Coren’s conversion
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Coren’s conversion

“My core beliefs haven’t changed,” Michael Coren says. But “I can’t imagine who I was spiritually eight years ago.” The landscape of personal faith can change over time. Scandal, abuse, disillusionment and burnout are just a few of the deconstruction triggers prompting Christians to re-examine what we believe and why. It’s a process that usually…

A doctrine of time
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A doctrine of time

As mentioned in my previous column, the Canons of Dort (1619) were formulated as an orthodox Calvinist response to purported errors in theology taught by Jacob Arminius (1560 – 1609). Although the theological differences between Arminians and Calvinists were (and are) complicated, they fundamentally hinge on different claims about the sovereignty of God. Calvinists claim…

Cracking the Code
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Cracking the Code

This article isn’t ultimately about conversations inside the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) right now, but that’s where we’ll start. Weighing in on the recent decision of the Synod of the CRC to elevate the condemnation of “homosexual sex” to confessional status, Rod Dreher focused on the consequences for Calvin University in a recent article for…

Tiptoe Through the TULIP(s)
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Tiptoe Through the TULIP(s)

The Three Forms of Unity is a collective name for the Belgic Confession (1561), the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) and the Canons of Dort (1619) which reflect the teachings of Calvinism and which are accepted as official doctrinal statements by many Calvinist churches, including the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). Anyone seeking an official position (minister, elder, deacon) in the CRC must…

Affirming or Confessional: Aren’t there other options?
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Affirming or Confessional: Aren’t there other options?

As pundits and pew quarterbacks are struggling to find descriptions for what transpired at the Christian Reformed Church’s Synod 2022, I’m at a bit of a loss. Most descriptions are two-sided, fitting our bifurcated partisan day and age. When it comes to human sexuality, almost everyone seems to be either affirming or confessional. But I…

More than one pronoun for God
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More than one pronoun for God

I have grown up in a Christian culture that consistently portrays God as a “he.” What if we begin to describe God with multiple pronouns including “they,” “she” and “he”? I believe this would benefit Christians and improve our perceptions of God. The English language is not stagnant. As John McWhorter recounts, when “thou” fell…

Many are called, but few are chosen?
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Many are called, but few are chosen?

“[God] desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:4). Having been brought up in a Calvinist home and listened all my life to sermons in Reformed churches, I have grown to believe that only a chosen few will be saved from eternal damnation by the grace…

Kickstarting a courageous conversation
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Kickstarting a courageous conversation

Did Michael Coren hack my computer? That was my shock when a friend pointed me to The Rebel Christ. I’m currently writing a book myself with those same three words in the title (though in a different order)! Coren is a fascinating public Canadian Christian. Over the last decade he has journeyed from a conservative…

The hand of Cain
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The hand of Cain

Nearly a month into Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion of Ukraine, Pope Francis addressed an audience from the Vatican. Concerned about escalation, the Pope warned of the horror of nuclear war, asking us to imagine “the day after” when humanity (what’s left of it) would have to start over amid mass devastation and a poisoned…

Don’t give up!
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Don’t give up!

We are living through some challenging, “unprecedented,” and even discouraging times. I recently watched the Oscar-nominated film “Don’t Look Up”, featuring an astronomy grad student and her professor who make the shocking discovery of a planet-killing comet on a collision course with Earth. When they share the urgent news with the United States president, the…

What divides us
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What divides us

Picture a world divided: religiously, politically, economically and socially. Religiously, some stress faithful, traditional worship, as they learned it. Many focus on morality behavior. Others say it is about prophetic action, especially to right injustices. Politically, some like government programs from “we, the people.” Others favor local government for our community. People sometimes fight the…

First and last
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First and last

We’re in our final few days of the season of Epiphany. A season all about noticing the light that enters our darkness. The light that often seems foreign, so contrary to our way of seeing the world. Jesus told stories to help us picture the light. They usually included something surprising and confusing. Why isn’t…