Blog - Page 175 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Gay Marriage and Gay Divorce

By John Armstrong|2009-10-21T05:00:00-05:00October 21st, 2009|Categories: Homosexuality|

If you oppose gay marriage should you also oppose gay divorce? This is the very real dilemma faced by conservatives in Texas. A recent court ruling in Texas would allow a couple legally wed in Massachusetts to divorce in Texas but some are opposing this ruling.

This story began in 2006 when two men were married in Massachusetts and then moved to Texas. Now they want a divorce. In January the couple reached an agreement re: property and the dissolution of their legal marriage. But when they went to court to formalize their decision the Attorney General of Texas sought to stop the divorce. His argument? Same sex marriage was not allowed by a constitutional amendment in Texas so same-sex divorce could not be legal in Texas. A judge saw it differently and granted them a divorce. She argued that the state's law violated the federal right to equal protection under the law. The Attorney General then appealed the case to "defend traditional marriage." A gay spokesman said, "the irony is that the anti-gay forces are so opposed to gay relationships that […]

China: The People's Republic of Capitalism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:43-05:00October 20th, 2009|Categories: Current Affairs|

China is a vast land with the world’s largest population. It is also has the fastest growing economy in the world. Year-by-year China is being pulled out of poverty and crumbling cities into a Western way of life rooted in the forces of the free market.

This story is wonderfully told by Ted Koppel in the new two-disc three hour series: “The People’s Republic of Capitalism” (Athena Learning Company, 2009). No program I’ve seen does a better job exposing Western viewers to the amazing story that is modern China.

Part one of this DVD series shows how America and China are now joined at the hip economically. The Chinese economy relies on the U.S. capital for investment in technology and on U. S. customers (through retailers like Wal Mart) for a ready market for their cheaper goods. The search for cheaper labor has led Western companies to go to China. Chine has a growing middle and […]

Can a Married Man Have an Emotional Bond with a Woman Who is Not His Wife?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:43-05:00October 19th, 2009|Categories: Marriage & Family|

As I read the tragic news about Governor Mark Sanford’s disappearance to Argentina a few months ago, for what we now know was the pursuit of a sexual relationship with another woman, I was forced to ask again a question that has troubled me for many years. (By the way, Sanford is under perpetual fire to resign as governor but remains in office. Personally I wish he would resign since he was such an outspoken critic of Bill Clinton and, more importantly, his effectiveness as governor has been under severe fire from the day his adultery was revealed in June.)

My question is really quite simple: Can a married man have a deeply personal relationship with another woman?

Let me begin by saying there is no obvious biblical answer to this question. If this were so clear we would not need to think about it all that much. I have seen some very good arguments made on both sides of this debate. But I am more convinced than ever, after reading the Mark Sanford story, that […]

Living with Chronic Fatigue

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:43-05:00October 18th, 2009|Categories: Personal|

Many of my friends know that I have battled with a strange illness called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) for about thirteen years. This illness seems to work on the auto-immune function of the body in a way that results in a cluster of symptoms that commonly fall under the title of fatigue because of the overwhelming fatigue that is common with the condition. No matter how much I rest I am "very tired" 24/7. The CDC says that symptoms can be as disabling as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. And there is no known cure. (Suggestions of cures are really not helpful to me. I study CFS, get treatment from a very knowledgeable physician and do what I can to deal with the illness properly.)

There are a lot of ways to treat the illness but the only ones that routinely seem to help at all involve various types of cognitive behavioral therapy. Some of these claim to provide a cure but none have been proven under serious testing to be widely effective in a way that has been accepted in […]

What Does It Mean to Vacate Victories?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:44-05:00October 17th, 2009|Categories: College Football|

For the really serious college football fan summer is only a time that provides a calm period before the real fun begins again. We feed ourselves clips from season’s past and read blogs and posts about our favorite team. I get several posts a day from sources related to the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team. I couldn't wait for the season to begin on September 5 with the greatest early match-up of them—two top ten teams: Alabama vs. Virginia Tech in the Georgia Dome. (I wrote about the game in a blog on September 5.) The place was filled with incredible energy. I had to settle for the television that evening but it was fun and I've even watched the game again on my DVR.

Some of my friends have taken note of the recent NCAA ruling against Alabama athletics (in general) for violation of a textbook policy. In short, scholarship athletes were getting text books that they should not […]

Seducing Your Audience

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:44-05:00October 16th, 2009|Categories: Culture|

Today's blog is a guest article by my good friend Dr. Monte E. Wilson. Monte directs a children's charity that serves in Africa. His point in this blog may put you off, at least at first, but read it all the way to the end if you want to grasp what he is really saying and why it matters.

Seducing Your Audience

Monte E. Wilson

Recently, while speaking at a conference in South Africa, I went down to the local strip-mall. (Think twenty picnic-tables filled with trinkets and clothes manned by a host of Africans screaming to get your attention.) Seeing a really cool carving, I walked over, picked it up and was immediately told how many SA Rand this work of art would cost.

“What is the significance of the three women?”

“What do you mean?”

“Who are they?”

“Three African […]

Naming God: Does It Matter What We Call Him?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:44-05:00October 15th, 2009|Categories: The Trinity|

Naming God is an extremely important matter that too few of us take as seriously as we should. This issue gets pushed forward now and then when various progressive readings of Scripture are promoted in the church. Sometimes these progressive tendencies come from radical feminism. Sometimes they just come from careless non-Trinitarian concepts of God.

In February of 2008 the Vatican issued an eighty word document that produced the following newspaper headline: “Vatican Says Baptisms Using Wrong Words Are Not Valid, Must Be Redone.” The document said, “Anyone baptized in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier” or in the name of “the Creator, the Liberator and the Sustainer” didn’t really get baptized with Christian baptism. I happen to agree with this statement of the Vatican and I think many conservative evangelicals would be puzzled by such agreement.

Following the Vatican’s statement in May of 2008 Christianity Today reported that a Methodist minister “howled about the Vatican’s liturgical fundamentalism that values human language over […]

Children of Heaven: A Wonderful Children's Story

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:44-05:00October 14th, 2009|Categories: Film|

Rarely do movies touch my heart. At the best they produce emotions for a few moments but not of the variety that inspires and teaches in any lasting way. Such was not the case when I discovered the 1997 movie, Children of Heaven. I was not quite ready for the beauty and humaneness of such a children’s film. I guess I should know better by now. A children's movie can, and often does, tell a very adult story in a humble way. Roger Ebert says that this film is “a nearly perfect movie for children, and of course that means adults will like it too.” He is right on. Amazingly Children of Heaven accomplishes this with only two major characters, both Iranian children!

The writer and producer of Children of Heaven is Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi. Majidi began acting at the age of twelve. He enjoyed theater and later was afforded the opportunity to direct films. Children of Heaven prompts me to see […]

The NIV/TNIV: The Controversy That Keeps on Ticking

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:44-05:00October 13th, 2009|Categories: American Evangelicalism|

Yesterday, I looked at the announcement that a new NIV (2011) translation of the Bible will be published in two years. I looked at the background to this controversy and considered why this debate arose. Today we look more directly at the translation project itself.

Doug Moo (photo left), a frontline New Testament scholar and solid translator, is chairman of the Committee on Bible Translation that will work on the NIV (2011). Doug admits that the committee has not yet decided on how much of the gender-inclusive language will be included in the new NIV (2011). Since this is what primarily prompted the immense criticism of the TNIV in 2002 I wonder what this really means. He rightly admits that what the committee did then was right. He also says everything is back on the table. He even says, “[Members of the committee] feel much more comfortable about the TNIV” than the NIVi, which was its controversial British forerunner.
[…]

Baseball: And Then There Were Four

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:44-05:00October 12th, 2009|Categories: Baseball|

Now we know the four teams that will vie for the pennant in their respective leagues. I have said that the Dodgers would win the National League since early in the season. I stand by that prediction more than ever. In seven games their pitching, overall, will beat the Phils. The wild card here is pitcher Cliff Lee, who is dominating at this stage in the season. The Dodgers in seven.

In the American League my heart wants to say the Angels will make it an all-So Cal series but I think the Yankees are just too loaded to lose this year. Yankees in six with the Angels giving them a good run for their money.

If this happens you will have a classic Dodgers vs. Yankees series. That brings back some great history for fans like me who love the game and its long history. LA vs. NY. The two largest cities in America. The network television folks will love […]