Blog - Page 203 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The Gift of the Spirit & Mission

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:53-05:00February 2nd, 2009|Categories: Missional Church|

The late David Jacobus Bosch (1932-1991) was a major voice for mission in the post-colonial world. His most famous work, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in the Theology of Mission (1991),
was a ground-breaking book that still impacts all who read it. If you do not know David Bosch, or this particular book, you are missing out on learning deeply from one of the truly great voices of our time. Bosch, a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, was originally a supporter of apartheid but his involvement in mission transformed both his thinking and his heart. Tragically, he was killed in a car accident on April 15 1992, at the still productive age of 62. Those who have profited by his work have always wished there had been many years for him to write so much more.

Bosch studied under the famous Oscar Cullman at the University of Basel. There he was encourage to embrace a more open view toward ecumenism. In 1957 he began […]

Rush Limbaugh: There's No Business Like Show Business

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:53-05:00February 1st, 2009|Categories: Current Affairs|

Ultra conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh got his own stimulus package recently, signing an eight-year radio deal worth a reported $400 million. That is pretty good for a syndicated talker who attracts millions of listeners five days a week. I admit I once listened to Rush, even found him humorous at times. Once in awhile he even made sense. You knew he was being funny, but you also knew he believed his basic points and made an occasionally decent argument.

Well Limbaugh should be happy that he has President Obama in the White House because now he has exactly what he needs to keep his show lively for another eight years, assuming Obama is re-elected in 2012. And President Obama gave Rush just what he needed, if the New York Post got it right, when he said to Republican leaders, "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh." If he really said this one wonders why.

Limbaugh has already declared […]

Being the Family of God

By John Armstrong|2009-01-31T05:00:00-06:00January 31st, 2009|Categories: Unity of the Church|

Last week the Roman Catholic Church celebrated ecumenism and Christian unity. I listened to a number of Catholics reflect on this vital theme on Catholic radio as I drove to speak last Sunday, January 25th. I then read a number of things on the Vatican Website as well. I reflected on how unlikely, or humanly impossible, this all would have been before Vatican II. There can never be too much emphasis placed upon how fundamentally Vatican II changed this whole context. In many ways it is now up to Protestants to respond in the right way. And that response is improving with every passing year.

One priest I heard last Sunday noted that we are in the same family. He served a small parish in Kentucky, in and among a predominantly Southern Baptist context for decades. He observed that you can't be the family of God and remain isolated from one another. But how can this happen, given our real and serious differences that still […]

The Illinois Senate Gets It Right, Now What?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:53-05:00January 30th, 2009|Categories: Politics|

The Illinois Senate did the obvious yesterday in unanimously voting to remove Governor Rod Blagojevich, our 40th governor. His impeachment and quick conviction was almost unprecedented in modern political history. There was no party partisanship in the matter and no one to defend the governor but himself. His helpless effort to go to the people of the nation via television, earlier this week, was truly one of the most pitiful and amazing acts of hubris in recent political history. He will now face a court trial that will send him to prison, thus making him the fourth Illinois governor to go to prison in my lifetime. No wonder this state has a bad reputation politically!

Like many of you I asked myself again and again: "Does this man believe what he is saying?" My honest guess is that he is so out of touch with reality that there is a sense in which he does. President Clinton believed his lies until he was forced […]

A Bold Decision Regarding the Mac

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:54-05:00January 29th, 2009|Categories: Personal|

My cell phone contract was up on Tuesday. (I had used T Mobile for two years and found out it did not give me the coverage and service I wanted.) I knew I wanted a new provider, and chose AT & T, so it was time to consider the two really superior Smart-phones that are on the market: The Blackberry Bold and the Apple iPhone. I have to tell you I have never put much time into making a rather simple decision like this. I generally seek a little advice, check a few phones at the store and buy one. This time I did about four hours of online research (alone) and then about two hours of conversations with sales people at three different retail stores.

First, both of these products are excellent phones. If you really like to have a load of applications, a truly neat screen and some very cool Internet stuff then the iPhone is what you want. If you […]

The Wrestler

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:54-05:00January 28th, 2009|Categories: Film|

David Aronofsky's much heralded movie, The Wrestler, is a true gem. Understand though, the point of the film is not about wrestling, not at all. Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) is a washed-up professional wrestler whose personal life is now truly in the tank. He is searching for some way to find love and to be loved. His girl friend is a stripper played by Marisa Tomei, who has her own issues and trials in dealing with her child as a single parent. Then there is Randy's homosexual daughter, a child he never loved and now wants to connect with in his dark moments. There is a stark sense in which what you see in The Wrestler is human life in the hard track, life in the give-and-take of America, life where faith is missing and hope is all but gone. The ending of the movie is appropriately chilling and powerful. (I will not give it away.)

The realism of this movie is […]

The Problem of Systematic Theology, Part Two

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:54-05:00January 27th, 2009|Categories: The Church|

Serious academic theology has a rightful place in the church. Make no mistake about this fact. Ministers need to be trained to be good students of the Word and of theology. This is mandated by a number of statements we find in the Pastoral Epistles. But this biblical requirement has been met, or supposedly met, by a form of training that has become deeply flawed in many ways.

I am not advocating that we destroy our seminaries. Nor am I advocating that we oppose them or close them. Many have an excellent and well-deserved respect. What I am advocating is a serious renewal in the way we equip ministers and how ministers then serve the church.

Systematic theology has become an end in itself for too many schools and ministers. Because Christians believe God is the ultimate author of the Scripture, which is of course true, they then deduce that humans can build a systematic theological framework that is a reflection […]

Obama's Approval Ratings?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:55-05:00January 26th, 2009|Categories: Culture|

In a culture where we want "instant" everything even I was amazed to read today that there is already a poll out on President Obama's approval rating. "You have to be kidding me," you respond. No, I am dead serious. John F. Kennedy had the highest rating after his first three days in office, at 72%. Obama is tied with Dwight Eisenhower's rating, who enjoyed 68% approval after his first few days in office. Thus Obama has the second highest approval rating since World War II, about the time all this tracking of opinion began.

How can anyone have a "serious" opinion about the president's job approval by now? How can any thinking person even bother respond to such a question/survey. If they surveyed me I would tell them to leave me alone. I am dead serious. This is about the most insane stuff I have read since last Tuesday and the inauguration.

It is this same endless taking of the pulse that harms the church. A pastor can't be on the job for a few […]

The Problem of Systematic Theology, Part One

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:55-05:00January 26th, 2009|Categories: The Church|

Serious theology is generally done by academicians. This is good and bad. I thank God for humble, well-trained, competent academics who use their gifts in service of Christ's kingdom and the church. But there are immense problems with this approach. And make no mistake about it this is not how it always was done. In fact, this is not how it is still done in many places and parts of the world today.

Academic institutions train pastors and leaders to be junior academics, or at least something like an academic. Academics love debate and theological warfare. They can savage those who disagree with them. The smallest details become "hobby horses." But people who are not trained in formal academic ways do the same, following the spirit of the academic but without the training. (They adopt this by reading books and by listening to academics and by becoming "wanna be" academics.) As a rule academics guard turf and ideas. They write and teach about […]

Being Missional Is Not Limited to Church

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:20:55-05:00January 25th, 2009|Categories: Missional Church|

We sometimes get the idea that being missional is only about a particular form or style of church life; e.g. emerging, etc. This is a mistake. Being missional is much more about adopting the attitude and message of the kingdom of Christ, both personally and in the life of a church congregation. This story of a Texas high school football team underscores my point beautifully. See if you don't agree. I loved it.