Blog - Page 139 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The Marriage Pool

By John Armstrong|2010-10-06T04:00:00-05:00October 6th, 2010|Categories: Marriage & Family, Race and Racism, The Church|

The Economist recently reflected on the “skewed sex ratio” that often results in there being more women who desire marriage than available men. The exact opposite problem exists in China where girls are more often aborted. Research shows that most people marry someone of the same race who lives relatively close to them. If this is true then what is happening in the African-American community in America is an incredibly complicated social problem with massive implications.

One in nine black males between 20-29 years of age are behind bars. Add to this men who have been imprisoned and are now free and the number is much higher. Not only are incarcerated men not able to marry but ex-cons rarely make it in marriage either. Removing so many men from the marriage pool thus has enormous implications.

The Economist asks, “Could it be . . . that mass incarceration is a symptom of increasing social dysfunction, and that it was this social dysfunction that caused marriage to wither?” The magazine says, “Probably not.” One study concludes that a higher male imprisonment has lowered the likelihood […]

Worldly Lifestyles or Christian Freedom?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:18-05:00October 5th, 2010|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Church History, Culture|

For as long as I can recall I have listened to Christians debate the concept of worldliness and worldly lifestyle. A recent flier that invited me to a Christian conference, with a host of speakers and topics, put this point clearly when it said:

A cultural divide is certainly entrenched among evangelical churches today, many adopting charismatic, worldly-entertainment style music, while others stand firmly with traditional, reverent worship. And what is true of worship culture has extended to the everyday activities of individual Christians, those in contemporary churches tending to embrace much more worldly lifestyles and aspirations. There is a great need for clear definitions and explanations of the biblical doctrine of separation from the world as universally held and practiced by Bible believers for centuries, until recent decades.

Some of the offerings at this large conference include the following:

We are commanded in our evangelism to call souls out of the world […]

Has the Church Traded Methods for Worship?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:18-05:00October 4th, 2010|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, The Church|

Because we have reduced the church to our programs most of what we now do feels much more like a business that needs to be well-run that a family that needs the life-giving presence of the Holy Spirit. I do not believe we will value unity in the Spirit until we give up this approach that plagues nearly everything we do in the contemporary Protestant church.

Only the Son of God Has the Authority to Truly Forgive Sin

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:19-05:00October 3rd, 2010|Categories: Biblical Theology, Roman Catholicism, The Church|

In Matthew 9:6 it is said that only “the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” But in Matthew 16:19 Jesus says that he will “give the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven” to Peter. And, he adds, “Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

How do we sort out what seems like a contradiction? Either Jesus does, or does not, have all authority in these matters of grace and forgiveness. My Catholic friends believe that he gave this authority to Peter, and then through his leadership to the apostles. Through these bishops this power was passed along through the Catholic church as the sacramental body of Christ. This is one of those areas where I profoundly disagree with my brothers and sisters in the Catholic Church but my disagreement is often one of nuance more than irreconcilable doctrinal differences.

The ambassadors of Christ are given the power to proclaim […]

Single Life

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:19-05:00October 2nd, 2010|Categories: Marriage & Family, Sexuality|

Yesterday I referred to the church’s great need to teach celibacy, not simply as a requirement before marriage but as a calling that is given to some because of their unique place in life. I know that many will say, “This is not fair. If others can enjoy sexual experience then why can’t I?” The problem with this response is that it misses the whole point of the kingdom of God and the call of Christ upon our lives.

A friend recently reminded me that almost all of us read the Scriptures with our preconceived notions firmly fixed in our minds. As a result the teaching of Jesus doesn’t shock us since we already have simplistic ready answers to texts that are problematic. When it comes to this issue I can’t think of any text for which this is more true than this one:

Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword. […]

Modern Family

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:19-05:00October 1st, 2010|Categories: Homosexuality, Marriage & Family|

The popular ABC sitcom “Modern Family” recently received several expected Emmy Awards for being the best television show in the business. There is a chicken-and-egg debate about shows like this one. Do they represent culture or do they create culture? Surely it is some of both but I believe it is more the former than the latter.

This popular prime-time show features three decidedly non-traditional families living in a way that anyone from a few decades ago could not remotely recognize as an American family. But if this show represents changes in our society what exactly are those changes?

Consider some facts.

1. 50% of marriages in the United States are still estimated to end in divorce. Yet the divorce rate is slightly down. The reason is that the marriage rate has dropped almost twice as quickly in recent years.

2. A 2005 Rutgers University study found that 8% of coupled households consist of unmarried heterosexual partners.

3. The same Rutgers study found that only 63% […]

How the Church Can Properly Respond to Same-Sex Practice

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:19-05:00September 30th, 2010|Categories: Homosexuality, Marriage & Family|

I have frequently suggested that the church is making huge mistakes in how it addresses the modern same-sex debate. Let me explain, albeit simply, what I mean. I want to articulate several truths that I believe we desperately need if we are to move forward with a compassionate and faithful biblical alternative to accepting everything the culture tells us about sexual practice.

First a few comments of analysis.

1. The church has chosen to primarily fight same-sex thinking and practice through politics. This is a debate that we are bound to lose unless something unforeseen happens. We are sure to lose this battle in the culture and we will likely lose it inside many churches as well, given enough time. “Just say no” will not stop same-sex practice nor will it help serious Christians who do not want to surrender their bodies to unsanctified sexual inclinations.

2. Treating same-sex practice as the ultimate evil can not be supported by Scripture (if properly read and […]

Angelina’s Jolie’s Search for Love

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:19-05:00September 29th, 2010|Categories: Current Affairs, Film, Love, Marriage & Family|

Angelina Jolie’s search for love is both admirable and deeply human. I don’t usually follow the personal lives of Hollywood stars, though I am a fan of many genres of film, but Jolie’s story was featured in the Sunday Parade magazine a few weeks ago and I read it. Like most Hollywood stars she has gone through several husbands and now lives with a famous actor, Brad Pitt, who is not her husband but the father of their six children.

In the story, by Dotson Rader, Jolie says, “I always wanted a great love affair, something that feels big and full, really honest and enough. No moment should feel slight, false, or a little off. For me, it had to be everything.” She admits that finding such in a relationship is tough but adds, “[That] is what we are all looking for, isn’t it? Something authentic.”

I believe she’s right about that last statement. […]

Summer Hours: A Modern Family in the Global Village

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:19-05:00September 28th, 2010|Categories: Film|

Summer Hours, a wonderful new French film by contemporary French director Olivier Assayas, has earned multiple awards. It is personal, at times even moving, look at family life that provides a rather wonderful amazing look into the realities of a globalized modern family in France.

The story is rather simple. Three siblings, played by Charles Berling, Jérémie Rénier and Juliette Binoche, must decide what to do with their countryside estate, an hour outside of Paris, when their mother (the last of her generation) passes away. They inherit what amounts to a fortune in art, art that can not be easily sold, and a home with a lot of childhood memories but with little relevance to their lives in the present. They also have a lot to discover about their late mother, and her relationship to their late uncle, when they discover that she really loved him more than their own father. The reason for all this family […]

How the New Ecumenism Differs from the Old

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:19-05:00September 27th, 2010|Categories: Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Unity of the Church|

Most Christians in the West have some kind of impression about the word ecumenism. I grew up in a context that held the word itself in suspicion. As best I can tell we thought the word represented the worst of compromise. To us ecumenism led Christians to give up the gospel at the expense of unity. As a young minister, in this context, one of the most frequent verses I heard was: “Get the truth and never sell it” (NLT, Proverbs 23:23). By this we meant the truth always trumped unity, which shows that we did not understand that unity is one of the most important truths revealed in the New Testament.

But is ecumenism really about giving up the faith in order to get along with everyone? The word itself is actually derived from the Greek word οἰκουμένη (oikoumene), which literally means "the whole inhabited world.” When it was used by the early Christians it had reference to the Roman Empire. The ecumenical vision thus comprises two elements. First, there is a commitment to an earnest search for the visible unity of the […]