Blog - Page 238 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Homeschooling and Personal Freedom

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:05-05:00March 14th, 2008|Categories: Education|

Homeschooling, in various forms, is no longer seriously controversial. Most state governments have come to peace with the practice. I lived through an era when this was not the case (the 1970s). Our children were schooled in public schools, private schools and home school. My wife was a certified Illinois teacher, as was my son. Both taught in the public schools as Christians and had positive experiences in doing so. But both of us chose to home school at certain points in our journey. My grandchildren are currently homeschooled by their mom Adriana, who is not a certified teacher but is a brilliant and self-disciplined teacher if I ever met one. The girls, Gracie and Abbie, are also as bright and well-balanced as they can be, if I do say so myself. (A grandfather is allowed to write this, but in this case it really is true!)

Homeschooling parents can be insufferably difficult people in local church settings. Stereotypically they can be opinionated […]

Check It Out

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:09-05:00March 13th, 2008|Categories: Missional Church|

Don’t forget the new site on the missional Church. Today’s post deals with the "emergent church" discussion. I reflected on this when I was asked a question about this movement in a seminary class in Florida on Tuesday. This site, www.transformissionalchurch.com, is entirely devoted to the purpose and vision of ACT 3:

ACT 3 is a ministry to advance the missional mandate of the Lord Jesus Christ in the third millennium through the witness of Scripture and the wisdom of the Christian Tradition.

I hope you will visit the new site and even consider bookmarking it. I post on the new site a little less frequently but the purpose is more narrow and specific to the mission ACT 3 advances.

If you have not visited the main site of ACT 3 (www.act3online.com) there are a number of new features there as well. We now have not only a weekly podcast and article, called the ACT 3 Weekly, but […]

Creativity Can Be Overrated

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:09-05:00March 13th, 2008|Categories: Personal|

I write a lot. I speak a lot. And I teach a lot. I also share with a lot of time thinking with other people and problem solving. My work is emotionally draining but physically fairly passive. (That’s why I need to push myself to exercise or I will not do it.)

But the truth is I do not think I am a creative person at all. Creativity generally refers to artistic or intellectual inventiveness. Generally highly creative people are very imaginative. I honestly do not think that I have any of these gifts, at least in abundance. When I meet someone who does I am always a bit in awe. But I do work at it. And frankly I think creativity is very overrated.

In a sense that few realize all of us have a creative side, though it may never be used by some. I believe that it is a very important part of your living well and becoming […]

Pastors and Pornography

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:09-05:00March 12th, 2008|Categories: Pastoral Renewal|

I wrote a book, The Stain That Stays,
that deals with the problem of sexually fallen pastors and Christian leaders. I argue that in most every case the minister should resign and only after a long time, and in some cases never, return to pastoral care and leadership. This is not the place to further advance that argument. If you like you can read the book. It is available at our resource link at ACT 3 Online.

Perhaps the most frequently asked question I have gotten over the years is not about adultery in the ministry at all. It is about pornography and addiction to pornography. I wish to make it clear that I do not think this is a small problem. The numbers that I have seen suggest a large number of male ministers are addicted. This presents serious problems to an effective and truly powerful ministry. For one thing most men who are addicts are unable to preach with […]

The Crisis in Quebec and the Lessons It Offers to Us

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:09-05:00March 10th, 2008|Categories: Culture|

Charles Colson is always interesting. I sometimes disagree with his diagnosis but then he is likely closer to the truth on many of these subjects than I am. (I sincerely mean this. I respect Chuck Colson immensely and agree with him about 95% of the time, which is more than I sometimes agree with myself on a really good day!) Chuck wrote a piece today, on PFM’s Breakpoint site, that is one of the more insightful pieces he has written in some time. It goes along well with previous blog on Harry Truman and the spiritual foundation for strong democracy. It is titled; "On the Cusp of a Crisis." He shows how the province of Quebec became secular and what the result has been in the past few years. Anyone who believes that there needs to be nothing but freedom of choice in all moral circumstances should read this very carefully. It is a great argument for the role of both Church and state. […]

Harry S. Truman: A Different Kind of President

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:10-05:00March 10th, 2008|Categories: History|

President Harry S. Truman was a very different kind of politician. First, he could not be bought by special interests and thus spoke his mind pretty openly. He wasn’t called "Give ’em hell Harry" for nothing. Second, he did what was necessary to bring an end to World War II and by his actions allowed history to judge him. I think, as awful was the atom bomb was and still is, he made the right choice given what the resistance of Japan still meant to the world, and to our troops, at the time. Third, he was a committed believer in the essential philosophy that stood behind the American experiment, namely democracy. Truman believed that freedom of the people, by the people and for the people was at the heart of who we were as a people. I find few who understand or believe this very deeply in our time.

President Truman once said:

Democracy is, first and foremost, […]

Radical Freedom, Infectious Joy and Surprising Faithfulness

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:10-05:00March 10th, 2008|Categories: The Christian Minister/Ministry|

Tomorrow I get to spend about five hours or so with my friend Steve Brown.
Many of you know Steve, either from one of his books or from his Key Life radio ministry. Perhaps you’ve heard him interview me on one of his Steve Brown, Etc. programs on the ACT 3 Web site. However you’ve met Steve you either like him or despise him. The reaction is hardly ever neutral. Steve touches people’s buttons pretty directly.

When I first heard Steve Brown, at a Ligonier Conference some years ago, I thought he was a rank antinomian the way he spoke about radical freedom and grace. I remember writing on an evaluation form and suggesting he not be invited back! So much for first impressions.

Later I heard Steve again, in a different context, and his message connected powerfully. This only happened when I hit a wall in my life and was knocked off my high horse of performance and brought down […]

Some Ruminations from Sunny Florida

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:12-05:00March 9th, 2008|Categories: Personal|

I previously mentioned my plans to spend some days in sunny Florida for vacation and baseball. The whole experience has been a wonderful time. I have seen four baseball games with my daughter. I also ran/walked a 5K Disney race yesterday. Actually, fast walking with a little jogging would be the right term to use for what I did. It was my first competitive race of this sort, even though I once ran distance in my 20s and 30s for fun. My goal was 45 minutes for the 3.1 miles. (I am slow!) I did it in 41.20, which rather amazed me. There were about a 1,500 plus or so runners and walkers. It was for the Kidney Foundation charity. There was something about that early morning experience that I am still pondering even tonight as I rest in my room. I am quite sure I will do this again though I have no plans to become a serious competitive runner. I am too old and there is not enough time to devote to it. My goal is to improve fitness, period. But the […]

The Libertarian Movement: What Most Christians Do Not Understand

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:12-05:00March 4th, 2008|Categories: Politics|

Libertarianism got some serious press time over the past few
months because of the campaign of Congressman Ron Paul. I personally found many
of my Christian friends were energized by Ron Paul’s message. I also found that few of
these same people understood a great deal about libertarian philosophy. They liked
Ron Paul’s views of money and the gold standard and they liked a great
deal of his commonsense approach to personal freedoms and liberty in general. He sounded reasonable,
even Christian to many of these good folks.

So, what really is libertarianism? It has two distinct historical phases in
American thought. The first phase arose in a radical nineteenth century version that was strongly opposed to Marx. It actually fostered varieties of "individualistic anarchism." In American it spread through the writing and work of Lysander Spooner (1808-1887) who argued for the substantial unconstitutionality of most American law. […]

A Nostalgic Look Back

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:12-05:00March 3rd, 2008|Categories: Personal|

My son and daughter-in-law gave me a wonderful birthday card this weekend. It is one of these booklets that gives a "Remember When . . . 1949." I had fun looking over it for a day or two and then wavered from feeling very old to being truly nostalgic. The booklet begins by saying "The richness of life lies in the memories we have forgotten." I’m not so sure. Some things should be forgotten.

In my birth month the first automatic street lights were used in New Milford, CT. The first Polaroid camera was sold in 1949 for $89.95, a very high price at the time. And the first practical rectangular television tube was announced in Toledo, OH. RCA released its first 45 rpm single record that year and developed a system for color television, which didn’t become feasible until about a decade later. Rock music, as such, was still a few years away.

In world news the Soviet Union […]