Ezra Institute Debates - Video

Jesus Christ is gathering His inheritance from all the nations of the earth, reconciling and restoring what had been handed over to the devil. Christians have graciously been given a role to play in this restoration process.

From the creation of the very first people in the garden of Eden, human beings were called to develop the earth to create all kinds of wealth and riches that lay hidden and undeveloped in creation. This development was not and is not easy. There are three ways by which wealth can be built: hard work, inheritance, or theft.

For this Christmas week episode, we examine a recent tweet from Tim Keller submitted by a listener on the nature of the cross and of power. To understand what Christ was accomplishing and demonstrating on the cross, we need to consider why He came to earth as a baby in the first place, and what He has called His people to in the time before His incarnation as well as after His ascension to the Father.

This week's episode deals with the recent hustle of Bill C4 through the Canadian senate, to become law early in the new year, describing how Christian counselling has effectively and explicitly been made a criminal offense. We also get a chance to respond to some listener questions on the relationship between law and gospel.

Today Canada passed Bill C4, asserting that the basis of human dignity consists in radical autonomy from any tradition or authority. Such legislation should leave no doubt whether politics is a moral issue - it is something that Scripture speaks about, and something that ministers ought to speak on both in public and in the pulpit.

The issue of theonomy has been a perennial question - how do we understand, interpret, and apply the law of God in its original context, as well as the present day? Beginning with the basics, Joe Boot examines the origins and assumptions of the theonomic perspective, explaining that at its root, theonomy is a view of Christian ethics that seeks to take the whole Word of God seriously.

Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church, Calgary, joins us to talk about his experience with Alberta Health Services and the reason he persisted in gathering his church together. Andre Schutten considers some of the legal implications and precedents surrounding Tim's case, and the nature of the relationship between the church and the civil magistrate.

Tracking the development of Western thought from the Reformation and forward into today, we notice that several contemporary dominant ideas that have their root in self-conscious opposition to God and His Word, and to the idea of man as the image-bearer of God. Chief among these in our own time is the modern green movement. What does a biblical approach to climate stewardship look like?

As we reflect on the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Joe Boot addresses the common perception that the Reformation was a movement limited to the church. Rather, the recovery of biblical authority had and continues to have implications to every area of our life and work.

We revisit two of our favourite themes - Sphere Sovereignty and Modal Aspects - and explore how these two models emerged from the Reformation and how they identify and give expression to the way the world is necessarily organized.

The biblical starting point for all human activity - including academic reflection - is the character of God as revealed in the Bible, the incarnate Son, and the created world. For man to begin with anything else is necessarily to respond in an idolatrous fashion.

Contrary to unbelieving philosophy which places some aspect of human experience on the throne of the universe, and contrary to earlier Christian philosophy which seeks to elevate theology above all other spheres of science, is the Reformational view. On this view, the self-attesting revealed Word of God is the basis for every subsequent theory about the universe.

This episode introduces the idea that aspects of reality hang together like pearls on a thread, and explains how philosophical assumptions inform and direct our everyday activities.

A distinctly Christian way of thinking means returning to the Word of God as the source of all true knowledge and insight, and building an understanding of the world from that foundation. It is our starting point that makes all the difference.

Season Five of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation kicks off with a brief review of the Canadian Federal election and begins a discussion that we will develop throughout this season on how and why a fully formed Christian worldview accounts for reality, even in the midst of tumultuous cultural circumstances.

On this episode of the Podcast for Cultural Reformation, Marcus Pittman describes the present state of Christian representation in mainstream arts and entertainment, and what he is doing to improve it. We discuss the Christian calling to be the best storytellers, because the Christian story is the greatest story in the world.

Christian orthodoxy is antithetical to utopian illusions. Since God governs history, the Christian, in faith, obedience, and confidence, moves toward God’s predestined future. The triune, sovereign Lord, who by His providence and power sustains all things at every moment, is the one in whom the Christian trusts.

In order to achieve the visions of liberation and environmental justice it is necessary to shape the hearts and minds of the rising generation. One of the main planks in the radical environmentalist platform is to ensure the children have been indoctrinated regarding the ‘facts’ about climate change and understand their own negative impact on the earth as analogous to a virus infecting a host.

Throughout the green movement, many are promoting a culture of death in the name of life, health and eco-justice. Whereas the God of Scripture says, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it”, and tells us that children are a heritage and reward from Him, this new religion tells us that children are a threat to planetary life and large families a disease.

The liberating identity of those in the covenant of grace transcends skin color and ethnic origin and refuses to look at the world in terms of us and them, oppressors versus oppressed, but grasps all reality in light of our Creation, Fall, and Redemption as a human race.