Blog - Page 105 of 318 - John H Armstrong

America the Beautiful or The Star Spangled Banner?

By John Armstrong|2011-08-25T04:00:00-05:00August 25th, 2011|Categories: America and Americanism, Church Tradition, Current Affairs|

A friend just sent me a link to this story on the web from The Sporting News. (Be sure to read the many comments that follow or you will not understand my reason for posting this story.) The question of what the school plays before a sports event is one of simple choice to my mind. And a pacifist school should be expected to “feel” exactly the way Goshen College does on this issue. But read the replies to this story. Pretty sad stuff. The name calling and harsh rhetorical response is common to our time. Moderation in defense of faith is seen as compromise and hating America. And please do not tell me that many Christians would not respond precisely as these angry people do to this story. The one thing such Americans despise of a pacifist.

This kind of response to pacifism is not new. During World War II pacifists were hated and treated as lovers of Hitler and Nazism. They were a scourge and an offense to God and country. The “religion of the state” has always hated Christian pacifism. The facts of […]

Creation, Science and the Human Genome

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:19-05:00August 24th, 2011|Categories: Biblical Theology, Science|

Recent polls by Gallup and the Pew Research Center find that four out of 10 Americans believe that the creation accounts in Genesis 1-3 are to be read quite literally. In fact, it is safe to say that a literal reading of the opening chapters of Genesis is a central tenet for most conservative Christianity. This was the case in my experience but no one in my background taught me what St. Augustine said about reading such texts about creation or how theories of literature actually work in terms of certain kinds of texts and how we should read them. I thus went through several phases in my journey through the minefield of questions that touch on origins and the biblical narrative.

More recently a growing number of conservative both biblical and scientific scholars are saying publicly that they can no longer believe the Genesis account, at least not literally. When asked how likely it is that we all descended from Adam and Eve, Dennis Venema, a biologist […]

Senator Mark Hatfield: RIP

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:19-05:00August 23rd, 2011|Categories: Personal, Politics|

The death of former Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon, on August 7, reminded me of just how influential this incredibly thoughtful and seriously devout man was for my journey of faith. While I never shared every view that Hatfield held on every issue I always paid careful attention to his arguments and respected him for his courage. He was a man of principle, something that there is too little of in our time. He feared no one and consistently spoke truth to power no matter what it cost him.

Hatfield served thirty years in the U.S. Senate and two terms as governor of Oregon. Sarah Pulliam Bailey, writing for Christianity Today, said of Hatfield:

For nearly four decades, [he was] perhaps American evangelicals' most prominent and admired politician . . . a man associated with liberal politics, one of the country's leading voices against the Vietnam War and military spending, and a critic of the nascent religious right.

Hatfield stood out at a time when the nation, after World […]

How Rapture Fever Harms the Church

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:20-05:00August 22nd, 2011|Categories: Current Affairs, Eschatology, The Church|

I grew up on the idea that Christ’s coming again at the end of this age was in two parts. First, he came to take the church away (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Second, he came seven years later, after The Great Tribulation, to judge and condemn those who were unbelievers. Any who had believed during The Great Tribulation period were also rescued in this second, Second Coming.

Until I was 20 years old I believed this so ardently that it deeply impacted how I lived. It also impacted many of those around me. I led a gospel team in college and several members of my team dropped out of college because they really believed that Christ was coming very soon to “rapture” the church. (The term rapture comes from a translation of the word in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 where Paul says those who remain will be “caught up” to meet Christ in the air!) I can still remember hearing the famous Hal Lindsey speak on the […]

Deep Listening

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:20-05:00August 21st, 2011|Categories: The Christian Minister/Ministry|

I am not sure who first used the expression “deep listening” but I confess I have come to love it.

By nature, I am not a good listener. I have always struggled with talking too much. I learned it from a young age. It is also deeply rooted in my personality type. But this is no excuse for not listening, ever. And I am convinced you cannot love if you cannot listen. So I need to listen, especially to my wife, my friends and my enemies. I can learn from them all. I now routinely ask God to give me the spirit and skills of “deep listening." I still fail but I will never stop trying to develop this disciplined spiritual and emotional skill.

Pastors routinely complain that congregations are resistant to change. In my early days in ministry I first heard the seven last words of the church: “We never did it that way before!” Many (most) pastors, sensing the call of God to serve and change the church […]

Humble Dependence Crucial to Mission

By John Armstrong|2011-08-20T04:00:00-05:00August 20th, 2011|Categories: Evangelism, Missional Church|

There is no short cut for humble dependence if mission is to remain vital and fresh. We have to be willing to listen, to follow and to change. So much of my life has involved change that at times it frightens me. It especially frightens donors and friends. But I know no other way to be involved in mentoring and mission but to seek for complete dependence upon God.

This wonderfully transparent video clip by Steve Sellers explains what I mean much better than I can explain it in a few paragraphs.It is about seven minutes but I believe you will find it extremely useful in modeling a humble, listening heart that follows Jesus.

The Help

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:20-05:00August 19th, 2011|Categories: Film, Race and Racism|

Rarely do my wife and I enjoy the same movie and see it in the theater. This, in itself, says a lot about what we both thought about the hot new movie, The Help. In fact, Anita is reading the novel now that we saw the movie.

The Help looks at three very different, extraordinary women in Jackson, Mississippi during the early 1960s, who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project that breaks societal rules and puts them all at risk. From their improbable alliance a remarkable sisterhood emerges, a bond between black and white where it was not permitted, instilling in all three women the courage to transcend the lines that define them, and the realization that sometimes those lines are made to be crossed – even if it means bringing everyone in town face-to-face with the changing times.

What typically drives a story’s narrative is conflict. In a visual medium like film, conflict is generally external, often even excessive. Film critic Burl Burlingame […]

Where Are the Missional Evangelicals?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:20-05:00August 18th, 2011|Categories: Missional Church|

A friendship I’ve especially enjoyed, for some years now, is with Dr. David G. Dunbar, the president of Biblical Theological Seminary (BTS) in Hatfield, Pennsylvania. I first met David more than three decades ago when he was professor of systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Deerfield, Illinois. He spoke for one of our local ministerial fellowships in the days that led up to the founding of my present mission: ACT 3.

David (his photo is below in the text of his guest blog) has reshaped a seminary around the core idea of preparing leaders for the missional church. Now BTS says it is a seminary seeking to “follow Jesus into the world.” I had the privilege of serving on the board of BTS during the transition and continue to support the school. I also teach at BTS, now and then, as a guest.

One of my most valuable emails is David’s Missional Journal. It will be sent to you for free and back issues are […]

The Case Against Planned Parenthood

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:20-05:00August 17th, 2011|Categories: Abortion|

I am radically, or so I believe, pro-life. I oppose the use of the death penalty (at least in our present unjust context) and I oppose our consistent unethical waging of warfare internationally. I also oppose the pro-death stance of the controversial organization Planned Parenthood. No matter how you frame it Planned Parenthood can no longer deny its massive involvement in abortion. Nor can it continue to deny, I believe, its financial irregularities and violations of both state and federal law.

Americans United for Life (AUL), a national pro-life organization, released a July 7 statement that opened up the strongest case against Planned Parenthood I’ve seen to this point in time. The statement is called: “The Case for Investigating Planned Parenthood.” I encourage you to read this report whether you are pro-life or not. And even if Planned Parenthood does help many poor and needy people, which I think it clearly does do well in many instances, this case must not be swept under the […]

An Inevitable Clash of Human Rights?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:20-05:00August 16th, 2011|Categories: Homosexuality, Religion, Separation of Church & State|

The most basic of all human rights, hammered out for millennia, is the right of religious freedom. I have often said that this is America’s greatest single contribution to civilization. Here what you believe is permitted and you can practice your personal faith without state interference, so long as no one else’s rights are harmed by your practice.

There is a fierce debate going on now about civil unions and same-sex marriage. Personally I have no doubt that same-sex marriage will eventually become the norm. It already is the norm in some states and over time I believe that it will be law in the majority of states. It will then become the law of the nation. On one side people argue that their right to free expression is hindered by our present laws while on the other people believe a fundamental building block of a moral and decent society is at stake.

My deepest concern in this debate has been growing for some time and it is not […]