Blog - Page 210 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Coerced Consensus

By John Armstrong|2008-11-27T05:12:00-06:00November 27th, 2008|Categories: Culture|

Sociologist James Davison Hunter has coined a term that very effectively describes what is going on in our culture in terms of how people are taught to define reality. Hunter writes that there is a "coerced consensus" that comes about through the imposition of a particular viewpoint on a people at large. The ultimate goal of this consensus, adds Bishop Michael Sheridan (Colorado Springs), is "unconscious acceptance." When this happens reality is then defined through the multitude of messages that are fed to us continually through a media saturated culture. Bishop Sheridan believes that this "unconscious acceptance' makes dissent an act of "virtual treason." Through the clever use of media the enemy of our souls has accomplished, in less than one generation, a complete reordering of the moral life of most people, even most Christians. Bishop Sheridan calls this the "principal tool of the culture of death."

This "coerced consensus" permeates our society through television and film stereotypes and an anti-religious social system. When a Christian challenges these messages they are made to feel as if they are […]

Where Did John McCain Go Wrong?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:15-05:00November 26th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

After a general election it is common to ask the question: "How did the losing candidate go wrong?" We often see a myriad of studies and opinions given. I find all of this more than curious since someone always loses an election when there is more than one candidate. The person who loses may have really done very well but the pundits insist there had to be some blame to place on the loser's campaign and party. In the case of John McCain he actually did not do badly in a very hard year for Republican candidates.

For starters we should be very clear about this much. There was no Republican candidate who could have won this election, period. Second, the economic collapse blew up every real chance McCain had to win. He was leading in all the polls in late September and then the crisis hit big time. He never led again. Never has an election taken place […]

The Same-Sex Marriage Debate Continues

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:15-05:00November 25th, 2008|Categories: Abortion|

The ballot initiatives on November 4 demonstrated that Americans are still not ready to embrace same-sex marriage as law. They clearly favor legal protection and recognition, but not marriage. The most surprising vote of all was Proposition 8 in California. And perhaps the most surprising fact of the entire California issue was who voted for and against the measure. White, educated voters supported gay marriage heavily. African-Americans and Hispanics overwhelmingly opposed it. The same voters who supported Barack Obama in large numbers voted against same-sex marriage in very large numbers. Now the radical proponents are attacking groups like the Mormon Church and the Catholic Church, which remains a continual target of such groups.

Arizona and Florida also voted to approve an amendment to ban same-sex marriage, as have more than thirty states now. The simple fact is that most Americans still do not want same-sex marriage as law. For those who agree I would caution you to think that this somehow ends the debate. The […]

Maxed Out

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:15-05:00November 24th, 2008|Categories: Economy/Economics|

Maxed Out is a documentary that every reader of this blog should take time to watch. It takes you on a journey deep inside the American style of debt. Given our present problems we all need to face this crisis honestly. How has the credit crisis impacted you, me and almost everyone else that we know unless they earn $200,000 plus annually. (In one sense even the wealthy are often misusing credit but they can recover in most cases since their income is so large.)

The villains are to be found everywhere. First, the consumer is often clueless. Some of this is clearly their fault. They were never taught to save or to live within their means. They have been taught to spend now and pay later. An entire generation is hooked. Our president has actually encouraged it and Congress tried to stimulate it with checks this year.

Students are hooked in their first year in college and […]

What's Happened to the Campus Greek System?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:16-05:00November 23rd, 2008|Categories: Evangelism|

I was never a big fan of the campus Greek system while I was at the University of Alabama (1967-69). There was just too much silliness and nonsense for my tastes. And when I saw how the Greeks partied and how they "cheated" on exams I became less than impressed.

I was thus surprised to read in a recent AP report that a new fraternity and sorority exists at my old campus in Tuscaloosa. The Lambda Sigma Phi house, right in the middle of fraternity row, is a Christian Greek house. Here Bible study and mission projects trump booze and late night orgies. Lambda Sigma Phi is part of a wave of Christian fraternities and sororities that have gained a foothold on college campuses in America. There are 210 fraternities in this group nationwide. Some of these exist where schools have made it very difficult for them to be accepted. Members of these houses focus on prayer, Bible study and service projects as […]

Obama and the BCS

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:16-05:00November 22nd, 2008|Categories: College Football|

For those of you who are not fans of college football, and you do have my sincere sympathy, you may not have taken notice that our president-elect has a strong opinion regarding the question of how to determine the number one college football team in America. Obama, speaking on CBS' "60 Minutes," recently said, "If you've got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there's no clear, decisive winner. We should be creating a playoff system."

As one who thinks the playoff system is not needed I find it interesting that one of the first places Barack Obama decided to use his "bully pulpit" was related to the question of determining the number one college football team in America. The Bowl Championship Series (BCS), which is the current system that uses rankings and computers to determine who plays who in the bowls and who plays for number one at the end of the season, […]

Conduct and Prayer

By John Armstrong|2008-11-21T05:00:00-06:00November 21st, 2008|Categories: Spirituality|

The relationship between right conduct and prayer is extremely important. I find a lot of people treat prayer as a kind of talisman that helps them when they need it. Their conduct is virtually irrelevant to their prayer(s). The famous English archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple (1881-1944), wrote: "Right relation between conduct and prayer is not that prayer is supremely important and conduct tests it."

Every moment of our life is a moment of crisis, at least in one simple but profound sense. Every decision that we make has an impact upon every other decision and every other action we will take. We must choose constantly between life and death, at least spiritually. We must choose between our purely temporal interests or the eternal order of things in our life. The enemy wants to put God-eclipsing objects between us and the Father. He wants us to understand reality in purely temporal and momentary terms. Live for now! Deal with later only when it comes. Christian conduct and prayer removes the barriers and lives for both now and the […]

Handling Power Is Always Difficult

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:16-05:00November 20th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

I believe it is harder to handle power than it is to pursue it. Politically the Republicans had it in 1994, really had it in 2000, and now have totally lost it. They demonstrated why people who seek it and finally gain it tend to find ways to throw it all away in scandal, greed and personal ambition.

Now the Democrats have it again for the first time since the election of Bill Clinton in 1992. The last time they held it they threw it away on all kinds of issues that turned the people against them quickly. The greatest challenge many feel Barack Obama now faces is how to navigate this use of power. How hard will they pursue their "agenda?" Some leaders say, "We got it, We have to use it." Others say we need to take care of the major issues and only then pursue the lesser ones. President-elect Obama indicated over the weekend that national security and the economy are the two priorities. I hope he means it and I think he does.

[…]

How Good is Alabama?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:16-05:00November 19th, 2008|Categories: College Football|

My college team, Alabama, continues to “roll” along. No one would have guessed that they would be 11-0 at this point in the season. (Looking back one can see that the schedule they played was not nearly as tough as the pre-season projections thought! Most of their opponents have losing records.) But 11-0 still results in an undefeated number one ranked team. If Texas Tech beats Oklahoma at Norman this Saturday expect Texas Tech to jump up to number one next week. It will not matter, so far as Alabama is concerned, since they can still claim the title by winning all their remaining three games.

First, Alabama must play the biggest rivalry game in all of football: The Iron Bowl. This game, against rival Auburn, is always significant for the two schools but few have been more significant to the Crimson Tide than this year's November 29 meeting at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. Not only does Alabama (11-0, 7-0 SEC) […]

At What Time in History Do We Now Live?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:21:16-05:00November 18th, 2008|Categories: Renewal|

Francis Schaeffer referred to our times, some thirty years ago. and asked, "How Then Shall We Live?" I head Schaeffer speak at Wheaton near the end of his life and there was an urgency in his manner and message that was quite striking. I think he saw something that disturbed him very deeply. He looked to the future with genuine concern. While I do not entirely agree with Schaeffer's specific analysis about every point he made at the time I do believe that what he saw is increasingly self-evident to discerning Christians. Our culture, as we have known it in my lifetime of almost sixty years, is rapidly changing. The result is a new era that has been called post-Christian, or more to the point, post-Christendom.

I would like to propose a simple observation here.The church has passed through four major eras of development in terms of the socio-political (cultural) environment in which we have lived and witnessed to the faith that is […]