As high school was ending, I remember the same question being on everybody’s lips. I heard it so often I rehearsed a bundle of canned answers.
Columns
Read our regular columns on Faith Matters, Big Questions, Christian apologetics, Shiao Chong's monthly Editorial, the Discover page (especially for kids), the Vantage Point, the Other Six, and letters from Christian Reformed Church members and our readers. Our online-only columns are As I Was Saying and Behind the Banner.
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- January 17, 2025| |READ MORE
The end of her life came fast, less than a year from the start of signs of things for which we did not know they were signs.
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Is Jesus’ admonition “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matt. 7:12) an example of moral relativism?
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For many Christians, this transition feels jarring; it can feel like a move from light into shadows.
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I struggle with my kids’ constant fighting. How can I stop the competition so our home can find some peace?
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Loss is a painful part of life, and we all experience it at times—sometimes even when it comes to faith.
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Effective pastors in times like these must feel adequately equipped for the complex and nuanced job of imparting peace, unity and intelligent civic participation to their congregations.
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In Advent we long for the light, at Christmas we revel in it, and throughout Epiphany we see by it.
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Being a mediocre parent, I pick my battles. Trying to model the values of faith and the covenant community is No. 1. Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation helped me identify No. 2: technology.
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The rise of a generation that can’t or doesn’t read books matters for the church. After all, if people can’t or don’t read books, how will they read the Bible?
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I realized we could only see this beauty, we could only comprehend this space, we could only receive the light, if we waited, and if we paid attention.
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See how readers responded to recent Banner issues, articles, and columns.
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If I’m busy preparing for the worst, I forfeit the present and the possibilities within it.
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Early on in ministry I came out to my church as gay and committed to celibacy.
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After encountering these stories, you might have closed your Bible and shaken your head, wondering why in the world God would put these stories in inspired Scripture.
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I think this drive to understand could be one of the attributes of being created in the image of God.
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Synod news; columns from Cross Examination, Big Questions, and Faith Matters; four features; and an As I Was Saying blog post were among the most-accessed articles on thebanner.org this year.
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The Scripture readings at the end of the liturgical year are the biblical equivalent of dystopian science fiction.
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In the small office I manage, I want employees to settle on certain computer apps to do their work (in this case, the messaging app Slack), but some are resisting. Should I lay down the law and require it?
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I spied a mother and her two little boys pushing a loaded cart toward the exit.
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I was relieved it was over. But still wondering what this result meant for me, our family, our faith, and our country.
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In our divided world and divided church, we need media that break down divisions, not reinforce them.
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While I was living in northern Alberta, one of my favorite places to go was the local beaver pond.
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It’s the distance between orthodoxy and orthopraxy that currently concerns me most in our denomination.