Vol 63 Issue 03

Ben wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. The congregation of our church in Hull, Iowa gets together to clean their church. According to the last bulletin, they even serve a noon lunch. It must be quite an event lasting all day. All of our churches are getting into the society season. In the Grand Rapids area the beginning of each new season usually finds the different societies holding mass meetings with individuals or couples coming from their respective churches to one central location to enjoy each other’s friendship and to hear a speaker address...

Robert D. Decker is professor of New Testament and Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. The big issue facing the evangelical church today is that of Holy Scripture. Is the Bible the inspired, infallible Word of God before which all must bow in humble faith? Or is the Bible, a collection of culturally conditioned, time-bound writings of men which may or may not be binding upon all peoples in every age and culture? Nowhere is this point more apparent than in the current discussion among evangelicals concerning the role of women in God’s church. In order to find biblical...

Herman Veldman is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. We read in the first article of our Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.” In our preceding article we called attention to the relation between God’s counsel and the creation of the world. That this connection exists lies in the nature of the case. This first article of the Apostles’ Creed speaks of our faith in this heavenly Father Who is the Maker of heaven and earth. Of course, this divine Creator created all things according to His divine plan. Does...

Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. It had now become a question of allowing Alice slowly to starve to death—or undergo the rigor of surgery, with its attendant dangers, to provide an opening directly into her stomach. Alice was not able to decide. The family debated the pros and cons, and finally decided on the surgery. It would alleviate the choking spells that developed when she tried to eat, and would make her more comfortable during her remaining life. One thing: the surgery would have to be scheduled the week of Thanksgiving...

James D. Slopsema is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Randolph, Wisconsin. Having instructed us in the meaning of baptism and establishing the necessity of infant baptism, the baptism form now proceeds to lead us in prayer. The prayer of the baptism form, along with the introductory exhortation to prayer, is as follows: That therefore this holy ordinance of God may be administered to his glory, to our comfort, and to the edification of his church, let us call upon his holy name.  PRAYER  O Almighty and eternal God, Thou, who hast according to thy severe judgment punished the...

Thomas C. Miersma is pastor of the First Protestant Reformed Church, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The historical-grammatical approach to Scripture we have been considering sets before us certain principles for arriving at the meaning of the Word of God by allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture. The principles we have considered are by their very nature somewhat general. Scripture, while it is one Word of God, is at the same time rich and diverse. The Scriptures contain parables, visions, psalms, symbols, types, and other’ elements which are all to be approached in the light of the general principles we have considered. These...

Correspondence Dear Prof. Hanko:  Generally I am in agreement with what is printed in theStandard Bearer, yet I must express disagreement with your answer on picketing abortion clinics in the Sept. 1, 1986 issue of that periodical. Essentially the disagreement is not so much in what you stated but in the over-simplification and lack of clarification. Please let me explain. 

(In the last paragraph Kuyper has discussed reformations which took place in the time of special revelation and are recorded for us in Scripture, and reformations which took place in the history of the church of the new dispensation. He has done this to show the different kinds of reformations which have taken place and to demonstrate how these reformations have significance for the tribulations in which Kuyper found himself in the State Church in the Netherlands.) 64. Concerning the Reformation Which Ought Now To Be Undertaken In the Reformed Churches Of These Lands. Also the Reformed Churches of these...

van Nederland (the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands). A relatively small segment of the Secession churches did not go along with this merger but continued a separate existence; they are known today as the Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk (the Christian Reformed Church), to which the Free Reformed Church in the U.S. The churches of the Doleantie did not long remain a separate denomination after the separation of 1886. In 1892 they united with the churches of the Secession of 1834 to form the denomination known popularly as the “GKN,” the Gereformeerde Kerken van Nederland (the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands). A...

Cornelius Hanko is an emeritus minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches. Ques. 112. What is required in the ninth commandment?  Ans. That I bear false witness against no man, nor falsify any man’s words; that I be no backbiter, nor slanderer; that I do not judge, nor join in condemning any man rashly, or unheard; but that I avoid all sorts of lies and deceit, as the proper works of the devil, unless I would bring down upon me the heavy wrath of God; likewise, that in judgment and in all other dealings I love the truth, speak it uprightly...