Blog - Page 209 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Tim Tebow is the Best College Player

By John Armstrong|2008-12-07T04:58:00-06:00December 7th, 2008|Categories: College Football|

I know Sam Bradford is good and so is Colt McCoy but I do not understand how any of them can beat Tim Tebow for the Heisman Trophy this season after watching Tebow single handedly beat Alabama 31-20 yesterday in the SEC Championship game. Alabama has a great defense—quick, fast and well-coached. No team in the Big-12 has a defense like this. And Tebow simply took over the game in the fourth quarter with Alabama leading 20-17 at the time. If you love great football then you had ot love this game. It had a bit of everything. I felt Florida would win but not easily. I was right.

I am not too sad about this loss. I believe Florida will win the chamionship game. I never felt Alabama would come this far, at least this fast, anyway. Now the Tide appears headed to the Sugar Bowl and to a date with undefeated Utah. 13-1 would be a dream season frankly. Utah may be a […]

Frazier vs. Ali

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:14-05:00December 6th, 2008|Categories: College Football|

People in my generation, even if they were not fans of boxing for a number of different reasons, recall the famous fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. I was actually invited to see the most famous fight on a closed-circuit broadcast in a Chicago area theater. I will always remember the electricity and emotion of that evening. It is a part of sport's legend in my lifetime.

The Alabama vs. Florida SEC Championship game today (3 p.m. CST)
on CBS has been called, by analyst and former-star quarterback Gary Danielson, "Frazier vs. Ali" in college football. This may be hype to amp up the ratings for CBS but it rings true for me as a fan of the game and a die-hard Crimson Tide fan. How could you get so much in one game? A conference championship game between the top two teams in America and the winner advances […]

Why Does Recession Happen?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:14-05:00December 5th, 2008|Categories: Economy/Economics|

The talk of a prolonged recession is on all our minds these days. Though there is no "official" proof that we are in a recession yet, since it requires two consecutive down quarters to establish a recession, there is no doubt that we are presently in one and that the results of this one will be deeper than any most of us have ever known. Unemployment is rising every month, consumer confidence is in a virtual free-fall, and spending is down. In an economy in which 70% of the action is found in sales this is a very bad sign. So what makes an economy go into such a recession?

The National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonpartisan body of economists, determines the official start and end dates of a recession, using a range of data. The bottom line, no pun intended, is that a recession is a prolonged and significant decline in economic activity. These […]

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:14-05:00December 4th, 2008|Categories: Film|

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is one of the most moving films I've seen in a long while. I doubt the critics will acknowledged it as they should but it is a four-star film to me. (Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 64% rating, which is pretty good for the ratings of professional critics!) Only one other film that deals with the Holocaust from the perspective of a child's viewpoint comes remotely close. Life Is Beautiful (1998), starring Roberto Benigni. It has ranked as my favorite such film but now I have to put this new Disney film in the same genre and give it just as high a rating. This film is good enough to see in the theater before it comes out on DVD. It has already received a Heartland "Truly Moving Picture Award" and deservedly so. It is family approved for ages 12 and above. I think this is about right. Young children could not handle the dark side of the Holocaust […]

What Must a Christian Believe?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:14-05:00December 3rd, 2008|Categories: Unity of the Church|

Having recently completed a book, Your Church Is Too Small, I have given a great deal of thought to the question: "What must a Christian believe?" The answer to this question is the very basis upon which we can experience the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace with other Christians, even other Christians who believe much more, or much less, than we confess.

It seems that the most common objection to relational unity with other Christians is based upon a prior question, "What must we believe in order to enter into a relationship in Christ that does not compromise the historic Christian faith in any essential way?" Doctrine matters because Christianity is more than a relationship. It is a relationship, and it includes a vital experience that comes in being united with the living Christ by the Holy Spirit. But this relationship and experience is rooted in teaching, or doctrine. If you do not have a doctrinal basis for this […]

The Hour I First Believed

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:15-05:00December 2nd, 2008|Categories: Books|

Wally Lamb has written two hugely successful best-selling novels: She's Come Undone and I Know This Much. He has been called "a modern-day Dostoevsky" because his characters are introspective and search for a "mocking, sadistic God" in the process of coming to grips with life.

Lamb's new novel, recently released after some ten years in the making, is over 700 pages long and titled: The Hour I First Believed. The new book deals with tragedy in general and the teen killings at Columbine in particular. While Lamb was writing this novel 9/11 shattered our daily lives in an unusual way. Then this horror was followed by the widening war in Iraq and Afghanistan and Hurricane Katrina. Says Lamb, "I worried this novel into existence." A reporter writes that at one point Lamb was so vexed that he offered to pay back a large royalty advance and give up the entire project.

Lamb believes the media did not portray the shooters at […]

Oliver Stone's W.

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:15-05:00December 1st, 2008|Categories: Film|

The film producer Oliver Stone has made more than his share of biopics that have created considerable controversy. Some of his films feature elements that are intentionally mythic and hugely debatable. I have seen most of Stone's films, movies like Nixon, JFK and the war movies. Stone's most recent film is W. I was certain when I saw that this film was being released that I would not like it, at least until I began to read a few reviews. I then saw it several weeks ago and found it a sympathetic and engaging portrait that plays with some really big ideas that make President George W. Bush look like a personable and warmly human figure who is also tragic. I then saw Governor Mike Huckabee interview Oliver Stone on his Fox News Channel program. I found the interview very interesting. To hear Stone explain what he was trying to accomplish in this film and how he wrote and produced it was quite convincing to […]

The Blood of the Martyrs

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:15-05:00November 30th, 2008|Categories: The Persecuted Church|

There were more martyrs for the Christian faith in the last century than in any previous century. I am not totally sure about this fact but I think there were possibly more martyrs in the 20th century than in all the previous 19 centuries total. This fact is clear: martyrdom is still a major trial for the church and there is little or no evidence that it is declining in the 21st century.

My good friend Dr. Timothy George is the Dean of Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama.
Beeson Divinity School is one of my top-five schools for training ministers in America. It is evangelical, ecumenical and outward looking in an unusual way. It has a superb faculty and is a great place to get into a smallish community of learners and worshipers. I have frequently recommended Beeson and not one student I have urged to enroll there has […]

Does Christianity Foster Hate?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:15-05:00November 29th, 2008|Categories: Christ/Christology|

There can be no doubt that certain kinds of Christianity have fostered hate. This has been true historically and it is still true in some places today. I am not speaking of "hate crimes" as defined by secular legal minds in our own time but rather of the type of hatred that makes people see Christians and Christianity as mean-spirited.

I am convinced that the good news of Jesus, properly understood, never breeds a hateful faith, only a gracious faith. The reason for this is that Jesus himself is at the center of real faith and Jesus never modeled hate speech or mean actions. He was firm, especially with religious conservatives who failed to keep the spirit of the law, but he was never mean. He exemplified love and grace and always displayed the virtues of love, patience, meekness and humility in his dealings with people. Since he is our model we should do the same, in so far as we follow him.

What I am really saying is that faith is primarily relational. This […]

Benedict XVI Gets It Right

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:15-05:00November 28th, 2008|Categories: Abortion|

Yesterday I wrote about how the abortion issue has shifted within our culture. I suggested that we needed to take a new approach to creating a culture of life and to the end of saving as many of the unborn as possible.

First some history. Evangelicals came to the pro-life issue several years after Roman Catholics. They initially even showed a willingness to accept it until people like C. Everett Koop, Francis Schaeffer and Harold O. J. Brown began to inform them of their mistakes. Then evangelicals responded the way they often respond. They got emotionally and passionately involved. Some even made this the "single most important issue" of our time. The rhetoric employed made it sound like a Nazi-like holocaust was unfolding in the United States. This approach, in my view, made things worse. Even if you believe that a real human life is taken in an abortion, and I strongly do, serious ethical consideration will force you to approach this issue […]