Blog - Page 101 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The Power of the “Spoken” Word of the Gospel

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:11-05:00October 7th, 2011|Categories: Evangelism, Homiletics/Preaching|

Depending on your church background and experience many of you may think of the gospel (and almost exclusively) as a written message. The first Christians did not think of it this way at all. Let me explain.

While reading the Book of Acts recently I noted this again and again. Take the beginning of this book:

¹ In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach ² until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. ³ After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. ⁴ On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John […]

What Should We Make of the New Apostolic Reformation?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:11-05:00October 6th, 2011|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Current Affairs, Politics, The Church|

The New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) is a movement within Protestant Christianity that is largely associated with the Pentecostal and charismatic movements. I only paid scant attention to it until recently even though I knew something about it a decade or so before. Like all such renewal movements the NAR has a lot in it that many mainstream Christians would agree with. But there are elements within the NAR that are more controversial and these have increasingly caught my attention.

The basic thesis of the NAR is that God is restoring the lost offices of church governance, namely the offices of prophet and apostle. Even this restoration of the two named offices is not entirely controversial, though various versions of this teaching have floated around in the Pentecostal and charismatic churches for generations. So what got my attention about NAR, especially since I am committed to promoting unity and not calling out various versions of Christian expression, over the past few weeks?

The NAR traces its historical roots to end of the twentieth-century when the name/moniker was first used by my former professor of missions, peter_wagner_new_apostolic_reformation <a href= […]

Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions: Questions for the Author (Part Three)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:11-05:00October 5th, 2011|Categories: Books, Friendship, Sexuality|

Today I complete my three-part personal interview with author Dan Brennan about his engaging and controversial book, Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions. I would encourage you to not only read this online interview I’ve posted but to visit Dan’s web site and even sign up for his Facebook page. There you can engage with him more personally and discuss his ideas openly, in a manner that is non-threatening and truly gracious.

One reviewer of Dan’s book recently wrote:

Gendered stereotypes blocking friendship are notions like emotionally intimate, vulnerable friendships are for girls/women or gay men. In evangelical communities where romantic relationships are on a pedestal and friendships are inferior, gendered stereotypes and straitjackets are common.

My questions to Dan concluded with the following dialog.

Wouldn’t “face to face” intimacy in friendship threaten marriages and leave one vulnerable for a sexual fall?

We have to do a little tweaking of the metaphor to get some distance from romantic idealizing or gazing. For centuries prior to Freud intimacy in friendship meant emotional, spiritual intimacy, transparency, vulnerability, delight, and sweet language and affection—all of which we would now describe as characteristic of “face […]

Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions: Questions for the Author (Part Two)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:11-05:00October 4th, 2011|Categories: Books, Friendship, Sexuality|

Today, I continue with the questions I began in yesterday’s interview with author and friend Dan Brennan. Here are some more questions I posed in my online interview about his very important book.

Why would it be wise and chaste to nurture authentic communion (“face to face” and “side-by-side”) beyond your spouse, with your cross-gender friend?

I would suggest this is where we have to think more deeply about chastity and communion in our communities. The notions of union or communion are making a comeback among evangelical theologians like Scot McKnight, Kevin Vanhoozer, and yourself. What does oneness and chastity look like for men and women? I would argue it’s in the nature of robust and wise chastity to seek communion. Kenda Creasy Dean made this observation “chastity seeks communion.” The Catholic Catechism states that chastity leads to deep spiritual communion between members of the same sex or opposite sex.

As we nurture and cultivate chastity in our marriage and in friendship, chastity actually will […]

Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions: Questions for the Author (Part One)

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:11-05:00October 3rd, 2011|Categories: Books, Feminism & Women, Friendship, Sexuality|

Last year (December 21-24) I wrote a series of blogs reviewing a controversial but extremely important book on friendships. This book, Sacred Unions, Sacred Passions: Engaging the Mystery of Friendship Between Men and Women, is written by my friend Dan Brennan. I mentioned at the time that I did not particularly want to delve into this subject, knowing quite well that some would react against the book and even against my giving it this kind of attention. I also mentioned my concerns and cautions but these seemed to have been missed by critics.

I’ve thought a great deal about this book, and discussed it even more with the author and others (including some critics), since the end of last year. I believe that Dan is saying a great deal of very important stuff about friendship that is too easily missed by the controversial subject matter of males and females as close friends. As a result of a continuing dialog I decided to put some of my questions to […]

Neo: My Star Dachshund

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:11-05:00October 2nd, 2011|Categories: Humor, Personal|

I sometimes write about my wife, my children and even my grandchildren, but what’s up with the dog in various photos that you see of me? Well, what’s up is “Neo,” my ten and a half-year old miniature dachshund. Neo is our youngest child and the one who never left home. She brings tremendous joy to our empty-nest household. Neo is our fourth mini-dachshund in forty years of marriage. Anita was into German Shepherds when we met but our apartment would only allow a small dog so we got a dachshund, staying with the German breed of course. As night follows day we kept getting dachshunds and just love these little wiener dogs. (Neo has a little outfit that is a hot dog bun with mustard on top of it that she wears in public when we really want to get a laugh. She asked for it one Halloween I understand, telling us she wanted to be a Hallo-wiener!)

Neo is by far the sweetest little doxie that we ever had. She loves Anita beyond belief. She loves me too, but not like she loves her “momma.” […]

America is Safe: You Can Thank a Muslim

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:12-05:00October 1st, 2011|Categories: Islam, The War on Terrorism|

In all the remembrance of 9/11 I heard little said about Muslims, except faint echoes of fear and continued mistrust. For Christians this response is anything but right. Not only does it reflect fear and loathing but it is simply not warranted. Let me explain.

Chicago Tribune syndicated columnist Steve Chapman wrote a wonderful editorial on September 9 showing why we should all be thankful to the American Muslim community for our continued safety. I know this sounds crazy to some people but it is the truth.

Following 9/11 many leaders predicted we would be attacked again. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala, the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee said, “You can just about bet on it.” Mayor Rudy Giuliani said, “I anticipate another attack.” And Gary Stubblefield, who directed the Naval Special Warfare Task Unity in the Pacific area, said (as paraphrased in the Denver Post), “the question is not if but when dozens of terrorist cells in the United States will unleash biological, chemical and perhaps nuclear weapons against U.S. cities.” FBI Director Robert Mueller estimates the U.S. harbored “several hundred” extremists affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Who is not […]

Moneyball, Two Dramatic Loses and the End of the Line for My Team

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:12-05:00September 30th, 2011|Categories: Baseball|

As a fan of the great game of baseball the last 36 hours have been filled with great emotion, great joy and a huge sense of loss. Rarely will we ever see four regular-season games that mattered so much come down to the end in both leagues on one dramatic evening like Wednesday night. In the AL the Red Sox lost with two outs in the ninth to the lowly Orioles. They were leading 3-2 and had one of the best pitchers in baseball on the hill. About three minutes later the Tampa Rays won on a walk-off home run by Longoria to win the AL Wild Card. Tampa has enough pitching to actually make a serious potential run at the AL Pennant.

In the senior circuit the Wild Card leading Atlanta Braves, my life-long favorite team, suffered one of the greatest stretch-run collapses ever, blowing a 10 1/2 game lead from late August and an 8 1/2 game lead from September 5. First-year Braves skipper Fredi Gonzalez has […]

A Theology Professor’s Prayer for Her Students

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:12-05:00September 29th, 2011|Categories: Theology|

I am particularly grateful that Wheaton College embraced the complete equality of women on their faculty many decades ago. (Wheaton was born in the time of anti-slavery and has always been an activist school in its robust evangelicalism.) I am even more grateful that this inclusion of women includes the Bible and Theology Department, a place where women are often rejected by conservative schools. Happily, women hold important teaching positions alongside their male peers at Wheaton. One such person is Dr. Beth Jones, author of The Marks of His Wounds: Gender Politics and Bodily Resurrection (Oxford University Press, 2007) and Touched by a Vampire: Discovering the Hidden Messages in the Twilight Saga (Multnomah Books, 2009).

Beth Felker Jones, who holds a Ph.D. from Duke University, is married and has four children. She is a busy mom besides being a teacher of Bible and theology at Wheaton. Her husband is a United Methodist minister. On the college web site Jones writes the following about her life and work: “John […]

Holy Sexuality

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:17:12-05:00September 28th, 2011|Categories: Homosexuality, Sexuality|

I continually seek to understand both the Scriptures and culture with regard to the very hot subject of human sexuality. I cannot think of a single issue that threatens to divide us and defeat us more than this one. We debate this in convoluted ways that are framed by paradigms never employed in previous debates void of modern notions about “rights” and true freedom. Some want to frame this entire debate entirely by a "civil rights” paradigm while others insist that homosexuality is an “abomination” that must end all further discussion. While the civil society debates this topic the church stands in the middle, so it seems, dividing one from another in ways almost beyond belief.

I am clear (in my mind) about several things in this debate.

1. The debate is hurting us on every side. Generations are divided, families are divided and churches are now divided. I see no end in sight.

2. The cultural debate is growing and will not stop. Everything will very likely change. There is very little that you or I can do to stop this even if we want to stop it. This is not […]