Blog - Page 151 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The Dancing Grandma

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:52-05:00June 12th, 2010|Categories: Humor, Personal|

Tonight could be really fun or really embarrassing for me. You see, it’s the night of my granddaughter Abbie’s Streamwood Park District dance recital. Throughout this school year I have taken her to a few rehearsals. One time her mom was out of town and I was watching Abbie’s class through the one-way window. It is a mirror on the class side. I was getting bored watching the same routine over and over and since it was just big sister, Gracie, and me in the hall watching, I decided to start shuffle-stepping myself! I did the whole Calypso routine four times waving my hands in the air and shuffle stepping, shuffle ball-changing—you know, looking like a real “piece of work” as we say in my family. Gracie was telling her mom all about it on the cell phone, to which her mom replied, “There’s a security camera on the ceiling at the end of the hall!” Everyone at the front desk of the […]

The Weight of Fear

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:53-05:00June 11th, 2010|Categories: Divine Providence, Spirituality|

Pope Gregory the Great said: "The weight of fear is the anchor of the heart.” I see a lot of fear in a lot of Christian hearts these days. President Franklin D. Roosevelt noted in 1933 that fear paralyzes those who succumb to it. Francis de Sales said, “We must not fear fear.” And John Calvin said, “The inward joy, which faith brings to us, can overcome all fears.” But fear we do and fear seems to be in the air since 9/11. If Christians are not filled with anger and rage, at Congress or at the current President, then they are often filled with fear of the multitude of things that they believe can actually harm them.

The fact is a great deal of what most people fear is based much more on nonstop media hype than on reality. And whether it is the problem of immigration or the threat of crime we all tend to […]

Does Lady Liberty Need a Mate?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:53-05:00June 10th, 2010|Categories: America and Americanism|

The Statue of Liberty stands on a small island off the shore of Lower Manhattan. She has been there since her arrival in the United States in 1885, a gift from the people of France. She is an East Coast thing and there are some—not many but some—who think she needs a mate.

The Statue of Responsibility Foundation is raising money to bookend the continental United States with a second statue on an island in the harbor of an as yet undetermined West Coast city. The Statue of Liberty's missing mate is called the "Statue of Responsibility." And no, I'm not making this up.
According to the Statue of Responsibility website:

The Statue of Liberty has served as a symbol of liberty, both in America and throughout the world. Its counterpart, the Statue of Responsibility, will likewise serve as […]

The Problem of Senate Candidate Rand Paul

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:53-05:00June 9th, 2010|Categories: Politics, Race and Racism|

Rand Paul, the recently chosen Republican nominee for the U. S. Senate seat open in Kentucky, faces some interesting days ahead. He already is the center of profound attention on the national scene. He should not be surprised since he is the son of libertarian congressman Ron Paul (TX-R), who ran for president in 2008. Paul won a recent primary in Kentucky by such a large margin that even the pundits were surprised. Republicans have been scurrying about to try and manage the situation. Most are endorsing Paul rather than fight a battle over the nominations process and reject him. He was not the party favorite, that is for sure.

The big story out of this race was Paul’s one sentence summary, given in an interview with liberal commentator Rachel Maddow, on MSNBC. Paul said, “When you blur the distinction between public and private, there are problems. When you blur the distinction between public and private ownership, there really […]

Stuck On the Road to Adulthood

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:53-05:00June 8th, 2010|Categories: America and Americanism, Culture, Evangelism|

A recent Sunday issue of the Chicago Tribune (May 23) ran a front-page feature on the Millennials that got my attention. For those who do not follow this generational descriptor the Millennials are the generation born between 1977 and 1998. The older Millennials came of age around 2000 (they were 23) and now include adults 33 years of age and under. There are 75 million Millennials in America! (There are only 51 million adults in Generation X, those born between 1965-1976, thus the generation that followed my own, the Baby Boom.) This Chicago Tribune article focused on the older (?) Millennials (21-33).

The Chicago Tribune feature focused principally on Millennials in the job market. It showed how hard it is for Millennials to find good jobs in the present market. One 29 year-old man is moving (a common thing for Millennials) again and again and hopes to soon land something in New York. Nearing age 30 […]

Why Satan Hates Christian Unity

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:53-05:00June 7th, 2010|Categories: ACT 3, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, The Church, Unity of the Church|

When I read passages like Ephesians 6:10-20, in their larger epistolary context, I cannot help but believe that the evil one hates it when Christians visibly unite in the gospel and mission of Christ. He loves our disunity and when we defend this present state, and seek to explain it away with our human answers, we may be taking his side in the battle for truth. I discuss that in this week's video on my new book, Your Church Is Too Small.

Wisdom From Mount Athos

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:53-05:00June 6th, 2010|Categories: Love, Personal, Spirituality|

I have previously written about the great benefits that I have received from the writings of great Orthodox theologians and monks. My own experience of Orthodoxy began as a direct result of a deep friendship. My former pastor, and one of my dearest friends, Fr. Wilbur David Ellsworth, became an Orthodox priest and along the road of his conversion experience I shared and read a lot of Orthodox thinking. I learned so much, and still do, that our friendship is not only deeper but the differences we experience because of our respective choices makes us stronger in a way I cannot fully explain.

For the purpose of honesty I have to say that I have seriously considered becoming Orthodox and Roman Catholic, for different reasons and at very different times. The principal reason for this consideration is related to my view of the church and to ecclesial history. I do still see, however, several compelling reasons to remain outside the Catholic Church. Some of my best friends have found home there and I rejoice. I also see several reasons to […]

Learning to Take Full Responsibility for My Speech

By John Armstrong|2010-06-05T04:00:00-05:00June 5th, 2010|Categories: Personal, Spirituality|

James 1:22 says, “Be DOERS of the word, and not HEARERS only, deceiving yourselves.” I am a great “hearer” of the word. I’ve gone to church and heard the word preached literally all my life. And, hellooooooo—–I live with John! I HEAR the word a lot! And yet, when it comes to my speech, it’s really hard to follow the “DO-ing” part. I’ve always blamed my behavior on genetics—that I take after my dad. He was always quick to share his thoughts and many times his words hurt. My Granny Vejsada had a saying, “Think ten times and then speak once!” Oh, please, then I’d never get to speak at all!

Recently, at my granddaughter’s soccer game, I was sitting in my folding chair on the sidelines. The players ran in front of me and I heard a girl from the opposing team sneer rudely to my Gracie, “Watch your arms!” Without a moments thought I turned to my younger granddaughter and said, “That girl is lucky she said that to Gracie and not to ME!” How dare she say […]

Why I Changed My View on Infant Baptism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:53-05:00June 4th, 2010|Categories: Sacraments, The Church|

A few months ago a friend, who had been a Baptist and then became a Presbyterian, asked me for a short answer as to why and how I had changed my view of baptism (which had been the view that baptism was by immersion of believers only). The answer I gave him was “short” and thus will not satisfy those who want a full-blown explanation. But maybe the very shortness of my response will be useful to friends as well as casual readers of this site.

1. Ephesians 4 presented serious problems for my view of adult baptism only. If there is "one baptism" then how could I continue to insist that the immersion of adults was the only true Christian baptism? In effect, who was I to reject the baptism of other Christians who were convinced on the basis of good reason and sound judgment? This question deeply troubled me based upon my understanding of the church and […]

An Evangelical Call for Bipartisan Immigration Reform

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:18:54-05:00June 3rd, 2010|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Ethics|

The National Association of Evangelicals, which has all too rarely had something meaningful to say about our national public life in recent years, recently published an ad issuing a helpful call for immigration reform. In the light of the debate created by my recent blogs about the DREAM Act I thought this NAE call worth the attention of my readers. Here is the call itself:

Our national immigration laws have created a moral, economic and political crisis in America. Initiatives to remedy this crisis have led to polarization and name calling in which opponents have misrepresented each others’ positions as open borders and amnesty versus deportations of millions. This false choice has led to an unacceptable political stalemate. As evangelical Christian leaders, we call on Democrats and Republicans to lead our nation toward a bipartisan solution on immigration that:

Respects the God-given dignity of every person
Protects the unity of the immediate family
Respects the rule of law
Guarantees secure national borders […]