Blog - Page 124 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Joel Osteen on Divine Providence: Amazing

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:49-05:00February 22nd, 2011|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Theology, Unity of the Church|

For many years I have been asked again and again, “Is Joel Osteen a heretic?” In many instances the question itself reveals more about the questioner than it does about this sometimes controversial preacher. Let me explain.

First, we need to ask: “What is heresy?” A modified (and helpful) answer from Wikipedia provides the following (slightly edited) insight:

In Christian history and practice heresy is the rejection of one or more established beliefs of orthodoxy. Christian heresy refers to non-orthodox practices and beliefs that were deemed to be heretical by one or more of the Christian churches. In the West, the term "heresy" most commonly refers to those beliefs which were declared to be anathema by the Catholic Church prior to the schism of 1054. In the East, the term "heresy" most commonly refers to those beliefs declared to be "heretical" by the First Seven Ecumenical Councils. However, since the Great Schism and the Protestant Reformation, various Christian churches have also used the concept in proceedings against individuals and groups deemed to be heretical by those churches. The Catholic Church considers the Protestant denominations to be heretical and […]

God in America: A Series Worth Your Time

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:49-05:00February 21st, 2011|Categories: America and Americanism, Religion, Separation of Church & State, The Church|

The PBS television series God in America was aired in 2010. I did not see it when it was aired on television. I finally saw it last week on DVD. It is simply superb. The series consists of six parts, each about 55 minutes long when the various trailers and ads are skipped. The subtitle is very accurate: “How Religious Liberty Shaped America.”

The series, which features both actors who are cast in bit roles as famous American figures and scholars who teach about various issues in the history of religious history, sets out to give the viewer an accurate account of religious liberty in America. How has religious liberty been used, abused and developed over the past four centuries plus? Religion professor Stephen Prothero (photo) is clearly the most frequent voice in all six episodes but shorter appearances include well-known evangelicals such as Grant Wacker, Harry Stout and […]

How Many Churches Do You See?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:50-05:00February 20th, 2011|Categories: ACT 3, Unity of the Church|

Theological blogger Alan Knox of Raleigh, North Carolina, offers a recent (short) review of Your Church Is Too Small that grasps one of the more important points that I made in the book. Check it out. Alan’s regular blogs on the church are often short, simple, insightful and challenging. I commend them.

The Full Body Blow of the Divine Embrace

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:50-05:00February 19th, 2011|Categories: Love, Spirituality|

The Catholic mystic and popular spiritual teacher Richard Rohr has often helped me understand certain Christian truths in profound ways. In a CD teaching resource titled: Christ, Cosmology and Consciousness: A Reframing of How We See he says, “Ordinary Christianity has emphasized that we should love God. This makes sense, but do we really know how to do it? What I find in the mystics is an overwhelming experience of how God has loved us! That’s what comes through all of their writings, and I do mean all—that God is forever the initiator, God is the doer, God is the one who seduces me in my unworthiness. It’s all about God’s initiative! Then the mystics try desperately to give back, to offer their lives back to the world.”

He then adds: “As my father Francis put it, ‘Love is not loved! Love is not loved! I want to love back the way I have been loved!’ But mystics are not trying to earn God’s love by doing good […]

Seventeen U.S. Campus Ministries to Serve in a Missional-Ecumenical Context

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:50-05:00February 18th, 2011|Categories: Evangelism, Missional-Ecumenism|

Seventeen Christian ministries that work on U.S. college campuses have established a new standard of cooperation and mutual respect for their work with college students and faculty. Meeting in a Chicago suburb last October, leaders of these several campus ministries agreed to eight basic points of unity in mission aimed at keeping their work on campus cooperative rather than competitive. I still remember the first such agreement in 1971. I was a college senior and deeply involved in Campus Crusade at the time. I remember the late Bill Bright telling us how important this agreement was for mutual respect and evangelism. Little did I realize then the impact this kind of thinking would have upon me.

This new statement is called, very simply, the “Chicago Agreement.” It is really an update of the 1971 agreement forged between leaders of Campus Crusade for Christ, Navigators, Young Life, and InterVarsity. Now it includes a number of other missions and ministries.

Religious Trends That Bear on My Vision of Missional-Ecumenism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:50-05:00February 17th, 2011|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, The Church|

Some facts reported in a recent religious survey include the following:

80% of a church's first-time visitors heard about the church through a friend, co-worker, or family member.
52% of pastors who decided as kids to follow Jesus did so at children's summer camp or VBS.
65% of U.S. 18–29-year-olds identify themselves as Christian, 14% as atheist or agnostic, 14% no religious preference, and 8% other religions, according to LifeWay research.
65% of U.S. 18–29-year-olds rarely or never pray with others, and 38% almost never pray alone.
65% of U.S. 18–29-year-olds rarely or never attend worship services.
67% of U.S. 18–29-year-olds do not read the Bible or sacred texts.
72% of U.S. 18–29-year-olds say they're "really more spiritual than religious."
79% of American Christians believe in the second coming, and 20% believe it will take place within their lifetime.
Just 27% of Canadians 15 and older attend worship at least monthly, 25.3% a few times a year, 21.1% have no religious […]

Our Perception of Reality

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:50-05:00February 16th, 2011|Categories: Hermeneutics, Postmodernity, The Future, Theology|

Author James P. Danaher writes, in his excellent book, Eyes That See, Ears That Hear: Perceiving Jesus in a Postmodern Context (Liguori, 2006):

Our perception of reality is changing. We are rapidly moving beyond the modern world to which we had become so accustomed over the last three hundred years. What is the blessing God has for us in these changes? God always has a blessing, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear (see Romans 11:8). So how are we to perceive this changing world order that we do not miss God’s blessing? (xiii).

Many have labeled this changing new reality as postmodernism. The problem with this label is that few bother to explain what they mean when they use it. For some this word is a 2 x 4 with which to club anyone who raises serious questions about how we believe the gospel in the 21st century. I rather think the word is a “scare” word and should be avoided in most contexts.

The […]

An Unlikely Oscar Voter

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:50-05:00February 15th, 2011|Categories: Film, Roman Catholicism, Spirituality|

A Guest Blog

When the votes are counted for the Oscars this year, one vote will come from a most unlikely source. Mother Dolores resides at the Abbey of Regina Loudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut. She was reinstated with voting rights as a member of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1990, allowing her to vote for the Academy awards each year.

Dolores Hart entered the Abbey in 1963, as soon as she completed her last autograph-signing session. For the previous seven years, Hart was an actress with Paramount and MGM, starring in ten movies, including Come Fly With Me, Where the Boys Are and Francis of Assisi. In her first major movie, Loving You, at the age of 18, she played the love interest of another new face to the filming set, Elvis Presley. Hart carries the distinction of being one of the first women to kiss Elvis on screen.

Hart first visited the abbey while she was starring in the Broadway production, The Pleasure of His […]

Negotiating the Use of Social Media

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:50-05:00February 14th, 2011|Categories: ACT 3, Personal, Social Networking|

I have become increasingly interested in what we now call “the social media.” You are interested too, at least to some extent, if you are reading this blog. I have expressed both praise and concern for this new media/social form of connecting people and information. I am reading and interacting a great deal more with friends who have made a serious study of this subject. Some of this input is rightly critical. I am reading books that are positive but some of the negative ones are also important to me. I am personally convinced of two things, at least for now.

First, this is a time of real and important change in human history. Such moments of real emergence only come around every 300-500 years, or so it seems, and this is one of those times in the 21st century. Whether we like it or not this new form of learning and communicating has changed the way we all live and it is changing the world in the process. Only a complete Luddite would disagree with this conclusion.

Second, social media is completely out of control in many […]

God and the Dog

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:50-05:00February 13th, 2011|Categories: Personal|

You know I love my dog. Just ponder my photos here and elsewhere. Here is one Anita took just this week of our senior doxie, Neo. Neo lights up our lives every single day by just being the sweet little dog God made her to be.

After I mentioned my doxie recently a friend linked me to a great video called "God and the Dog." Enjoy this fun clip and if you, like me, love your dog then you too will give thanks today for your loving and adoring pooch.