Blog - Page 201 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Baseball's Drug Culture

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:51-05:00February 17th, 2009|Categories: Baseball|

Readers know that I love baseball. They also know that the drug scandals pain me deeply because my love for this game extends to real people both in and out of this truly American sport. I am reminded of a quote that I have made before, given to me by a former major league pitcher who is an earnest Christian: "The culture of major league baseball is no different than that in the wider culture. It is simply a culture that is under a much larger microscope." I still agree with this comment. There are many players who have never used drugs and there are some who have. There are Christians, and non-Christians, in baseball. And there are great guys and bad guys, scattered throughout this entire sport.

Was I shocked by the revelation that Alex Rodriguez used steroids in 2003? No, not really. Little of this kind of information shocks me. If it was John Smoltz or Matt Diaz, two of my […]

Will the Stimulus Bill Save Real Jobs?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:51-05:00February 16th, 2009|Categories: Economy/Economics|

As President Obama touts his financial stimulus plan, and lawmakers almost completely follow party lines on approval, what are we, ordinary economically challenged Americans, to make of all this? One thing is for sure, we have our own views, and some of them are very passionately held from what I read and hear. But most of us are not qualified economists. We instinctively realize that something could be worse than nothing, though the mood seems to clearly be that the government must do something. The polls are all over the place, suggesting deep suspicion about this plan. I would remind you that something like this was promised by candidate Obama and the country then elected him based as much on these plans to save the economy as for any other reason. Now that a majority seem to question his plan this underscores again how fast one's political popularity can shift even if the president is wildly popular on inauguration day. Time will tell, like it does in every political decision that a president makes, […]

Michael Moore Hates America

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:51-05:00February 15th, 2009|Categories: Culture|

Michael Wilson is a not-so-famous filmmaker who decided to produce a documentary on the very famous filmmaker Michael Moore. He followed the approach that Moore himself took in Roger & Me, a film in which Moore tried in vain to get an interview with multimillionaire General Motors CEO Roger Smith. Moore made this pursuit in order to demonize both the man and his money. By this method he turned his strange critique into a new, and highly-praised, art form. From there Michael Moore went on to win an Oscar for another documentary, wrote several best-selling books and in general made millions while appearing to be the friend of the downtrodden. What I seriously question, and this film made very clear to me, is whether or not you can honestly call Moore's films documentaries.

My view is rather simple—a really good documentary tries to provide ways to see the complexity of an issue by telling the viewer […]

A Truly Great Bookstore

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:52-05:00February 14th, 2009|Categories: Books|

There are a lot of Christian bookstores that do wonderful service. Many are going out of business because of the success of Barnes & Nobles and Borders. And online amazon.com and similar sites make it hard for a book business to make ends meet these days. Most retail stores only stay open because of the sale of products other than books. In fact, even the big book stores make more profit on items other than books. On top of this major publishing companies struggle as well. Both the economy and the availability of digital books, Kindle books and audio books have all changed the market dramatically. It is a challenging time to publish and to sell books, especially solid, orthodox Christian books.

Knowing several local publishers has always given me a clear view of the business side of this but being an author makes it even more personal to me. I have worked with five publishers over the last fifteen years. Each has […]

The Vatican and the Anniversary of Charles Darwin

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:52-05:00February 13th, 2009|Categories: Science|

For well over a hundred-and-fifty years faith and science have been locked in a struggle that has often been seen as battle to the death by both sides. Those who believe Darwin's theory of evolution proves that Christian faith is dead, thus naturalism reigns supreme in place of faith in the modern world, have miscalculated both the nature and power of Christian faith. And earnest Christians who think that no Darwinist can truly be a faithful Christian are either willfully misled or simply out of touch with the incredible faith contributions of men like Francis Collins, the head of the human genome project. Collins, for those who do not know, is both an ardent Christian and an Darwinian evolutionist.

On both sides of this heated debate are advocates who refuse simply to see the merits and insights of their opponents. The evolutionists often see faith as naive and mindless.
They see the […]

The Challenge of Pluralism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:52-05:00February 12th, 2009|Categories: Apologetics|

I wrote yesterday about the challenges being faced by the Episcopal Church (ECUSA). The question behind the question that I raised is the issue of pluralism. How dangerous is pluralism? For that matter, what is pluralism and why should serious Christians really care about this question?

Let's begin with the fact that not everyone practices the same religion. If this were not so we wouldn't need to consider the question of pluralism or Christian apologetics. Increasingly tolerance is being defined in various pluralistic ways, ways that present serious challenges to orthodox Christians and Christianity. But few bother to define what is actually meant by pluralism before they begin to throw the term around very widely. Some conservative writers have referred to me as a pluralist in spite of the fact that I affirm the creeds and councils of the Church and embrace the faith of a historic Protestant denomination. This gross misuse of the term has pushed me to come to terms with the several ways that this term is used, […]

When Is a Church No Longer a Church?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:52-05:00February 11th, 2009|Categories: The Church|

An Episcopal priest, who received a Buddhist lay ordination, has been nominated for the position of bishop in the Diocese of Northern Michigan. The Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, who has served in the Northern Michigan diocese since 2001, is the only nominee for the vacant position. Forrester currently serves as rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Marquette, and is currently the diocese’s ministry development coordinator, This position puts him in line for a denominational promotion the way these things generally go. His election as the new bishop is scheduled for a special convention to be held on February 21 in Escanaba, Michigan.

If elected, Forrester will still have to obtain consent from a majority of dioceses in the Episcopal Church, USA. This denominational approval is generally “a rubber-stamp procedure” noted Jim Tonkowich, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD). IRD, which I have the privilege […]

Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:52-05:00February 10th, 2009|Categories: Science|

No subject stirs up more fear and opposition among a lot of conservative and fundamentalist Christians than science and faith. And nothing stirred up passions, at least in recent years, quite like the famous Dover (PA) court case regarding the school board's mandate to teach Intelligent Design (ID) alongside of evolution. In 2004 the school board ordered teachers of science to read a statement to their high school biology students about an ID alternative to Darwin's theory of evolution.

For those who do not know the term Intelligent Design (ID) is the argument that life is too complex to have evolved naturally and thus there must be an intelligent agent behind the forces of nature. In Dover a textbook was donated to the school district, a book that taught ID. This prompted the teachers to sue the school board. The town was deeply and bitterly divided and the rage and emotional tempest reached a boiling point that finally impacted people and […]

What Keeps Me Going Every Day

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:52-05:00February 9th, 2009|Categories: Spirituality|

Biblical scholars all agree that the theme of Paul's letter to the Philippians is joy. The letter speaks of joy over and over and thus has encouraged many a Christian down through the ages to rejoice in Christ their Lord. I thought about this joy again as I read Philippians lat weekend.

What keeps the Christian going day-in and day-out? When your days are filled with sadness and grief, what sustains you? The answer may surprise you but it is plainly joy. Finding this real joy is not a cliche nor is it a simple thing. Only those who know Jesus deeply and personally know this kind of joy. Heartfelt joy, the true gift of God, comes to those who seek and know Jesus as the living center of their life. This is why Paul can say that whether he lives, or dies, he can face today and tomorrow, because he has joy.

There is a great deal […]

Which is Needed to Check Anger: Humility or Meekness?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:52-05:00February 8th, 2009|Categories: Spirituality|

Yesterday I wrote about the call of Jesus to take upon ourselves his "yoke." This yoke is described as gentleness and humility (Matthew 11:29). Eugene Peterson's The Message, not a translation but more of a flowing free thought commentary paraphrase, provides this helpful rendereing of this text:

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned our on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.

I am "burned out on religion." Maybe you are as well. What I need is more of Jesus, his gentleness and true humility of heart. I need someone who is imperturbable, a person who can teach me how to become the same over the long […]