Blog - Page 238 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Radical Freedom, Infectious Joy and Surprising Faithfulness

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:10-05:00March 10th, 2008|Categories: The Christian Minister/Ministry|

Tomorrow I get to spend about five hours or so with my friend Steve Brown.
Many of you know Steve, either from one of his books or from his Key Life radio ministry. Perhaps you’ve heard him interview me on one of his Steve Brown, Etc. programs on the ACT 3 Web site. However you’ve met Steve you either like him or despise him. The reaction is hardly ever neutral. Steve touches people’s buttons pretty directly.

When I first heard Steve Brown, at a Ligonier Conference some years ago, I thought he was a rank antinomian the way he spoke about radical freedom and grace. I remember writing on an evaluation form and suggesting he not be invited back! So much for first impressions.

Later I heard Steve again, in a different context, and his message connected powerfully. This only happened when I hit a wall in my life and was knocked off my high horse of performance and brought down […]

Some Ruminations from Sunny Florida

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:12-05:00March 9th, 2008|Categories: Personal|

I previously mentioned my plans to spend some days in sunny Florida for vacation and baseball. The whole experience has been a wonderful time. I have seen four baseball games with my daughter. I also ran/walked a 5K Disney race yesterday. Actually, fast walking with a little jogging would be the right term to use for what I did. It was my first competitive race of this sort, even though I once ran distance in my 20s and 30s for fun. My goal was 45 minutes for the 3.1 miles. (I am slow!) I did it in 41.20, which rather amazed me. There were about a 1,500 plus or so runners and walkers. It was for the Kidney Foundation charity. There was something about that early morning experience that I am still pondering even tonight as I rest in my room. I am quite sure I will do this again though I have no plans to become a serious competitive runner. I am too old and there is not enough time to devote to it. My goal is to improve fitness, period. But the […]

The Libertarian Movement: What Most Christians Do Not Understand

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:12-05:00March 4th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

Libertarianism got some serious press time over the past few
months because of the campaign of Congressman Ron Paul. I personally found many
of my Christian friends were energized by Ron Paul’s message. I also found that few of
these same people understood a great deal about libertarian philosophy. They liked
Ron Paul’s views of money and the gold standard and they liked a great
deal of his commonsense approach to personal freedoms and liberty in general. He sounded reasonable,
even Christian to many of these good folks.

So, what really is libertarianism? It has two distinct historical phases in
American thought. The first phase arose in a radical nineteenth century version that was strongly opposed to Marx. It actually fostered varieties of "individualistic anarchism." In American it spread through the writing and work of Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) who argued for the substantial unconstitutionality of most American law. […]

A Nostalgic Look Back

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:12-05:00March 3rd, 2008|Categories: Personal|

My son and daughter-in-law gave me a wonderful birthday card this weekend. It is one of these booklets that gives a "Remember When . . . 1949." I had fun looking over it for a day or two and then wavered from feeling very old to being truly nostalgic. The booklet begins by saying "The richness of life lies in the memories we have forgotten." I’m not so sure. Some things should be forgotten.

In my birth month the first automatic street lights were used in New Milford, CT. The first Polaroid camera was sold in 1949 for $89.95, a very high price at the time. And the first practical rectangular television tube was announced in Toledo, OH. RCA released its first 45 rpm single record that year and developed a system for color television, which didn’t become feasible until about a decade later. Rock music, as such, was still a few years away.

In world news the Soviet Union […]

The Other Boleyn Girl

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:12-05:00March 2nd, 2008|Categories: Film|

There have been a number of movies made over the decades about King Henry VIII and his several wives. The story is well-known to most of us. This is the story which provides the context for The Other Boleyn Girl, a newly released film which is an adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s best-selling 2002 novel. Starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana the film works as both a romance and a study of how power corrupts people and families. It also provides an unusual opportunity for these two young starlets to show a certain skill in an entirely different movie genre.

The film views its familiar slice of 16th-century history through the eyes of two Boleyn sisters: Anne (Natalie Portman) and Mary (Scarlett Johansson). I was told by a reader of the novel on leaving the theater that the film did not allow for the detail and development of the characters seen in the novel but then this is common when such […]

Prisons, Crime and American Society

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:12-05:00March 1st, 2008|Categories: Culture|

The number of adults imprisoned in the United States reached an all-time high according to a new report released late this week. With this report came a great deal of discussion about this problem.

There are 1.5 million people in U.S. prisons, nearly 1% of the adult population. The Pew Center reports that this has also led to even higher costs to the taxpayers in the U.S. Last year the fifty states spent $49 billion on corrections. (The federal government spent $1 billion on prisons.) This rate has been growing at 6% annually for twenty years. Over the same period of time real spending on prisons has risen 127% compared to 21% on higher education, to use but one contrast. The Pew Center report suggests that for all this money there hasn’t been a "convincing return for public safety."

The issue is indeed complex. I have spent some time inside prisons teaching and preaching. I have also studied the prison system, and its numerous problems, with some degree of interest. There is a lot about our system to not like. […]

Be Sure to Check Out My Newest Missional Blog

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:12-05:00February 29th, 2008|Categories: Missional Church|

As regular readers know I began a second blog spot a little less than a month ago. It is found at Transformissional Church on the Web.
This site is totally dedicated to writing and resources about missional theology and church themes. A great new resource is recommended, for example, on today’s blog (February 29). Be sure to check this site out and bookmark it.
I write less frequently on this new site but I try to put something new up at least three or four times a week. It will have a number of valuable resources, especially for pastors and church leaders who want to better understand the missional mandate and what those of us who use this term "missional" mean by this seemingly new word.

Angelina Jolie the Humanitarian

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:12-05:00February 29th, 2008|Categories: Uncategorized|

Hollywood personalities are know for promoting all kinds of causes, especially those that are often provocative and sensational. Sometimes, however, a person from Hollywood will surprise you. Such is the case with Angelina Jolie, the famous and hugely gifted actress.

Yesterday Jolie said that the reinforcement of troops in Iraq has created an opportunity for humanitarian programs to increase assistance for Iraqi refugees. In an op-ed in the Washington Post, titled "A Reason to Stay in Iraq," Jolie detailed the plight of refugees there and says that their conditions have improved since she last visited Iraq in August of 2007. Her first visit was meant to encourage governments to provide more support for the needs of suffering people.

Jolie has served as as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations since 2001. She was back in Baghdad earlier this month to once again underscore the refugee issue.

On this recent visit Jolie had the courage to actually talk with […]

Canvas

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:12-05:00February 28th, 2008|Categories: Film|

Mental illness is rarely portrayed in film and when it is the subject is even more rarely done really well. One of the first films to deal with the subject directly was One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Then the best big time film on the subject won the Academy Award for best film: A Beautiful Mind. With a star like Russell Crowe it was clearly destined to be a great movie.

The first film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, was brave and good, at least for the time. The second was unique and had powerful acting to boot. It was, simply put, memorable. I own it and will go back to it now and then just because it is such a great movie, period

So, I was not prepared for the 2007 award-winning movie Canvas to be such a good film when I borrowed it this week. It is a heart-warming story rooted in real facts, not fiction. The […]

Did Obama and the UCC Violate IRS Regulations on Non-Profits?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:13-05:00February 27th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

The IRS is investigating the United Church of Christ over a speech Barack Obama gave to its national meeting last year after he became a candidate for president. Obama is a member of Trinity United Church of Christ (UCC) in Chicago. AP reports that a spokesman for the denomination says it received notice of the inquiry on Monday.

The IRS says there is reason to believe the speech violated restrictions on political activity for nonprofit groups. The denomination denies any wrongdoing.
UCC officials say they had consulted with lawyers before the Barack Obama’s June 2007 speech and made clear before Obama’s address that he was speaking as a church member, not as a political candidate.

I seem to recall this speech well and do not think it was a partisan political speech. I confess I am suspicious that this would become an issue at this precise moment (February 25) but then I do not know what is in the mind of […]