Blog - Page 225 of 318 - John H Armstrong

My Summer Writing Work

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:45-05:00July 9th, 2008|Categories: Personal|

Many of you know that I am presently writing a major book with the working title: Your Church is Too Small. The book seeks to address what I will call missional-ecumenism. It will tell the story of my own journey to this perspective as well as show why I think God is working around the world to bring Christians back to the prayer of Jesus in John 17:20-24. The book will be theological, but hopefully written in a simple form. (This does not mean it will be simplistic at all.)

I also wrote a series of articles on the Trinity that are coming out as ACT 3 Weekly articles this summer. I encourage you to sign up on the ACT 3 Web site.
These articles could become a primer on the Trinity in due time. Your feedback would be helpful as well.

I hope to complete this work on missional-ecumenism by September. I am writing on it almost every day. […]

Can the Abortion Struggle Be Presented Fairly?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:45-05:00July 8th, 2008|Categories: Abortion|

I was energized about the abortion issue in the year that I received my master’s degree, 1973. Students of the issue will recall that it was in January of that year that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of legal abortion in the infamous Roe v. Wade case. The speaker at my commencement was Dr. C. Everett Koop. He told us that we were becoming the first generation to live in the "brave new world" which would likely bring about major ethical and moral challenges that were unknown to our parents. How right he was. And he got my attention and it has remained ever since.

This is why I picked up the film documentary, Unborn in the USA: Inside the War on Abortion (2007), at my library and watched it last week. It was touted as objective and "eye-opening." Salon.com said, "The abortion movie everyone should see. Fascinating!" I have never seen an objective film documentary on this subject. I now […]

Does Political Partisanship Help or Hurt the Mission of the Church, Part 2?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:45-05:00July 7th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

I began, last week, an article on the meaning of political partisanship and asked how this has impacted the church in America and its mission to make disciples and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the nations. I continue with further thoughts in this second part of that blog.

Partisanship is necessary to party politics, especially two-party politics as we know it. Each party plays an adversarial role so that no single group can control our government without being challenged.
This is intended to make government more accountable. Partisanship, by nature, favors one way of thinking over another. If you are deeply partisan then you work to see your party succeed, certainly at the expense of the success of the other party and sometimes at the expense of the nation’s good.

William Safire has shown that partisan political activity plainly has […]

Polling: What Next?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:46-05:00July 6th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

I was enjoying my breakfast and then came across this story. "Public cool to Michelle, doesn’t know Cindy." What next? A poll on their children?

While 30% have a favorable view of Michelle Obama only 27% have a favorable view of Cindy McCain. But Obama gets a 35% unfavorable response and McCain only a 17% unfavorable rating. Those are very high numbers for Michelle Obama. I have to believe her comments about being "proud of her country" for the first time did not help her at all. The poll also indicates, sadly to me at least, that race clearly plays some part in this perception. After all, she is a highly education, very successful, black woman! Sadly, many will despise her for this if for no other reason.

But I have to ask, "So what?" This is what disgusts me about our present political polling and our intense fascination with personalities and images. Is this the "Oprahfication" of politics or what? What happens when this kind of data seems to really matter? I am more nervous about this type of interest […]

War, Patriotism and Becoming a Man

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:46-05:00July 5th, 2008|Categories: Film|

My Boy Jack: A Young Man Fights for His Country
BBC Video (2008)
DVD, 120 minutes

This film is the result of a stage play which finally made it to the screen. It was shown as a part of Masterpiece Theater on television. Though it did not play in American theaters do not let that fool you about the value of this excellent film. It includes some wonderful star power and is, quite simply, a superb movie. Jack, who was the young son of the famous author Rudyard Kipling, entered the British army before he turned 18 and this in spite of his nearsightedness. His physical condition should have kept him in a clerical job and spared him from the front lines of a brutal war where people died in massive numbers for over four years. Think about this simple fact: On a given day as many as 20,000 British soldiers died on the front lines of World War I. In […]

I Am a Patriot, Not a Nationalist

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:46-05:00July 4th, 2008|Categories: America and Americanism|

Today we celebrate the birth of the freest and most amazing country on the planet. I know, such words offend some people. They see all of America’s flaws, and there are many to see. I talk about a lot of them on this blog spot. But still I defy you to name a better and freer and place to live and to experience “liberty and justice for all.” Here we can at least pursue, in the right way, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Yes, some do not get the justice they should but the ideal remains and the willingness to better ourselves is inherent in our way of life. And nowhere else can you find such an opportunity to better yourself and thus to improve your lot in life in every way. Again, I know there are serious exceptions but utopia doesn’t exist, here or anywhere else, and never will.

I am a critical realist about many things. This includes […]

Popular Culture and Modern Reality

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:46-05:00July 3rd, 2008|Categories: Culture|

It is an observation many have made, and some social critics rather profoundly, but one not acknowledged as widely it should be. Popular culture very often trumps common sense and clear thinking in modern America. We cannot sustain serious thoughts for more than a few seconds so we are very impressed by what we see. The ubiquitous visual imagery of our culture impacts us daily. Conservatives like to blame the media in America for everything that is bad. And there is plenty to blame. But how about putting the blame squarely on ourselves, on the public?

Dennis Haysbert is very likely a name that you do not recognize. He is an African-American television actor who presently stars on “The Unit” on CBS. Haysbert was first known through a series of commercials that he did for Allstate. He then came to real television fame in his role with Fox as President David Palmer on the hit series “24.” I love “24,” as many of […]

Last Chance to Vote

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:46-05:00July 2nd, 2008|Categories: Baseball|

Major League baseball conducts a huge popularity fan poll to pick the starters for the All-Star game in two weeks. I think it is a joke. The manages, coaches and player should pick the "real" All-Stars. Now they have used the Internet to get fans to vote. The polling ends at 11:59 p.m. tonight. The rules that govern this process are really silly but I took part anyway. You can vote 25 times on a given day. I voted 25 times last week and then again 25 times tonight. What difference does it make? None, I am sure. But it did make me feel better to vote for no Cubs at all! They will get enough ballots from their over zealous fans anyway. For a time several Cubs were leading the voting who had no business at all being first at their given position. The only Cubs every day player who is a real All-Star is Derrick Lee. You cannot pick Aramis Ramirez at […]

We Shall Not Be Moved

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:46-05:00July 2nd, 2008|Categories: Race and Racism|

Far too few people realize that the Civil Rights Movement would never have happened without the African-American Church. This was a deeply spiritual movement, bathed in prayer and preaching, like so many profound social movements in America’s history. This film sets out to show how this really happened. Narrated by Ossie Davis it proves to be a great introduction to a theme that I fear is almost lost to modern Christians.

The Civil Rights Movement has been examined from many different angles but this is the first attempt to connect it directly to the Church. What role did churches really have in the rise and history of this movement and why was this so important in the long run? Why were ministers so central to this effort and how did they give it strength without becoming political partisans, at least in terms of the kind of politics that are normally associated with such social change today?

The principal participants in […]

My Annual President's Report for 2008

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:46-05:00July 1st, 2008|Categories: ACT 3|

Each year I send a President’s Annual Report to donors and friends of ACT 3. This year I chose to make this report an audio presentation instead of a written one. This audio file was sent to donors last week on a CD. (If you would like a CD simply let me know by sending an email via the ACT 3 Web site.) I sincerely hope that many of you who take time to read these blogs will take the time now to listen to this very special report. You will understand much better the vision and unique mission of ACT 3 by hearing this candid presentation right from my heart.

The President’s Report can be accessed by this link to our Web site. You will get a dialog box when you go to this link asking you to launch an external application. It will harm nothing in your system to say "yes" and then the audio will launch within […]