ORDINARY PILGRIMS

Herman Bavinck wrote of God's knowledge: "Furthermore, God knows things not by observation, but from and of himself. Our knowledge is posterior: it presupposes their existence and is derived from it. Exactly the opposite is true of God's knowledge: he knows everything before it exists. Scripture expresses this very clealry when it states that God knows all things that happens before it happens ( Isa. 46:10 ; Amos 3:7 ; Dan. 2:22 ; Ps 139:6 , Matt 6:8 )." 1 Bavinck is discussing the difference between human knowledge and God's knowledge. The fact that we humans know something demands that the thing already exists. For example, I can learn a ton about trees, but that's because trees already exist and there is therefore much to learn by observing them. The tree exists first , then comes my knowledge of trees. By contrast, God knows "from and of himself" which means he does not observe and learn about things and thereby gain knowledge. For example, Go...

A while back I came across this article talking about how much Canadian parents are spending on extracurricular activities for their kids. It's an interesting read for many reasons. For example, consider the following paragraph: The poll, which quizzed around 1,000 parents across the country, finds that 55 per cent of families feel stretched thin because of after-school programs. Almost a third (32 per cent) are now using debt to fund those costs, up a whopping five percentage points since Ipsos and Global News ran a similar survey last year. I have often felt the pressure to be giving my children every opportunity imaginable: hockey, baseball, music lessons, dirt-biking, hunting, camping, skiing, swimming, learning other languages, etc. Sometimes I hear of the many activities other kids are busy with and I begin to feel guilty for not giving my kids more opportunities. The article even addresses the feeling of guilt that parents have which lead them to shell out the cash (or m...