Blog - Page 255 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Jimmy Carter, Palestine and Peace

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:39-05:00October 23rd, 2007|Categories: Israel|

Since the year of my birth coincides with the birth of of the modern state of Israel I have had more than a passing interest in matters related to the Middle East for my entire lifetime. As a young boy I was taught that Israel came into being by an act of God, not an act of the United Nations. (I believe in providence but that is not my point here at all.) I also heard that the whole land belongs to the Jews and thus to no one else. (Only later did I discover that both of these premises were extremely debatable conclusions and that the border issue was beyond any reasonable conclusion that could be drawn from the pages of the Bible.) Once I gave up Christian Zionist interpretations of the Old Testament, in the 1960s, I began to study the question of Israel with renewed interest. I read histories, polemical volumes for and against Israel, and watched as each decade passed with no leader able to solve the tensions and crisis that rages over the existence and safety of Israel. I […]

The Great College Football Shuffle

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:40-05:00October 22nd, 2007|Categories: College Football|

I think pre-season rankings for college football teams is about the biggest waste of time in sports’ journalism. I have before me the cover story of Sports Illustrated, August 20, 2007. I check it each week. It listed the Top Ten teams for the pre-season. Currently four teams are in the Top Ten that are listed in the pre-season rankings: LSU, Virginia Tech. West Virginia and Oklahoma. 40% of the prognosis was right. And some people, like me, still buy these magazines and read them with real interest. I guess it proves that real fans like to see what the "experts" think before the first game is played. I wonder how these magazines impact teenage college students who play these games.

Anyway, some of the pre-season Top Ten are not even close right now. Louisville and Wisconsin are two examples of this category. And No. 1 rated Ohio State was not even listed in the Top Ten pre-season, coming in at No. 11 in the Sports Illustrated listing. Boston College is No. 2 and was unrated in the pre-season poll. And Arizona […]

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:40-05:00October 19th, 2007|Categories: Film|

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (PG-13) has been panned and criticized very widely by the vast majority of movie critics. I have read several dozen reviews online and most found the film a poorly written soap opera at best. I profoundly disagree. Maybe it is my own history background and maybe it is my love of pageantry but I rather liked the film. I would not rate it a “must see” but you could do much, much worse, especially if you have an interest in a very important time period in English history.

Starring Cate Blanchett (Queen Elizabeth), Clive Owen (Sir Walter Raleigh), Geoffrey Rush and Abbie Cornish, the film runs for only 115 minutes. It is directed by Shekhar Kapur, who also directed Elizabeth (1998), the film which covered the early years of the Queen’s famous reign and how she came to power. Sequels are often built on smaller budgets, and this film is no exception. For this reason alone one expects less than the earlier film delivered, which was itself quite magnificent at the time.

“The Golden Age” refers […]

A Discussion on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

By John Armstrong|2007-10-18T19:51:38-05:00October 18th, 2007|Categories: Personal|

A great deal is being done, over the past six months or so, to teach Americans in general, and patients who suffer indescribably in particular, about Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS). Tomorrow morning, October 19, at 8:35 a.m. CDT, I will be on the Chicago station (WMBI) of the Moody Network with several other guests talking about CFIDS, an illness I have struggled with for nearly ten years now. The panel will include an expert physician and several others that I have not met or had dialog with previously. If you live in the Chicago region you can hear this on 90.1 FM. I am not certain of this but you may be able to hear it on the Internet. Check out the Moody Network site and see what you can find. I will also try to get the link from Moody and put it on the ACT 3 site eventually.

A Mighty Heart

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:44-05:00October 18th, 2007|Categories: Film|

A Mighty Heart is a fine film, based upon the true story of the abduction and death of journalist Daniel Pearl. Pearl was based in Pakistan just after the events of 9/11. A Mighty Heart came out on DVD this week and thus I watched it last evening. Angelina Jolie plays the role of Pearl’s widow, Mariane. I have to believe that this is the best performance she has ever rendered in her illustrious, though brief, career. Like Jolie or not, on a purely personal level, she captures the character of Mariane with perfect emotion and real nuance. She is also surrounded by an excellent cast and a brilliant director. Jolie appears in almost every speaking scene in the movie so her role is demanding. The filming was done in less than a month and most of it in a small space with hand-held cameras. This is a beautiful film that serious adults should watch.

Daniel Pearl, as most of you know, was a Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped by Islamic terrorists. After a little less than a month in captivity […]

Coach Lloyd Carr’s Philosophy

By John Armstrong|2007-10-18T09:21:33-05:00October 18th, 2007|Categories: Uncategorized|

I have posted several comments on Coach Charlie Weis in recent days. I am not a huge Notre Dame fan, to no one’s surprise. But I am not exactly a huge Michigan fan either. But I have an entirely different feeling about Michigan, one which respects their history (past and present), especially in terms of how they have dealt with their coaches and how they handle their product, which is entertainment and big business these days. (That is what college football really is if you are honest about it. The really big programs bring dollars into the larger university programs, both athletic and academic.)

Anyway, Coach Lloyd Carr is under fire right now for losing the first two games of this season to Appalachian State and Oregon. He has since recovered and won five games. Michigan will not (likely) finish in the Top Ten, as predicted in the silly pre-season polls. But they will have a better than average season when all is said and done. I respect Lloyd Carr. He handles both success and adversity with a class that is admirable […]

More Irish Football Humor for Real College Football Fans

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:44-05:00October 18th, 2007|Categories: College Football|

I mean no personal offense to good Notre Dame fans but a new You Tube video clip is an ingenious spoof reflecting how we non-Irish fans feel about the past few years of ND football. If the polls did not consistently over-rate Notre Dame football some of us devoted college fans might feel some measure of sympathy but the silly bravado needs to stop don’t you think? A little humility, at this point in the year, would go a long way. Watch this clip and tell me you didn’t laugh, unless: (1) You are such a big ND fan that you have no humor left in you, or; (2) You do not love college football the way I do and grow weary of the ND hype year-after-year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Y7yjxJVlc

Can It Get Worse for Charlie Weis?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:44-05:00October 17th, 2007|Categories: College Football|

Charlie Weis, coach of the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, is presently enduring a 1-6 season. This is bad enough for devoted football fans of the Irish. What is even worse is that this is a big rivalry week for the Irish since USC comes to South Bend. An upset is possible but very unlikely. While Notre Dame has improved a little bit in recent weeks they will likely suffer through one of the worst seasons in school history.

I brought up Charlie Weis in a blog a few weeks ago because I have no respect for him as a coach or as an individual. I explained why in that post. Alumni of the Irish are now engaged in an open war about Weis and more fuel was added to the fire this week when former NFL, and Fighting Irish, lineman Bob Kuechenberg referred to Weis as "rude, curt, and abrasive to his friends and fellow alumni." It appears Kuechenberg said what few are willing to say since Weis has a long-term contract to coach at Notre Dame and fans want him to […]

Celebrating an Orthodox Minister's Life and Labors

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:44-05:00October 16th, 2007|Categories: The Trinity|

Sunday afternoon I preached in Winthrop, Minnesota, at Faith United Church. Faith is a union church, which means it consists of several historic congregations joined together by a union as one church. It is now affiliated with the United Church of Christ (UCC) but it remains an orthodox and evangelical church. The pastor, Eric Haugen, has faithfully served there for many years. Eric is a graduate of the University of Chicago Divinity School and was ordained twenty-five years ago. The reason for my visit Sunday was to preach at his 25th year celebration of his ordination.

What makes Eric’s ordination unique, so far as I am concerned at least, is that he was ordained a Unitarian and after fifteen years as a Unitarian minister, he became a Trinitarian and entered the ministry of the Methodist Church in the process. Eric and I met through our 1999 Word and Spirit Conference in Dubuque, Iowa. He was still searching for solid Trinitarian, evangelical friends and in the process came to our event. I have since been to Winthrop three times to speak for Eric […]

Popular Catholic Apologists Often Get It Wrong

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:44-05:00October 11th, 2007|Categories: Roman Catholicism|

Readers of this blog site know that I engage in open dialog and friendship with numerous Catholic priests and theologians. I have read Catholic theology for years and even taught it. I sometimes make critical references to the conservative right within evangelicalism, with comments to the effect that I am not convinced of the popular arguments employed by some conservatives. I have also made passing reference to the conservative right in the Roman Catholic Church. The danger in using these types of labels is that they can slander and misrepresent the views of truly wonderful Christian people. I don’t like them but sometimes they seem appropriate. Today was one such day for me

Now I bring this up because I quite often listen to Relevant Radio, the Catholic radio network in the U.S. I have actually gone so far as to meet several of the personalities associated with Relevant Radio through public forums and private phone calls. I think, for example, that Dr. Ray Gurendi is one of the finest practical Christian counselors I have ever heard, period. I find several other […]