Anyone who is not a stranger in Jerusalem nowadays realizes that on the part of a very vocal minority in the CRC there is a great deal of pressure to get women into ecclesiastical office. Of course, for the present it is largely limited to the office of deacon(ess), a request which the Rev. Bill […]

THE BIBLE‘S INSPIRATION It ought to be said and said plainly: Some of our professors at Calvin College & Seminary hold to views of the Bible’s inspiration which are questionable. to say the least, and not in harmony with a biblical view of inspiration, to say a bit more. And it is misunderstanding of the […]

The church is in the world, but not of it. It is difficult to keep a scriptural balance here. In the past the church was often too little in the world. Today in many cases she is too much of the world. As a result, the salt loses its savor and becomes good for nothing. […]

One becomes accustomed nowadays to reading a lot of outlandish nonsense about women’s rights and women‘s ordination, and most of the time it’s best to shrug one’s shoulders and smile a bit. Many columnists and newswriters betray their total ignorance of biblical norms. One would expect something different, however, when the writer is a confessed […]

A UNITED REFORMED CHURCH? Allow me a few comments with respect to what the Rev. Vander Ploeg has been writing about that “United Reformed Church.” In the April issue of your magazine, he expresses his concern about the lack of response to his initial proposal. He attributes this to one of three reasons; they couldn’t care less; […]

It happens time and again. In their zeal to promote the cause of women in ecclesiastical office, the proponents of this view often fall for argumentation that is weak and sensational, with little apparent regard for sound scriptural interpretation and exegesis. Such arguments may appear plausible to those who arc not given to thinking, but […]

The other day I was catching up on reading some back issues of Gereformeerd Weekblad. I read an editorial by Dr. H. N. Ridderbos concerning the controversy surrounding Dr. H. Kuitert, and how a recent synod dealt with this matter (for the so-manyeth time). While reading the account of Ridderbos, I thought to myself: the […]

What is striking if one reads the addresses of the fraternal delegates of the CKN to our synods of the last number of years, is that, almost without exception, they make a strong plea for understanding, patience and a degree of acceptance for what is taking place in their churches today. Between the lines one […]

Now that social dancing has been introduced at Calvin College, with all kinds of plausible and non-plausible argumentation, it is well that we just go back a few years and have another look at what we did in 1966 in adopting the up–dated report on the Film Arts, and the practical consequences of it. You […]

Not a few consistory members (and even more members of the congregation who are usually the victims of it) have probably cursed the day on which Synod appointed a standing Liturgical Committee with a sweeping and almost unlimited mandate. Every year again we are faced with a new product of its labors, and each year […]