Blog - Page 166 of 318 - John H Armstrong

When People Stop Believing in God

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:22-05:00January 14th, 2010|Categories: Lordship of Christ|

The famous twentieth century Catholic writer G. K. Chesterton once said, "When people stop believing in God, they don't believe in nothing—they believe in anything." This is profoundly true and our time increasingly demonstrates this point in day-to-day life.

There can be no doubt about the fact that we are experiencing a dramatic social and moral upheaval in today's world. This amounts to a seeming breakdown in values and morals altogether. Ours has become a non-stop world. We cannot stop it nor can we find a place to stop in it. Boundaries are less and less important, whether political, cultural or religious. We call this globalization in business but in the West it is causing the disintegration of almost everything we valued in the past as true life. It also increasingly subordinates virtually everything we know and believe to cash flow and maximizing profits. Add to this a growing commitment to individualism and the end result is spiritually and morally deadly. The concept of the good, of what is really proper and proportionate, is being lost. Faithful or unfaithful, it doesn't really matter. […]

Will the Health-Care Bill Include the Pro-Abortion Provisions Advocated by the President?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:22-05:00January 13th, 2010|Categories: Abortion|

It seems that many younger Christians who supported the election of Barack Obama do not really believe that President Obama is radically pro-choice. I hear various Christians say they are pro-life but I hear none defend the president on this critical point. I have said this several times, and demonstrated it time after time after time on this blog, but this president is doing more to promote abortion than any previous president in U. S. history. While the view of the president on this issue will not ultimately alter legal abortion (only a deep change in the view of the people will finally do this and there is growing evidence that this is slowly happening) the president's view will, and does, impact lives each day. His view on this issue already has impacted lives and has plainly allowed for more abortions. He has promoted federal support for abortion and new ways of funding abortion. Upon entering office he undid a number of hard-fought restrictions on abortion and now […]

The House Church Phenomenon

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:22-05:00January 12th, 2010|Categories: The Church|

Since the 1960s I have followed the rise and fall of "house church" congregations in America. I even attended one in college, in the 1960s. House church is not a new phenomenon for sure. Such congregations where part and parcel of the earliest expressions of Christian community. No one who reads the New Testament doubts this fact. But in time, when persecution died down and the church was able to meet in the open, the house church became less and less important to Christian practice.

Today, in places where state persecution requires it, the house church still thrives; e.g., rural China. But what about America? A surprising figure, tucked in a recent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life poll, suggested that the number of Americans who say "they attend religious services in someone's home" is now at seven percent. I would have guessed 1%, or maybe 2%, but never 7%. If this is true it is a staggering development, at least to my mind.

Six percent of Americans says they are atheists. And Jews are two percent of the population. Sixteen […]

The ACT 3 Luncheon Forums 2010

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:22-05:00January 11th, 2010|Categories: ACT 3|

Five times a year we conduct a local luncheon forum for interested Christians. Our speaker this Wednesday, at 11:45 a.m., at the Holiday Inn in Carol Stream, is David Neff. David is the senior editor of Christianity Today. David's topic is: "Anglicanism in America: Gospel Mission or Sour Grapes?" This lunch costs $20, which is payable at the door. We end at 1:15. The meal is excellent and the discussion always very stimulating and encouraging. This is a great learning opportunity for anyone interested. The Holiday Inn is located at 150 S. Gary Avenue, just south of the stop light on Rt. 64, North Avenue, in Carol Stream. If you live in the Chicago area come and enjoy this wonderful event. I would love to see many of you who are friends and meet new friends as well.

Do Blogs Make a Serious Contribution to the Life of the Church?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:22-05:00January 11th, 2010|Categories: ACT 3, Personal|

I frequently ask myself, "Why do I blog?" My answers are varied. First, I enjoy writing, and writing is a vocation for me, not just a hobby. Second, I have a number of friends who want to know what I am doing and why. They are interested in me personally and pray for me as their friend. I also have a number of friends and donors who seek my input on various issues in the public mind. Third, both fresh content and interaction with current ideas lie at the very heart of the mission of ACT 3. ACT 3 exists to "equip leaders for unity in Christ's mission" thus I believe my blogging makes some contribution to this purpose or I would not do it. Finally, blogging allows you to respond to my thoughts in a number of fruitful ways.

I was made uniquely aware of this particular value after I read the responses to my Saturday post about why I continue to change […]

The Translation of Novel to Film

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:22-05:00January 10th, 2010|Categories: Film|

Readers know that I love film, both as entertainment and as art. I see a good number of movies and review some of them on this blog spot. I also read widely. I enjoy novels, especially modern novels that are filled with drama and human character development. One of my favorite novelists, especially in his earlier writing, is John le Carre. John le Carre is actually a pen name from an English writer who wrote some pretty stunning stuff about spies during the Cold War era. He was also the master of the betrayal theme in story-telling. Some of John le Carre's novels have become films. Readers of his books often dislike the films. This is a common experience when a novel is made into a film script. But John le Carre has a far better grasp of this process than most critics. Regarding one of his novels becoming a film he said:

The job of the movie (writer) is to take […]

Why I Still Change My Mind

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:22-05:00January 9th, 2010|Categories: Personal|

Perhaps the most controversial, and generally misunderstood, articles that I have ever written were under the series title: "How I Changed My Mind." This series, written for our Viewpoint news magazine, can be found in the Viewpoint archives under the resource tab at our Web site. (They are found in Volume 7:4 through Volume 8:5.)

I have been forced to think about these articles quite a lot since they have been quoted and used against me rather widely. I thought about them again when I wrote my blog for yesterday about rethinking the empirical method and why postmodernism presents a proper challenge to the modernistic way of thinking that many of us learned from our culture and educational background. I have signed articles of faith in my denominational ordination procedure and sign a statement of faith in order to teach at Wheaton College. But it matters not. These articles on changing my mind brought about some major reaction. I once wondered why this […]

The Foolishness of the Gospel to Modern Thought, or Why Postmoderns Are Right to Question Our Empirical Christian Methodology

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:22-05:00January 8th, 2010|Categories: Apologetics, Postmodernity|

Missional-theologian Lesslie Newbigin (1909-1998) said the requirement for a missionary encounter with a culture is having the “courage to hold and proclaim a belief that cannot be proved in terms of the axioms of [that] society.” One of Newbigin’s primary insights can be seen in this very comment. The gospel cannot be reduced to the axioms of Western society, especially the axioms that are deeply rooted in Enlightenment categories of thought and proof. One of the reasons postmodernism raises serious issues for many thoughtful Christians is because they realize that the axioms of the past have failed us and cannot be used to preach or prove the gospel in our time.

In his classic book, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture, Newbigin adds:

This may sound simplistic but it is not. Our modern scientific culture has pursued the ideal of a completely impersonal knowledge of a world of so-called facts that are simply there, that cannot […]

Getting Ready for the Big Game in Pasadena Tonight

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:23-05:00January 7th, 2010|Categories: College Football, Personal|

As I noted in my blog of January 1 I was given a wonderful Christmas gift so today I am in Pasadena, California, to see the Crimson Tide of Alabama seek its 13th national championship in collegiate football. This great team, carrying the hopes and dreams of fans from “Sweet Home Alabama,” rides into this big game a favorite. In the eleven previous BCS championship games the underdog has won six times. In the last seven years the underdog has won six out of seven. And the team with the Heisman Trophy winner, which is Alabama this year, always loses this game, with the lone exception being USC with running back Reggie Bush. Alabama will have to change this grim “tide” if they are to celebrate at the end of the big game this evening. I honestly believe they will prevail over Texas because they have a coach who will keep them focused on the task and who knows what it takes to win. […]

Why Do Muslims Become Jesus Followers?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:23-05:00January 6th, 2010|Categories: Islam, Missional-Ecumenism|

J. Dudley Woodberry, dean emeritus and senior professor of Islamic Studies at the School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, has served at the Christian Study Center in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and as a pastor in Kabul, Afghanistan and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. When Woodberry speaks about evangelizing Muslims I take notice.

Woodberry’s new (edited) book, From Seed to Fruit, is a 440 page study of global trends, fruitful practices and emerging issues among Muslims. The book asks what practices is God blessing in raising up groups of Jesus followers among Muslims? And how shall we understand Muslim peoples and their access to biblical witness? The book provides the most recent worldwide research on witness to Christ among Muslim peoples, using biblical images from nature to show the interaction between God’s activity and human responsibility in blessing these peoples.

Not […]