“I don’t know what is wrong with our church, the way it has handled the ‘Dekker matter.’” That remark was recently made to the writer of these lines by a minister in the Christian Reformed Church who has served the denomination well in several churches and in various broader ecclesiastical responsibilities and is still in active service. […]
Our readers continue to ask questions regarding the position of Professor Harold Dekker and the Doctrinal Report in the Acts of Synod, Christian Reformed, 1966, which the churches are asked to study. For this time I will deal with one of the most crucial aspects of the problem by asking whether or not we mayor should […]
Several firsts are to be noted in regard to the Agenda for 1967 Synod. The first is the voluminous size of this year’s Agenda. It consists of 550 pages, the largest ever produced by the Christian Reformed Church. A second notable distinction is the format of the cover of the Agenda. It consists of the proposed […]
The Historic Reformed Position 1. In addition to God’s general, non-salvational love (common grace) for all men, God has a special love that is limited to those whom he has foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom. 8:29). 2. As a result of this special love of God for a special, definite number […]
Of all the many issues requiring the attention of the synod of the Christian Reformed Church next month, none will be followed with more intense interest than the report on “doctrinal matters” concerning the nature of God’s love and the design of Christ’s atonement. Not only has this been before for the church officially for […]
Introduction Calvin College is in a period of transformation as evidenced by three major developments: a new campus, a graduate study committee, and a curriculum study committee. This article deals with the Curriculum Report, entitled Christian Liberal Arts Education, an attempt to express the essence of Christian higher education. The work of the Committee has already […]
THE LOVE OF GOD The love of God is a very popular subject today. And there is all kind of reason that this should be so, In most instances we find a discussion about the love of God manifested to his creatures, the love of God for all mankind and for his people in particular. And […]
Over four years ago Professor Harold Dekker began a controversy in our church circles by publishing an article in the December, 1962, Reformed Journal under the title, “God So Loved—All Men!” The ensuing discussion led eventually to the appointment by the Synod of 1964 of a “Doctrinal Committee” which presented its report to last year’s synod. That […]
CANONS OF DORT Jesus Christ “was made sin, and became a curse for us and in our stead, that He might make satisfaction to divine justice on our behalf” (II, 2). “It was the will of God that Christ by the blood of the cross, whereby He confirmed the new covenant, should effectually redeem out of […]
In our previous article we divided the discussion of evolution into the following propositions: 1. Matter has existed from eternity. 2. The earth and at least some stars are billions of years old. 3. Life in the form of one-celled organisms evolved from non-living matter. 4. All animals and plants evolved from one-celled organisms. 5. Man’s […]