back as our perspective becomes more com plete. Now let’s descend into particulars, the re is an excellent series of episodes in which Gladwell engages with memory and how untrustworthy it can be. Starting with two episodes about two different war stories, he systematically shows that memory is not something to be trusted. He reveals how the brain can fabricate com plete lies—lies that, once told enoug…
The Science Associated with Producing GMOs
by Darren Stoub
…with the bodies normal production of cholesterol) facilitating organismal com munication (for exam ple, insulin, a protein, interacts with the insulin receptor, a protein, which allows the pancreas to tell the rest of the body that blood sugar levels are too high) providing structural support for an organism (for exam ple, the protein dystrophin provides a tether between the cell and the actin fibers which allow muscles to work effectively) transpor…
Hope, Action, and Neighbor Love: The Planet and Christian Discipleship
by Caleb Schut, Nate Rauh-Bieri
…nd the re are many people working on solutions, practicing active hope. For exam ple, com munities who live in the shadow of refineries are advocating for more accountability on how com panies treat the earth. More people are adopting sustainable practices that protect the living world. We can join changemakers like the se, getting off the sidelines of apathy or despair and into action. We also need to get politicians and businesses behind solutions—an…
Waiting Through the Night
by Erin Zoutendam
…h an individual’s prayer request. (In my opinion, both interpretations are valid !) But, this phrase needs little explanation or adaptation—it com es down to us through the centuries with resonant clarity. The honesty of this sentence is a com fort to me. In seasons of anxiety, stress, grief, and loneliness, it can be a relief just to admit “The night is not yet over.” No need for forced smiles, no need to pretend. This phrase recognizes the grimness…
Advent: Finding Joy in the Midst of Chaos
by April Fiet
…bumped and jolted and jostled. And eventually, we made it through and got to a place where we could rest and look back at all we had overcome. As we face the challenges in the days to com e, we must lean into the discomfort and find a new way of being together. We must share grace and com passion with each other as we inevitably get things wrong at times. The n, when the dust settles, we can share with each other and remember both the tough stuff an…
by Linda Burlew Gold
…Unknown waves before me roll, Hiding rock and treach’rous shoal; Chart and compass came from The e: Jesus, Savior, pilot me. As a mother stills her child, Thou canst hush the ocean wild; Boist’rous waves obey Thy will When Thou say’st to the m, “Be still!” Wondrous Sov’reign of the sea, Jesus, Savior, pilot me. When at last I near the shore, And the fearful breakers roar ’Twixt me and the peaceful rest, The n, while leaning on Thy breast, May I hear…
