Blog - Page 155 of 318 - John H Armstrong

My Experience with Divisions in the Church

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:00-05:00May 3rd, 2010|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, Unity of the Church|

I have had more than a few personal experiences with division in the church over the course of my six decades of life. I am regularly reminded of the apostle’s appeal that “all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose” (1 Corinthians 1:10, NRSV). I have heard a myriad of reasons over the course of my life for why we cannot pursue unity. At its lowest common denominator all Christians must admit that their own church ought to experience unity but few really do and most make this goal relatively unimportant to their mission as a congregation. My own life experience revealed to me how tragic this failure really was and still is today. I talk about this in another of the video interviews I did for my book Your Church Is Too Small .

Your Family and the Greatest Commandment

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:00-05:00May 2nd, 2010|Categories: Marriage & Family, The Church|

I recently read a book sent to me by a pastor who serves on the staff of Wheaton Bible Church, which is very near my home. The book, written by Dr. Rob Rienow, is titled Visionary Parenting: Capture a God-sized Vision for Your Family (Nashville: Randall House, 2009). It is a sober and extremely helpful call to parents to make their priorities line up with God’s Word. One of the simplest and most revealing discoveries I made in reading the early pages of Reinow’s fine book is in the words God gave to his covenant people regarding his desire for their allegiance and love.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep the words I am commanding you today in your heart (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). […]

The Ghost Writer

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:00-05:00May 1st, 2010|Categories: Film|

Roman Polanski has been a fugitive from justice for years. It has been thirty-plus years since he was arrested, tried and convicted of rape. He then fled to Europe. His Hollywood friends, most of whom prove their utter contempt for decency and the law, still offer their support for the convicted felon.

But Polanski can make films. During his brief time in Hollywood Polanski made Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown, which all but assured his stature in the history of cinema. His best-known film made during his decades in exile was The Pianist, a highly regarded and, I believe, much over-rated movie.

Ross Douthat, writing in the National Review, says of Polanski: “At the very least, the shadow of jail time seems to have concentrated his mind, and spurred his creativity. His latest film, The Ghost Writer, which slunk into American theaters this month (how would you like to be the publicist promoting […]

Be Very Afraid

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:01-05:00April 30th, 2010|Categories: America and Americanism, Books|

Robert Wuthnow is a professor of sociology at Princeton University and the author of numerous articles and books about American culture. His particular expertise has been in showing how America’s religious faith intersects with life in our culture. His writing is sometimes dense but always useful. One of his more recent titles summarizes a great deal of Wuthnow’s insight: American Mythos: Why Our Best Efforts to Be a Better Nation Fall Short (Princeton University Press, 2008). The guy is prolific if he is nothing else. I cannot keep up with him but I try to “breeze” by his new material now and then to glean what I can from this highly respected social thinker.

Wuthnow’s newest book is Be Very Afraid: The Cultural Response to Terror, Pandemics, Environmental Devastation, Nuclear Annihilation, and Other Threats (Oxford University Press, 2010). This book is not rooted in religion, as such, but it touches on […]

The Value of Travel

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:01-05:00April 29th, 2010|Categories: Personal, Travel|

A few months ago (February 9, 2010) an interview in the Christian Century was made with a travel agent/writer who reflected upon the blessings of travel. I found a lot in his thoughtful piece that lined up with my own travel experience.

First, I love travel but I do hate airports. Go figure. I have just grown weary of these places and the hustle and bustle of the busy, security tightened, way of modern flying. Getting miles is OK but in the end I would rather go some other way. But if I am driving more than four or five hours I still prefer to fly.

Second, in the Century interview author Rick Steves said, “The less you travel, the more likely that media with a particular agenda can shape your viewpoint. Those of us who travel are a little more resilient when it comes to weathering the propaganda storms that […]

N. T. Wright: Is He Really the Most Dangerous Theologian of Our Time?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:01-05:00April 28th, 2010|Categories: Biblical Theology, Hermeneutics, Justification and the New Perspective, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, The Church, Unity of the Church|

From the first moment I heard the name of N. T. Wright, about twenty years ago I think, I was told to avoid him like the plague. Why? He was a dangerous man with a theology that would undermine the entire Protestant Reformation. Dutifully I avoided him because those I respected told me to do so. I limited my reading of Tom Wright to a few articles and to only one book about him (not by him). I was told that he embraced a position called “The New Perspective on Paul” (NPP). This position was a damaging (some say, quite literally, a damning) stance on Paul’s corpus of New Testament material because it directly attacked the most important truths of the Reformation. Thankfully a very good friend, who had taken the time to begin to read Tom Wright for himself, challenged me bluntly and forcefully to my face. In effect he told me to keep my mouth shut about Tom Wright until I had really bothered to read him for myself. In the mid-1990s I began to read Tom Wright and have appreciated […]

Global Mission Must Become Mutual Mission

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:01-05:00April 27th, 2010|Categories: Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, The Church|

My own denomination, the Reformed Church in America, produces a monthly piece on mission for member churches to use in their Sunday bulletins. The March issue of Mission Today: Reformed Church in America Global Mission, had a particularly helpful look at what drives our shared global mission as a historic American denomination.

In a world that is clearly multicultural, where we now experience unprecedented advance in communications and tremendous economic and political upheaval, all Christians and Christian institutions need to recognize the importance of both giving and receiving, of teaching and learning, of sharing and listening. Simply put, we need to be careful about being intentionally mutual in mission. Mission Today says it well: “The RCA believes in mutuality—that any relationship, if it is healthy, must benefit both parties. Each must give and each should receive.”

When a particular church focuses only on giving then it will tend towards paternalism and chauvinism. When […]

The Relational Unity of John 17:20-23

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:01-05:00April 26th, 2010|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, Unity of the Church|

Biblical students and scholars have often interpreted John 17 in ways that deny the obvious meaning of Jesus’ prayer for our unity and oneness. Did Jesus intend for us to share in the eternal unity of the Father and Son, or what we call the ontological unity of the Godhead? Yes, in a sense, but primarily the answer is no. We do share in the life of God and we have taken on the divine nature in the sense that 2 Peter 1:3-4 teaches. The ancient church called this process deification. By this the church fathers did not mean that we become God (ontologically) but rather than we become fully human as those made in the Triune image of the relational God. We become more and more like God by the Spirit’s transforming power making us more and more like Jesus.

This is the very key to John 17. Jesus is not praying that we will all join one church or that we will all agree on every point of doctrine. (There is a pattern of true faith that […]

Could the Church Be Missing Its Spiritual Blindside?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:02-05:00April 25th, 2010|Categories: American Evangelicalism, The Church|

I have quoted New York Times columnist David Brooks more than a few times on this blog site. I find Brooks to be one of the most insightful and helpful syndicated writers today. On March 29 he wrote a column titled: “The Sandra Bullock Trade.” He wrote that in the month of March two things happened to Sandra. First, she won an Academy Award for best actress in 2009 for her role in The Blind Side. Shortly after winning her award she learned that her husband was “an adulterous jerk.” Brooks asks: “Would you exchange a tremendous professional triumph for a severe personal blow?”

On the side of the Academy Award triumph Brooks notes that major research shows that those who win the award live four years longer than those who are nominated and never win. But, as Brooks notes, marital happiness is far more valuable than any recognitions or awards. You don’t even need to think about this for three seconds.

[…]

The Boys of Summer Are Back

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:02-05:00April 24th, 2010|Categories: Baseball|

Spring is finally here and baseball is back. For me the two have been synonymous for as long as I can remember. Spring begins with "Play Ball" and winter begins when the World Series is over. I know many of you think that is crazy but it is me and I love this time of the year. For almost every fan "hope springs eternal" in April. Your team is still in it and no one is buried in the pennant race yet. In fact, many teams are surprisingly good right now and some that seem to be bad this early will turn it around in the next few months.

You may wonder what makes baseball so different since you see it as a dull and slow game. I answer, "It is a thinking person's game. It is paced just right for conversation and thought. It is slow enough to allow for breaks and pauses yet each pitch has a different purpose and result." If […]