All Articles For Guichelaar, Erik

Among all the items that needed to be treated at the great Synod of Dordt, the matter of Bible translation was first on the agenda. After the Synod began, it spent nine days discussing the need for and the execution of a new translation of the Bible into the Dutch language. The final result would be a new authorized Bible version known as the Statenvertaling (States’ Translation). This Bible would have the same significance and prestige in the Dutch language as the Authorized Version (King James Version) would have in the English language. In fact, the Statenvertaling and the King...

Dordt, Calvin to become universities Calvin College and Dordt College announced this past May that they would soon be changing their names to “Calvin University” and “Dordt University,” respectively. Calvin College will change its name sometime in 2020, while Dordt College will change its name on May 13, 2019. (For seniors at Dordt, this means that the class of 2019 will be the final class to graduate from Dordt College—three days before the name-change.) Calvin College’s website gave the following announcement: On Thursday, May 3, Calvin College’s board of trustees unanimously approved Calvin College becoming Calvin University. The move is...

Imagine that your foster home was permanently closed, and your foster children abruptly taken away from your home (apparently, so urgently that they were not even permitted to gather up their belongings), simply because you refused to lie about the Easter bunny. And then imagine that your foster home was closed even to the extent that you were prevented from ever serving as foster parents, even to Christian children—again, simply because of your refusal to lie about the Easter bunny. This was the experience of Derek and Francis Baars in their interaction with the Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton, Ontario....

Billy Graham died on February 21. He was 99 years old. As I read over all the tributes and praise being given to Billy Graham on Facebook and other media, I thought to myself, “Although I’ve certainly heard the name, I don’t really know who Billy Graham is. And outside of our Reformed community, I only hear good things being said about him.” And then I thought, “Perhaps there are others, especially of the younger generation, who are in the same situation—they have heard only good things about Billy Graham, but don’t really know who he is.” And so I...

Museum of the Bible On November 17, 2017, in Washington, D.C., the museum capital of the world, another museum opened its doors. Only three blocks from the Capitol Building, the state-of-the-art Museum of the Bible will showcase over 40,000 objects in a 430,000-square-foot building, including first editions of the King James Bible, fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, biblical papyri and manuscripts, and the largest collection of Torah scrolls. The purpose? According to its website, “To invite all people to engage with the Bible.”1 The founder of Museum of the Bible is Steve Green, CEO of the popular retailer Hobby...

I think most of us have gone through the experience, in one way or another. I need only give one example for you to know what I am talking about. You are at home Sunday night after church. You have invited friends and family to come over for a time of fellowship. Everyone has gathered themselves into the living-room, and there are two or three different conversations taking place. But as you pause from your own conversation to look at how things are going elsewhere in the room, this is what you see: one, two, three people (or more), simply...

This past June the Ontario Government took another step forward in its push to revolutionize family law in Ontario by its adoption of Bill 89. Bill 89, also known as the “Supporting Children, Youth, and Families Act,” is the fifth bill in as many years that represents the swift advance of a left-wing social agenda in Ontario. Bill 89 is significant because it changes what child protection agencies need to consider in determining the best interests of the children with whom they are working. The previous law required that child protection agencies consider the “religious faith in which the child...

Playing God with Human DNA Within the last few years, significant advances have been made in the ability to edit the genes of human sperm, eggs, and early-stage embryos in petri dishes. Earlier this year, a report came out from within the United States recommending the use of the advances being made. For the New York Times, Amy Harmon writes the following: An influential science advisory group formed by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine on Tuesday [February 14] lent its support to a once-unthinkable proposition: the modification of human embryos to create genetic traits...

Ontario’s Bill 28: “All Families Are Equal Act” Ontario’s Bill 28, otherwise known as the “All Families Are Equal Act,” was a bill that the Ontario (Canada) government adopted at the end of this past November. According to an article from the Ministry of the Attorney General, Today [November 29], Ontario passed legislation that will ensure equal treatment for all parents and children in the province. Bill 28, the All Families Are Equal Act, 2016, recognizes the legal status of all parents, whether they are LGBTQ2+ or straight, and whether their children were conceived with or without assistance.1 The article...

Rodrigo Duterte, The Philippines’ New President At the time of the writing of this article, the Unites States’ elections were still underway. But as we brace for the changes of the next presidency, the citizens of the Philippines are also experiencing many changes in their own land with their new president, Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte has only been in office since late June of this year, but has been getting international attention as one of the most controversial and vulgar political figures in the global political arena. What follows are excerpts from a report by Angela Lu for World magazine describing...