Blog - Page 96 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:05-05:00December 7th, 2011|Categories: Mysticism, Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Spirituality|

Before I found the book, Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer, I confess that I had never heard of Catherine Doherty. She was a remarkable lady who sought to translate Eastern Christian insights (sometimes called “desert spirituality”) into the context of Western life. More than a half century ago Catherine arrived in Canada as a Russian refugee. She used her background in Russian Christianity to give her a matrix for responding to the needs of Christian life and work in the busy, modern West. Catherine became “poor to serve with the poor Christ” among the poorest people in Toronto and Harlem. But the work that led to my finding her moving book was the establishment of a spiritual lay center, the Madonna House Apostolate, in rural Ontario.

The title of this book bears the Russian word for “desert.” At the center of Catherine’s lifelong journey was her experience of the desert. She writes, in the opening chapter, “For the mystery of men in the midst of […]

The Unity Factor: One Lord, One Church, One Mission

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:05-05:00December 6th, 2011|Categories: ACT 3, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal, Unity of the Church|

Some months ago my board asked me to prayerfully consider writing a new, small book on missiona-ecumenism. I finally finished this in the fall and today the book is available for purchase.

I determined to not write the same book as Your Church Is To Small by simply making a short version. I wrote an entirely new book on the same subject but with a different audience and purpose in mind.

If you would like copies of the book for distribution we can offer you a very inexpensive price if you will use them to reach others with this message.

For the next six days the book is available as an E-Book for free. Check this out at: https://www.facebook.com/clpress?sk=app_201143516562748. If you want to read it get it now as a free download.

Your response will help us get this vital message to a growing number of Christians who need […]

Climate Science and Evangelicals

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:05-05:00December 5th, 2011|Categories: Current Affairs, Environmentalism, Politics, Science|

One of the true hot-button issues conservatives routinely debate is climate science and global warming. I have listened to some of the strangest and most confusing debate over this issue. Some of the worst debate over this issue is routinely endorsed by evangelical Christians who laugh at climate science and demonize those who take it seriously. Some even produce impressive looking papers on what is wrong in the ciimate science debate. Much of this makes Christians look rather foolish to those who do rigid research on this problem.

What must be understood in this debate is that there is no doubt that global warming actually exists. The question is not, “Is global warming real?” The question is what causes it and what can, or should, we do about it?

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry recently suggested that the flow of grants has led to a growing body of research arguing for human causes of global warming. In the September 26 issue of USA Today, Republican Bob Inglis, a two-time member of […]

Why We Still Need Career Politicians

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:06-05:00December 2nd, 2011|Categories: Politics|

In every election cycle we hear a great outcry about why we don’t need politicians who make a career out of serving the public in elected office. If you’ve heard it once you’ve heard it a hundred times: “I think the answer to our problem is to remove the incumbents and start all over.” We go through this again and again, yet the fact is this—most of the current members of the U.S. House of Representatives are career politicians. The same holds true for at least half or more of the Senate. And most presidents serve two terms unless they are truly ineffective or reap the whirlwind of a reaction against their one term in office.

The recent passing of Senator Mark Hatfield reminded me of the value of a genuinely good and decent career politician who had courage and served his state and the nation well. Though Hatfield was often on the wrong side of issues within his own party he expressed moral fortitude in many ways.

While […]

Marriage Is Difficult

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:06-05:00December 1st, 2011|Categories: Love, Marriage & Family|

I rarely pay attention to celebrity gossip and the daily news about Hollywood marriages and divorce. The media seems interested and based on the interest of a good number of people it seems warranted by our culture’s preoccupation with the private lives of the rich and famous.

This is why I was so surprised that I ended up reading the story of the divorce of Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore. I would hardly have known they were married in the first place if so much attention had not be given to Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, her previous husband. Moore, for the record, is 49 years old while Ashton Kutcher is only 33. I suppose this in itself caught the attention of many when they married. This really was an older woman-younger man marriage. Would it work? How does it work? Curiosity about the bizarre and unusual reigns in pop culture.

Well, now that this famous couple is breaking up who actually cares? I don’t care I can assure […]

Africa and the Free Market

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:06-05:00November 30th, 2011|Categories: Economy/Economics, Poverty|

I’ve engaged more than a few Christians in public forums on the problem of poverty in Africa. No continent has more problems with true poverty and caring for the desperately poor than Africa. It has, up to now, resisted almost every effort to change this situation. But the times are changing, slowly but surely.

A new report from the African Development Bank says that Africa’s middle class will triple to more than one billion people in the next half century. This will not close the huge gap between Africa and Asia but it will bring good news for huge numbers of Africans who presently face a very grim future.

This same report provides a bright outlook on African growth—it predicts the gross national product of Africa will expand by more than 5% per year.

Understand that Africa has never experienced such economic optimism. It has been no more than an afterthought in the global economy until recently. This is now clearly, slowly changing. If the leaders of African nations, and […]

The Dangerous Poison of Sectarianism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:06-05:00November 28th, 2011|Categories: Missional-Ecumenism, Unity of the Church|

In my book, Your Church Is Too Small, I argue that sectarianism is almost always found where disunity abounds among Christians. This is not a novel argument but one that Christians in general, and conservative Christians in particular, do not see clearly enough. We are far more sectarian than we generally think when we consider our own views and actions.

The word sectarianism comes from the Latin word secta, which means a faction or party. It comes from the word sequi, which meant “to follow.” Generally sectarians follow a sect leader, or leaders, of some type. The word sect generally referred, in church history, to a group that broke away from a larger group, often in protest over distinct views. If used this broadly the term can refer to almost any religious disagreement. In this absolute sense the earliest Christians were a sect of the Jews.

As I use the term sectarianism it more generally refers to a doctrinaire commitment to one’s own version or views about the […]

A New Form of Excommunication

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:06-05:00November 23rd, 2011|Categories: Current Affairs, Homosexuality, The Church, Unity of the Church|

The Episcopal Church in the U.S. has been embroiled in deep controversy for many years. It reached the breaking point for thousands of devout Anglicans in 2003 when an openly partnered gay bishop, Gene Robinson (born 1947), was consecrated as Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire. Robinson is widely known for being the first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be ordained as a bishop in a major Christian denomination that believes in the historic episcopate. Now, eight years later, the church is even more deeply split.

Even before the consecration of Bishop Robinson numbers of Episcopalians had begun to leave, forming several different Anglican church communions. Most of these early churches and priests submitted to the oversight of African Anglican bishops. I have several friends who followed this course and I’ve had the joy of speaking to a national gathering of these Anglicans.

Since Robinson’s consecration many, many more lifelong Episcopalians have left their church. Among these are even more of my friends. And numbered among those who have not left the Episcopal Church are other good friends. The sad fact is that to openly admit this creates tensions […]

First in Our Household

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:06-05:00November 22nd, 2011|Categories: Humor, Personal|

A home without children is quiet, sometimes too quiet. Most of the time my home is very quiet. But sometimes it is filled with the laughter of my grandchildren, who are a delight. But it is always filled by the presence of our “third” child, Neo. Neo is ten and half years old but doing pretty well for a senior dachshund. She has actually become more active the last three years because of her cousin, Latte. Latte spends a lot of time with Neo. When Latter and Neo are together they teach each other various new social responses. The worst such social behavior is what I call a dachshund “bark off.” Latte usually begins it though Neo has learned well and clearly is no angel. The “two girls” sit on top of our living room sofa and “guard” the house from anything that moves. When I am trying to think, read or write they can drive me to […]

Hymns of Thanksgiving: A Special Podcast from Beeson Divinity School

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:06-05:00November 21st, 2011|Categories: Church History, Music|

A special Beeson Divinity School podcast on the great hymns of Thanksgiving will surely prove encouraging and inspiring to many of you. You can find it here. This podcast is a discussion between Timothy George and Paul Richardson (past president of the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada), and includes choral recordings of the hymns that are included in the podcast. Dr. George and all my friends at Beeson who worked on this project envisioned this as something that families could listen to together on their Thanksgiving road trips. It is a way to turn your hearts toward God’s goodness to his beloved people. Among other things you will learn in this podcast is the historical fact that many of our most loved Thanksgiving hymns came out of times of extreme suffering.