Vol 63 Issue 10

Ben Wigger is an elder in the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Rev. den Hartog and his family have now made their way across the country and are settling in to the new routine of Randolph, Wisconsin. Rev. den Hartog was scheduled to be installed as pastor of Randolph on Friday, January 23. However, before the den Hartogs arrived in Randolph they made a couple of stops: one in Lynden, Washington, and another in Doon, Iowa. The consistory of Lynden asked Rev. den Hartog to preach for them on Old Year’s Evening and for the next Sunday afternoon service....

Classis East met in regular session on Wednesday, January 14, 1987 at the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids. All the churches were represented by two delegates. Rev. J. Kortering was the chair of this session. An overture to synod to amend its 1960 decision on the baptism of adopted children was forwarded with the disapproval of classis. The grounds (summarized) were (1) that the brother had not shown that the 1960 decision needed amending and (2) that apart from the present practice of rarely removing children from adoptive parents, the legal aspect of baptism requires that all the...

DYNAMICS IN PASTORING, Jacob Firet; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 319 pp. (cloth) $24.95. (Reviewed by Prof. R.D. Decker) This book was originally published in 1968 as a doctoral dissertation. It has gone through five printings since then and is required reading in a number of theological seminaries in Europe. The present English edition was translated from the Dutch by John Vriend. Jacob Firet has been Professor of Practical Theology at the Free University of Amsterdam since 1968. Firet writes: “At the heart of pastoral role-fulfillment is not the activity of a human being, but the action of...

Herman C. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. In our last article we were discussing what others have to say about artificial insemination by husbands (AIH) and artificial insemination by donors (AID). We consider it important to quote extensively from other writers to demonstrate: 1) that the problem is so acute as to require elaborate treatment by many ethicists; 2) that, while there is some disagreement of opinion on these issues, evangelical scholars who condemn such practices are in the majority. Some additional arguments have been raised which we can briefly mention....

Gise J. Van Baren is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. It was discouraging, even depressing, for the family to see Alice so completely helpless—yet so fully conscious of everything. It was as though she was trapped, imprisoned, in her own body. She was there; we knew she was there—but only her eyes seemed to show it. It took longer and longer also each night to prepare her for sleep. She still needed her limbs adjusted exactly to her liking. But especially her head had to be in a proper angle: with the bed head turned up,...

John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. A question which we may not avoid in our consideration of the book of Jonah is “Where do we find Christ in the sermon that God gave Jonah to preach in Nineveh?” After all is said and done, a Christless sermon is not the gospel. And it is only through the gospel that the Spirit brings us to faith and salvation. In the day of shadows, as well as today, Christ had to be preached. There was no salvation in the Old Testament dispensation apart from Christ any...

Robert D. Decker is professor of New Testament and Practical Theology in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. Science or Creation: In 1981 the state of Louisiana passed a law which requires balanced treatment for creation science and evolution science in public school lectures, textbooks, and library materials. The result has been a long legal battle. The case now has reached the United State Supreme Court. Christianity Today (January 16, 1987) reports: Louisiana has waged a dogged defense of the law over the last five years as four federal court decisions ruled it unconstitutional without holding a trial. The Supreme Court represents the state’s...

Barrett L. Gritters is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Byron Center, Michigan. Catechism instruction is part of the official ministry of the Church of Christ. That means that catechism is different from the instruction of children in Sunday School or Young People’s Societies, which are part of the organic lifeof the church. Sunday School and Young People’s I Society are not official functions of the church. That is, they are not aspects of the ministry of the church directly under the consistory. Parents decide whether or not they want to have a Sunday School for their children; the young people decide...

The 47th annual Protestant Reformed Young People’s Convention is scheduled for August 10-14, 1987. The Convention will be hosted by the Loveland, CO Young People’s Society. Plans and preparations are in full swing. Registration will take place early Monday afternoon, August 10 at the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland. The church is located at 705 E. 57th Street in Loveland. After registration, all conventioneers will be bussed into the mountains. The Convention itself will be held at the YMCA of the Rockies just outside of Estes Park, Colorado. The YMCA camp stretches over 1,400 acres and is bordered by Rocky...

The first main section of Dr. Howard Van Till’s The Fourth Day is entitled “The Biblical View.” It is against this section that this critique is directed. His position stands or falls with this section. His “The Scientific View,” the second main section, stands if his “The Biblical View” meets the test of Scripture and the creeds; it falls if this test is failed. What is this Biblical view, according to Dr. Van Till? Chapter 1 is entitled “Taking The Bible Seriously.” To take the Bible seriously, according to him, “means to respect the Bible for what it is and to respond...