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The Present Devaluation of Christian Doctrine

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:03-05:00August 26th, 2009|Categories: Biblical Theology|

Christian doctrine has been devalued for the last one hundred plus years. Liberal teachers continue to devalue it by inverting the relationship between Scripture and secular thought. They allow secular insights to interpret the Scripture. Evangelicals devalue doctrine by treating it as something that has little or nothing to do with living faithfully. ("It is not practical and only divides us anyway!") I have heard evangelicals say, most of my life, "Doctrine divides us but love unites us!"

A good example of this devaluing process, at least on the liberal side, is what we presently see happening regarding sexual ethics. The seventh commandment is quite clear. If you read what Christians teachers have said about this commandment since the first century the response would have been very, very consistent. But now, less than one decade into the twenty-first century, there is a huge debate about same-sex marriage. There really shouldn’t even be a debate. This debate can only thrive in a context where the role of Scripture has been inverted.

The […]

What is Christian Doctrine and Why Does It Matter?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:03-05:00August 25th, 2009|Categories: Biblical Theology|

Doctrine is the revealed truth of God defined and taught by the church in conversation with the Bible and the whole Christian tradition. Doctrine is for the growth of believers as well as for the whole world. The Latin word doctrina literally means teaching. Indeed, our English Bible most commonly translates the Greek word for doctrine with our word teaching. If a person teaches then they are communicating doctrine. It may be bad doctrine or good doctrine but it is doctrine. This is why I am always puzzled by people who say, "Just teach the Bible. Do not teach us doctrine."

The church, at least on the pages of the New Testament, appears as a community of learners. Some of these learners became teachers of the early church. All Christians were to be engaged in the lifelong task of taking in, meditating upon, and living out Christian doctrine. The most important of all Christian doctrines is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news. This doctrine most feeds our minds and hearts so that we can know and […]

An Interview with Satan on Church Unity

By John Armstrong|2009-08-24T11:35:36-05:00August 24th, 2009|Categories: Unity of the Church|

Check out this interesting video that humorously captures a great deal of the spirit of my faith and practice. It is quite clever and makes some exceptionally good points about Satan's desire to divide and separate us. Remember, C. S. Lewis rightly suggested that the devil cannot handle humor since it exposes him in a clever way and he likes to keep things that are clever all to himself. I tend to think that this is why he wrote his classic Screwtape Letters.

Why Spending More Federal Money Is a Truly Bad Idea

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:03-05:00August 24th, 2009|Categories: Economy/Economics|

I have said on several occasions that I am not a trained economist. I do not understand all the debates about theories and systems and frankly think most of our politicians do not either. I have also said that I think the most refreshing moment of honesty in the last presidential campaign was the most politically damaging. I refer to John McCain's admission that he did not understand the economy that well. The statement killed him but it was a rare moment of honesty almost never heard from a political candidate.

One thing I do understand. When revenue decreases spending should decrease. I took a 25% salary decrease twelve months ago. My wife and I have managed but only because we changed our spending habits rather dramatically. It has been a challenge but we've managed on a lot less. We've done less of those things that we enjoy and more careful accounting for every dime we receive and spend. It just makes sense. Everyone, […]

Barth: On Understanding the Tragedy of the Divided Churches

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:03-05:00August 23rd, 2009|Categories: The Church|

Karl Barth was one of the greatest Christian thinkers in the twentieth century. Some think that his multi-volume Church Dogmatics is the most vigorous re-statement of essential Christianity produced in the last century. I remember when I first began to read it. It took me awhile to appreciate Barth because I had been told so many things about him by fundamentalists who thought that he was an enemy of the faith. When I began to read his work I was stunned at the care with which Barth handled the Bible. His thought was saturated with Scripture. Barth had a lot to say about the church but one of the finest statements I have read captures my attention whenever I read it. Consider Barth's thoughts:

There is no escape-hatch from the visible to the invisible church . . . Nor should we try to explain the multiplicity of churches as something willed by God, the normal unfolding of the grace […]

William Graham Sumner on Economics

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:04-05:00August 22nd, 2009|Categories: Economy/Economics|

William Graham Sumner (1840-1910) was an American academic and a professor at Yale. He was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and graduated from Yale College in 1863. He was appointed to the newly created Chair of Political and Social Science at Yale and made his name as a sociologist. His major accomplishments were developing the concepts of diffusion, folkways, and ethnocentrism. Sumner argued that government-mandated reforms were generally useless. He was a staunch advocate of laissez-faire economics and was active in the intellectual promotion of free-trade classical liberalism. One of his most brilliant quotes is well worth thinking about at the present time:

The type and formula of most schemes of philanthropy or humanitarianism is this: A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall be made to do for D. The radical vice of all these schemes, from a sociological point of view, is that C is not allowed a voice in the matter, and his position, character, and interests, as […]

A Great Blog Site for Conservative Economic Thought

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:04-05:00August 21st, 2009|Categories: Economy/Economics|

My good friend David Bahnsen is one of the finest conservative thinkers I know. He has a rigorous mind, is a keen observer of trends and developments in the market and understands monetary policy. He also stays on top of global trends. I do not always agree with David but then I disagree with everyone at some point. If a guy only writes what I agree with I find him boring and thus not worth my time. David is never boring, never. He has a new Web site that I urge you to check out.

http://www.davidbahnsen.com/

David is presently reading and reviewing the major books published about the 2008 economic meltdown. Our mutual friend Andrew Sandlin has said of David's writing: "His hard-hitting articles unceremoniously peel back the thin, fuzzy veneer of protecting much of today's lame mainstream economic opinion." I concur.

A good example of David's thought can be found in a recent article titled, "What Kind […]

Reformed Christianity and the Christian Church, Part Four

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:05-05:00August 20th, 2009|Categories: Reformed Christianity|

I began this series of posts on Monday by quoting a portion of a letter that a conservative Reformed minister wrote to a friend who had recently joined the Orthodox Church. In that letter this minister told his friend that he had left the Christian faith by becoming Orthodox. I said this response was ludicrous and harmful to both Christians and the well-being of the church. I then turned to the Reformed tradition to show how this type of thinking has impacted churches and denominations and why this approach is not consistent with the better parts of the Reformed tradition. I have particularly looked at John Calvin’s thoughts about unity since he is universally agreed to be the first great theologian of the Reformed faith.

In 1552 John Calvin wrote to Thomas Cranmer in England. Cranmer had invited Calvin, Melanchthon, Bullinger and others to a meeting at Lambeth Palace for the purpose of writing a creed that would be suitable to all the Reformed […]

Reformed Christianity and the Christian Church, Part Three

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:05-05:00August 19th, 2009|Categories: Reformed Christianity|

I began this series of posts by sharing a portion of a letter written by a conservative Reformed minister who told a friend that he had left the Christian faith by joining the Orthodox Church. I believe that this response is not only preposterous but it is fostered by the sin of pride and reflects a divisive spirit that is condemned by the Scripture itself.

I noted that John Calvin distinguishes between essential and non-essential matters of faith. This distinction has been made by teachers and theologians since the early church. Calvin is simply following the long tradition of the faith in making such a point. He says, “A difference of opinion should in nowise be the basis of schism among Christians.” He says, in The Institutes (IV.1.12) that the characteristic core doctrines that are essential are these: “God is one; Christ is God and the Son of God; our salvation rests on God’s mercy and the like.” He adds, in his commentary on […]

Reformed Christianity and the Christian Church, Part Two

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:05-05:00August 18th, 2009|Categories: Reformed Christianity|

A charge often leveled at Reformed Christianity is that it is inherently schismatic and fiercely anti-ecumenical. This is simply not true. A superficial reading of recent Reformed history may seem to support this idea but the facts are far more interesting. A proper understanding of the term "Reformed" calls for a much deeper understanding of this term than that employed by modern Calvinists who define their use of this term by a TULIP or some similar form of reductionism.

The Reformed Church in the Netherlands, as well as the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, both experienced serious dissensions that led to formal schism in the nineteenth century. In fact the Church of Scotland had already experienced two divisions in the eighteenth century. Some of these splits led to a wave of new immigration to America. These American churches were later plagued by further splits. But this is not the whole story. There have been reunions as well. Sadly, this part of the story is much less talked about.

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