Blog - Page 186 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Should a Christian Use Acupuncture?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:10-05:00July 21st, 2009|Categories: Science|

In the growth of complimentary medicine over the past few decades acupuncture has become a fairly standard practice that many Christians ask me about. My first exposure to this practice led me to assume that acupuncture might have a lot to do with New Age religion and non-Christian spirituality. I decided to investigate this assumption and eventually came to an entirely different conclusion.

The first Christian question to be asked here is quite pragmatic. “Does acupuncture actually bring relief from pain?” If it does then it can be a good thing. Any procedure that can help a person recover health and well-being is good unless it inherently teaches one to deny the faith. We should avoid superstition and silly practices but acupuncture is neither of these if you carefully study it.

The general medical opinion about acupuncture has changed over the years. It was first opposed in the West because science did not have a way of explaining how it could […]

Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Freedom

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:10-05:00July 20th, 2009|Categories: Separation of Church & State|

America has a long history of protecting the legal rights and religious freedom of all people. This protection is now being stretched by two radically different views in the debate over same-sex marriage. Advocates of same-sex marriage often use the same legal opinions to promote their views that their opponents use in opposing them. Let me explain.

Some opponents of same-sex marriage clearly use the teaching of Scripture to oppose the legalization of such unions. Believing that same-sex marriage is immoral (as a confessing Christian I believe this way) these advocates then go on to argue that the state’s actions should always reflect the opinion of the majority. If the courts rule otherwise then they see the court decision as a denial of religious freedom. But a law that creates moral controversy, and even opposition to Christian doctrine, does not mean that there is a clear denial of free exercise as stated in the First Amendment.

On the opposite […]

Clement of Rome on Unity in the Church

By John Armstrong|2009-07-19T05:00:00-05:00July 19th, 2009|Categories: Unity of the Church|

The church father, Clement of Rome (died c. A. D. 90 to 100), intervened in a local congregational schism while serving as an early church overseer in the first century. Some historians believe that this same Clement was identified by Paul in Philippians 4:3. That may be. Later tradition saw Clement as the third pope, something that I do not believe is terribly clear in the record that we actually possess from the era in which he lived and died. In Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians (this congregation continued to fight and divide long after Paul was deceased) he urged the people of this troubled church to be distinguished by humility. His words are still moving and powerful. His purpose was to call out people who had rebelled against the authority of their presbyters.

Clement wrote that "we should be especially mindful of what the Lord Jesus taught us about meekness and long-suffering: Be merciful, and you will be shown mercy; forgive, and you […]

The Continually Changing State of Christian Publishing

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:10-05:00July 18th, 2009|Categories: Current Affairs|

Christian publishing is risky business. When I launched a quarterly journal way back in 1992 I was told the first three years would make or break us. That proved to not be true. We lasted for sixteen years. We funded a quarterly that never made a profit with mission dollars because we believed in what we were doing. But keeping a journal in print was a major problem for such a small ministry. When we finally decided to "pull the plug" there was a great sense of grief in my life. I felt as if I had failed in some way. I missed the work of editing and writing and seeing this journal come out every three months. In time I realized how stressed I was under this burden and realized I should have given up six years earlier than I did. Peace finally followed that realization.

I thought of all of this when I read last week that Discipleship Journal (DJ) […]

Understanding the Mystery of Christian Marriage, Part Five

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:10-05:00July 17th, 2009|Categories: Marriage & Family|

In this, my final look at Paul’s instruction about marriage in Ephesians 5:21–33, I want to look more closely at what I believe is the central quality of Christian love. Without love no marriage can succeed for long. And Christian love is the real basis for Christian marriage. Without this love no marriage can be truly Christian.

Surely you have noticed that non-Christians can and do have great marriages. And you have also surely noticed that many Christians do not have great marriages. While it is true that Christians have the hope and grace to have a great marriage it is not true that they always do. In fact, some statistics suggest that divorce is as high, if not higher, among Christians as among non-Christians. One reason could be that non-Christians are not marrying as often in modern culture. Either way Christian divorce is much, much too high. Please note that I did not say Christians should never divorce, or that they can never […]

Understanding the Mystery of Christian Marriage, Part Four

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:11-05:00July 16th, 2009|Categories: Marriage & Family|

Paul makes a case in Ephesians 5:21–33 that what is essential in conjugal love is rooted in a “man leaving his father and mother to be united with his wife” (5:31). This takes the reader back to Genesis and the created order. But what makes this unique is not the appeal to origins and the pre-fallen state but rather the application of this principle to the union of God with humanity in Christ, the true Beloved (Mark 2:19).

Here we encounter the central core of what is going on in this text: divine mystery. This means that what Paul is saying here could not be understood before Christ came. If this teaching is not “new” then the point is lost. Marriage is not without a divine and historical foundation, thus it is rooted in Genesis. But it is new here in the sense that no one before Christ could have understood marriage in the fullness of what is being taught by Paul. This is why […]

Understanding the Mystery of Christian Marriage, Part Three

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:11-05:00July 15th, 2009|Categories: Marriage & Family|

If we are to understand the true mystery of marriage in Christ we must understand that marriage takes on a sacred nature when it is between two Christians. It is a covenant, not a contract. And in Christ it becomes a great mystery that becomes a beautiful and mysterious icon of the love of Christ for his bride.

Married couples are to live in Christ in a way that is enthusiastic about their love for each other as husband and wife. (Enthusiasm has its root meaning in two words en theos, which means to be "in God.") In the day-to-day love that a married couple shares they must learn to love one another as well as their children and the larger community. By so loving they become a living sign (this is where the idea of a sacrament comes from in Catholic theology) of how much Jesus loves us and wishes to embrace us as his brothers and sisters. […]

Understanding the Mystery of Christian Marriage, Part Two

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:11-05:00July 14th, 2009|Categories: Marriage & Family|

Yesterday I made the simple point that we must understand Paul’s teaching about husbands and wives, in both Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3, in a way that keeps Christ at the center. He is the head over all. He has redeemed the human race and he is now calling his bride, the church, to a marriage and a wedding feast in the age to come. He cleanses his bride and cherishes her. He loves her with an eternal love. This is the biblical basis for a true understanding of this often controversial text about husbands and wives.

I believe Paul’s view of marriage is totally unexpected if you know the social and cultural background of his words. These words would have shocked ancient people. They should shock us but generally we read them through our own cultural lens. They do not shock us precisely because we have settled for ideology rather than true theology.

Paul clearly says […]

Understanding the Mystery of Christian Marriage, Part One

By John Armstrong|2009-07-13T05:00:00-05:00July 13th, 2009|Categories: Marriage & Family|

Perhaps no passage in all of Holy Scripture is misused, and abused, more than St. Paul’s instruction in the Epistle to the Ephesians found at the end of chapter five. In 5:21–33 Paul gives the church ethical instruction about marriage. He addresses both husbands and wives. The text has prompted raging debates and divided more than a few Christians. The troubling verse is really 5:22, which says: “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.” The ways in which this text has been understood and applied are almost as various as are the commentators and teachers of the Bible. I do not have a definitive interpretation but I do believe that I understand it in terms of great Christian consensus, at least as regarding the essential points Paul wants us to grasp.

One of my favorite Bible translations is not known among evangelicals, at least from what I have been able to tell. It is called the Christian […]

Did Jesus Forbid Repetitive Prayers?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:11-05:00July 12th, 2009|Categories: Prayer|

Jesus taught us to pray. He even gave us a model to guide us in Matthew 6:9-13. The church has historically believed that this prayer can and should be followed, thus it occurs in the earliest Christian teaching on how to pray and what to specifically pray about. It seems very apparent that very early in the church's historical development this prayer was recited both publicly and privately. But many evangelical Christians stumble over this idea sometimes. The reason is often found in the words of Jesus in the same prayer context when he said, "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words" (Matthew 6:7).

Is Jesus forbidding the repetition of his own words? Is he instructing us that all prayer must be spontaneous and extemporaneous, not prescribed and read? Is the repetition of words already spoken or written by someone else simply "vain repetition" (cf. the […]