December 2021 New Horizons

Why Not Skip the Genealogies?

by James T. Hoekstra

When you read the Bible, either by yourself or with your family, do you skip the genealogies? When I was a child, growing up in a Reformed household, we would read the Bible after supper. Oftentimes the four of us kids would fight about who got to read—until we approached a genealogy. Then the fighting would stop, and we encouraged each other to take the chapter. Although the names are difficult to pronounce, genealogies are valuable because they are part of Scripture. You just need to dig a little bit to get their significance. The genealogy in Matthew 1 is especially significant—it tells an important story. This lineage has a theme running through the list of names: gracious fulfillment. Perhaps the most striking piece of the genealogy are the surprises, the people we maybe wouldn’t have picked ourselves if we were putting together an all-star lineage for the King of Kings. Surprising Women The women in the genealogy stand out, and not only because women are unusual in a Hebrew ... Read more

Sports for God’s Glory

by Andrew J. Miller

Based on a true story, the movie Chariots of Fire portrays 1924 Olympian Eric Liddell, a Christian who sought to use his running abilities for God’s glory and not merely his own. In one famous scene, Liddell tells his sister that God “made me fast, and when I run, I feel his pleasure.” That scene deeply impacted me after I became burned out by chess competitions as a high schooler. In elementary school, I had been a local chess star, with comparisons to Bobby Fischer puffing up my ego. By fourth grade, I won fourth place in a national tournament among other fourth graders, and I had several youth state championship titles to my name. However, in time, the pressure to win became unbearable, the joy of the game faded, and I was playing simply not to lose. I had to take a hiatus from competitions. God used that break to help me understand that my chess skills belonged to the Lord. This perspective enabled me to come back to the game with a new joy in the Lord and an experiential understanding and ... Read more

Augustine on Christian Burials

by Calvin R. Goligher

When a family member dies, the mourners face a host of practical questions, including what do with the loved one’s body. Burial is the traditional answer to that question, but cremation is an increasingly popular alternative. The reasons for cremation are often practical: it is cheaper, simpler, and more efficient. Most people also don’t think it really matters what happens to a body, since it doesn’t affect the person who has already died. I would like to challenge that status quo and argue that burial is the proper way to dispose of a human body, especially the body of a Christian. To make my case, I will review a discussion of burial from Augustine (AD 354–430), the great bishop of Hippo in modern Algeria. Tragedy in Rome Tragedy swept the Roman world on a grand scale in the early fifth century. Invaders poured through the Empire’s northern borders, threatening Roman society at its foundations. Augustine died in 430, having spent his final weeks reciting psalms from his deathbed, as the ... Read more