Blog - Page 179 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Moderate Muslims and the Islamists

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:47-05:00September 21st, 2009|Categories: Islam|

If radical Islam is to be countered in North America and Europe it seems that it will take much more than military force and positive education. The key to a successful resistance against jihad is quite likely to be found in the efforts of moderate Muslims who resist the Islamic fascists inside their own communities. Thankfully there are a number of courageous Muslims who are willing to make this very dangerous effort in the West.

The 2007 documentary film Islam vs. Islamists: Muslims Against Jihad, produced by Canadian novelist and veteran documentary filmmaker Martyn Burke, tells the story of these moderate Muslims and their efforts to resist radical Wahabbism. (Wahabbism is the radical Muslim sect that is the force behind the most militant expressions of Islam.) The story of attacks upon moderate Muslims by Muslims is very troubling. It is most troubling because Westerners have little or no grasp of the real dangers inherent in this courageous Muslim stance. This two-disc documentary ought to […]

You Build Trust By Trusting

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:48-05:00September 20th, 2009|Categories: Economy/Economics|

A key to any business, and its economic success, is building trust with both its employees and its customers. The world financial markets nearly collapsed last fall because people in the financial industry lacked trust. Credit almost stopped flowing. Even the biggest banks refused to lend to each other because they were not sure they would be repaid. This is the way Dov Seidman, the founder and CEO of LRN, sees it. LRN is a company that helps businesses develop ethical corporate cultures. Seidman is also the author of How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything . . . in Business (and in Life). Seidman believes we went through a time in which we took trust for granted. But this all changed last year.

Trust is absolutely essential if long-term enduring relationships are to be built in any area of business. It drives risk-taking and this leads to innovation and progress. But how do you […]

Lessons on Diet from the World's Oldest Person

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:48-05:00September 19th, 2009|Categories: Humor|

It might be a sign of my advancing age but I found the recent report of the death of the world's oldest person humorous. Let me explain.

Gertrude Baines died a few days ago in Los Angeles at the ripe age of 115. Gertrude appeared in a much watched You Tube video clip last year when she voted for Barack Obama. The world's oldest person is now believed to be Kama Chinen, who lives in Japan. But Gertrude lived in Los Angeles. My first response was very very simple: "How does the world's oldest person live in L.A.?" You have to be kidding I thought to myself. L.A.? Smog, traffic and too many people. L.A.?

Gertrude Baines was born in Shellman, Georgia, on April 6, 1894, when Grover Cleveland was in the White House, radio communication was just being developed and television was still more than a half-century from becoming a ubiquitous household presence.

She was 4 years old […]

The Power of Social Media and the Internet Revolution

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:48-05:00September 18th, 2009|Categories: Web/Tech|

I listen to many people in my generation who remain skeptical about the impact of the media revolution that we are clearly in the middle of in 2009. There can be a certain smugness that comes from older people who believe that the young are always talking about things that are not going to happen or will not make a real difference in the end since this was not the way things were in our day. Well, my peers could not be more wrong in this particular instance. We are seeing a huge social revolution that is impacting everything from purchasing to learning. It has helped to elect a president and it is creating interest in the claims of Christ every single day. If you want to see just how much this revolution has already changed things, and get a good feel for what is coming very soon, watch this You Tube link. It is very impressive stuff.

There is […]

Judging Others

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:48-05:00September 17th, 2009|Categories: Unity of the Church|

There are some obvious tensions that we encounter when we read the Scriptures. One such tension that often causes significant problems between Christians is the biblical teaching regarding judging others.

The Scriptures do teach us to avoid judgmental attitudes toward others, especially in dealing with Christians. At the same time we are clearly encouraged to developing a discerning attitude that can evaluate people and ministries carefully; e.g, 1 Cor. 5:12-13; 1 Cor. 5:1-5; 6:1-6; Matthew 7:15-20; 2 Cor. 11:10-15. This is the tension I refer to here. How can we follow both of these standards? No matter how you apply these texts you will soon have to admit that judging and discerning sometimes do get very close to one another.

The temptation to pass judgment upon the life or testimony of other individuals is clearly warned against in the New Testament. If you have lived in a Christian context where the truth of your church or mission is extremely important than the tendency will always be to err on the side of passing judgment […]

Some Final Thoughts About the Problem of Modalism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:48-05:00September 16th, 2009|Categories: Christ/Christology|

As Christian thinkers continued to deal with various errors regarding the incarnation and the Trinity they eventually developed a formula called the “communication of attributes.” This expressed the idea that although Jesus Christ is both fully God and fully man, he is but one person. Because he is one person, and thus a single subject in both a psychological and grammatical sense, what is said about the person of Christ may logically be said about both God and man. For this reason it is always right to say that God was born, suffered, died and rose. But this statement is only right if we also affirm that while the Son is God, God is not only the Son but also the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Martin Luther developed this idea about the attributes even further. He wanted to stressed the communication of the attributes so profoundly that he insisted the human body of Christ possessed the divine attribute of omnipresence. This would […]

Modalism: The Error About Christ That Keeps on Ticking

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:48-05:00September 15th, 2009|Categories: Christ/Christology|

Modalism has a definite basis in Scripture, as do most false or deficient ideas about God. In the case of modalism appeal can be made to John 10:30 which says, “I and the Father are one.” And John 14:9 says, “He that has seen me has seen the Father.” Instead of seeing these verses as saying Christ is the second person in the Trinity, and thus a person who is in perfect communion with the Father, the modalist sees Christ and the Father as the same person but appearing in two different forms/modes. But John 10:30 uses the neuter hen in Greek, which means “one deity, one divine essence.” This point is missed by ordinary readers or by those who simply refuse to accept the doctrine of the Trinity because they cannot explain it to their own satisfaction. Jesus is not saying “I and the Father are one and the same person.” He is saying that he is one in essence with the Father and thus he stands in closest relationship with him.

Modalism sometimes arises because a […]

Modalism: The Most Common of All Christian Mistakes About Christ

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:48-05:00September 14th, 2009|Categories: Christ/Christology|

Modalism is a word unfamiliar to ordinary Christians. This is unfortunate in a way that I want to explain the next several days. The word modalism may not be widely known but the idea is the most common theological error among people who believe they are fully orthodox. Modalism, in brief, is the idea that the three persons in the Trinity are different modes of God’s activity rather than separate/distinct persons.

Subordinationism taught that the second and third persons of the Trinity were in a secondary relationship to God the Father. Modalism tended toward a denial of any distinction between God and Christ. It taught that there was one absolute God, and thus the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were three different modes (“forms”) of God. In this view God shows himself under three names just as an actor might wear three different masks to play three different roles (persona) in a play. The most common way that I hear this idea illustrated is […]

Do You Have a Mission Strategy?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:48-05:00September 13th, 2009|Categories: Missional Church|

I have a good friend who is teaching me a great deal about strategic planning. For some years I have known that a mission like ACT 3 should have a strategy but I have always found the concept difficult to relate to spiritual and missional planning. I think the reasons are becoming more and more clear to me because of my friend's patient help.

A strategy is nothing other than a human plan. The word seems to have had its origins in the military where leaders developed a large scale plan for military operations in advance of a battle. The idea was to put their army in the most advantageous position so that they could win once they actually began the fight. I have been to the battlefield at Gettysburg more times than I can now count. (I think it is something like ten or more.) Every time I take the time to look out over the open fields and see the various high spots and remember how generals made strategy for how they would engage in a battle […]

What Would Jesus Do?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:19:49-05:00September 12th, 2009|Categories: Spirituality|

The word example is a translation of the Greek word tupos. From this Greek word you can see several of our common English words, e.g. type and typical. The Greek word actually meant to make a mark by striking a blow. This is how the typewriter got its name. A strike on paper was made by a key in the machine.

The most exemplary use of this word in the New Testament refers to Christ being our example, a type to us. After Jesus washed the feet of his disciples he urged them to follow his example (John 13:15). Peter spoke of Christ as the example of true forbearance. He also tells us that his suffering and sinlessness were both examples to us (1 Peter 2:21–22). He urged Christians to specifically follow him as their example, tupos.

But Paul went even further. As an apostle he assumed personal responsibility for being an example to other Christians. He instructed […]