Blog - Page 236 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Secularism Needs Christianity

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:03-05:00March 21st, 2008|Categories: Culture|

Can secularism survive without Christianity? I think not. The positive values of the secular agenda, rooted in the Enlightenment, must have a moral truth basis to survive. But most public intellectuals do not understand this connection, especially since the 1960s, and thus refuse to embrace it.

In February of 2006 the secretary of the dicastery of the Vatican, Bishop Crespaldi, noted in a lecture that "[when] reason does not open itself to faith, it
[will] absolutize itself." That makes my point very well. The bishop noted in this same lecture that secularism eventually engendered the thought that politics and the state
should have nothing to do with ultimate truth, only with rational argumentation that follows correct procedure.

Ironically, by rejecting Christianity the Western state eventually rejected the kind of reason which
Christianity brought to the secular context. And by rejecting God secularism gave itself to the gods. When […]

A Great Opportunity to Understand the Missional Church Concept

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:03-05:00March 20th, 2008|Categories: Missional Church|

The Synod of Mid-America of the Reformed Church in America is hosting a great missional church seminar on April 4 and 5 in South Holland, Illinois. The president of the synod just informed me that there is room for people who are not in RCA congregations to sign up if they would like. I will attend and would love for some of you join me there. Here is the basic information:

M3: Moving from Maintenance to Mission

Key congregation leaders of the churches within the Synod of Mid-America, and others who would like to join them, are invited to attend M3: Moving from Maintenance to Mission. This event, co-sponsored by the Regional Synod and the Classis of Illiana, will be held:

Friday-Saturday, April 4-5, 2008

Calvary Community Church

16341 South Park Ave.

South Holland, IL 60473

Schedule:

Friday, April 4, 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (CST)

Fellowship evening dinner for all at 6:00 PM followed by worship, evening presentation, […]

Our Joy in Serving Christ in a Lutheran Church in Our Community

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:03-05:00March 20th, 2008|Categories: The Church|

For over eighteen months Anita and I have been associate members of Lutheran Church of the Master in Carol Stream, Illinois.
The church is an ELCA congregation. Our full-membership is in the Reformed Church but our “home” church is First Reformed Church in South Holland, which is located 54 miles from our home. Because of this unique arrangement we are attending a church two blocks from home and it has been a new experience. We have even met some of our own neighbors in the church, also a rare experience in these days of “church commuting.”

We picked this church based upon reading the pastor’s blog spot and then worshiping there during the summer of 2006. Since then our pastor has left but he remains a dear friend to me personally. We have simply worshiped at LCM
and asked God to use us […]

Matthew Armstrong and New Hope Church

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:03-05:00March 19th, 2008|Categories: Missional Church|

I mention, now and then, my family. This is a dad’s joy I guess. I spent a week in Orlando recently and shared the time with my daughter Stacy and her husband Jason. They light up my life. Jason is a master in the martial arts and one of the best teachers I have ever met. Stacy works with me and pushes me to "get it together." (Good luck girl!)
She is the person who also urged me to run/walk the 5K at Disney ten days ago. She is my PT! Below you can see us after the big race at the finish line outside of Epcot Center.

I have also written several things about my son’s new congregation in Streamwood, Illinois, on the new ACT 3 blog site at Transformissional Church. I hope you will keep going to this site and that you will also view the amazing video that I have put up […]

Obama's Speech on Race: Where Do We Go From Here?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:04-05:00March 19th, 2008|Categories: Race and Racism|

One thing is certain about Barack Obama’s speech on Monday morning about his relationship with Dr. Jeremiah Wright, his pastor for twenty years—nothing is certain!

1. We do not know the full nature of their private relationship and never will. Personally, I do not think we need to know about their friendship, in every detail. This has even been the legal position of America for many years regarding pastors and the private life of their parishioners.

2. Jeremiah Wright said some hateful and seriously wrong things. Everyone, generally speaking, agrees with this assessment unless they are radically to the Left. The question here is “context” and “hermeneutics.” What did he mean? Why did he say it? What do we make of his ministry in the larger picture of things?
After watching this story for hours now I conclude that we […]

Even Money: The Evils of Gambling Exposed in a Film Noir

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:04-05:00March 19th, 2008|Categories: Film|

Even Money is an eye-opening gritty film noir that begins with scenes featuring cops, dead bookies and family dysfunction.
To this add a top-level criminal, who speaks but who you do not see him until him in a rather stunning conclusion, and you have a pretty good film. But this is not just another film about gambling. It shows the dark consequences in a revealing light.

For the past decade or so Hollywood has made a huge success of disparate interlocking stories. Some of them work. Some don’t. Even Money is such a film. The producer puts the story into a web that eventually goes somewhere with a pretty dramatic conclusion. The cast is excellent, featuring proven stars like Danny DeVito, Kim Basinger, Kelsey Garmmer, Ray Liota, Joy Mohr, Tim Roth, Nick Cannon and Forest Whitaker. The plot is clever and the suspense is tightly structured so as to leave the viewer on the edge of their seat during the last thirty […]

Hannah Montana: Pop Culture Does Matter

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:04-05:00March 18th, 2008|Categories: Culture|

Many Christians I know, who live in the world of the intellect and academic interests as I generally do, pay little or no attention to popular culture unless they are forced to do so. I mean who really cares about Madonna or Mariah Carey, who both made the newspapers today. Well, apparently lots of people do thus we call this "pop" culture and it is big in our society. And who honestly cared about the $48.6 settlement of Paul McCartney and Heather Mills in their divorce settlement yesterday in a British court? Apparently, once again, a lot of people did. The media may create some of this pop culture but generally they respond to what people are interested in as well.

Christians who are interested in "high culture" (so-called) tend to laugh at all this. I did that for about a decade. I still have very little interest in much of it but I no longer laugh since I want to communicate with people who live in the world of pop culture. This seems to be the majority of Americans if you’ve […]

Calvin on Reconciliation

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:04-05:00March 18th, 2008|Categories: Biblical Theology|

For some reason I took my book, Calvin’s Wisdom (ed. Graham Miller) down from the shelf this morning and began reading quotations about reconciliation. I find Calvin far more interesting than Calvinists most of the time. Calvinists sometimes read him but often do not understand him.
By this approach they miss the "real Calvin" and even drive readers away from his work. Non-Calvinists, especially passionate anti-Calvinists, rarely read him and only know some of the things (e.g., predestination, etc.) he said that they profoundly disagree with. By this approach they miss the richness of the man’s great mind and strongly biblical theology. I love Calvin, do not always agree with him, but find my soul almost always fed by him.

Most of the quotes I read this morning had to do with Christ reconciling us to God the Father by his own sacrifice, surely a proper reminder in this Holy Week season. Here is one example:

"Christ propitiated God by his own […]

St. Patrick Was a Really Missional Christian

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:05-05:00March 17th, 2008|Categories: Church Tradition|

St. Patrick, whose life is celebrated this day, was a truly amazing Christian. I remember when I first heard of him as a young boy. The famous W. A. Criswell preached a sermon titled: "St. Patrick Was a Baptist Preacher." That is a stretch, to say the least, but his point was more right than wrong in so far as Patrick was a great evangelist and missionary in the mold of the Baptists. I then began to read more about him and then after reading How the Irish Saved Civilization I decided to pursue this man’s life even more. I have to say that he is one of my favorite Christians of all time. If we were to grasp the missional spirit and vision of St. Patrick we might actually make a major impact on the West.

Here is a great prayer of St. Patrick’s to help you celebrate this very special day in Church history:

St. Patrick’s Prayer

[…]

Black Theology and Black Churches

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:05-05:00March 17th, 2008|Categories: Race and Racism|

The heart of my post re: Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright was not about politics. It was about race and how we perceive race in the American Church. Because I believe we must learn to listen to voices that we do not normally hear well I suggested that we try to hear this story in a less condemning way than we are prone to hear it as white Christians.

In today’s issue of the Wall Street Journal there is a fine article titled: "Blunt Sermons Rooted in Black Tradition." The new pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, Rev. Otis Moss III, the son of civil rights leaders, preached a sermon yesterday titled: "Why the Black Church Won’t Shut Up." He described how Jesus led the poor to Jerusalem, likening their plight to that of blacks under Jim Crow laws and the slaves who were shipped from Africa. Said Rev. Moss, "I’m sorry we’re a noisy bunch but if I shut up, […]