Blog - Page 260 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The Real Hazzards of Being a Pastor

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:57-05:00August 15th, 2007|Categories: Pastoral Renewal|

I am convinced that most pastors have no idea how hard it is to be faithful and effective for another year, much less for an entire lifetime. I am further convinced that virtually no one outside the pastoral ministry understands what is happening to good pastors in our own time. A recent survey by Dr. Richard A. Blackman, in a dissertation written for Fuller Theological Seminary, underscores my point very well.

1. 75% of pastors surveyed reported having at least one significant crisis due to stress.
2. 80% believed that ministry is affecting their families negatively.
3. 90% felt inadequately trained to meet the demands of their job.
4. 50% felt unable to do their jobs.
5. 37% of pastors had experienced inappropriate sexual contact outside of their marriage.
6. 40% of pastors experience a "serious relational conflict at least once a month." [My view: This is mostly with staff and/or church boards or councils.]
7. 50% of all pastors felt unable to meet the demands of their jobs.

Read those results one more time and you will likely get […]

The Global Warming Debate: Yada, Yada, Yada

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:57-05:00August 14th, 2007|Categories: Science|

I am not a prophet, not even a futurist. I do study trends, now and then, and I try to pay careful attention to popular culture. One thing I am quite sure about: global warming will be a central issue in public debates and political campaigns for some time to come. It has become the Apocalypse Now issue of our generation. (Overpopulation, the nuclear threat and global cooling did it only a few decades ago.) The simple premise, virtually unchallenged in many places, is that we are all destroying the planet. If we do not stop it now we are doomed to wreak havoc everywhere and kill millions of animals and people. Only calloused, cold-hearted, paleo-cons would be willing to battle such "hard" scientific facts and not support all moral efforts to save the earth.

Just last week Newsweek, generally a fairly moderate news source, had a cover story that provided a first-class object lesson about this debate. The story reduced the battle to one between the "good guys" and the "bad guys" and you can easily guess who is who without even […]

The Ninth Day: Facing Moral Dilemma Honestly

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:58-05:00August 13th, 2007|Categories: Film|

Too often Christians treat real moral dilemma as if decisions are always neat and easy to arrive at in one’s conscience. Such is not the case in real life. This reality is underscored powerfully by The Ninth Day (2004), a gripping true story that takes film-making to the highest and most dramatic moral levels. German director Volker Schlöndorff has taken the diary of Father Henri Kremer (a fictitious pen name) and turned his story into an amazing film account of a priest imprisoned in the infamous Dackau camp during World War II. While the priest clings to life, in all its fragility, his faith fades under real pressure and imminent death. But a Gestapo officer by the name of Gerhardt, a young and ruthless lapsed Catholic seminarian, arranges for a nine-day release in order to persuade Henri to convince his anti-Nazi Bishop to support the Nazi occupation by a more lenient approach. If Henri can succeed both he and his family will be free and united again.

Part of the compelling story-line here is that the Gestapo officer did his thesis on […]

Baseball, Faith and the Devil

By John Armstrong|2007-08-12T11:51:20-05:00August 12th, 2007|Categories: Baseball|

Cincinnati Reds rookie Josh Hamilton is currently on the Disabled List (DL) but he has already enjoyed a good first season, hitting .279, with 14 homers and 30 RBIs. Hamilton, a 26 year-old left handed hitting outfielder, revealed in a recent interview with Tim Keown in ESPN The Magazine, that he found a unique way to deal with his terrible cocaine addiction.

Suspended by Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2004, Josh Hamilton simply could not break his habit. He did stints in rehab but lived in the grip of his serious addiction. As he now relates the story he spent an evening at his grandmother’s home after a crack cocaine binge and had a dream that changed his life. “I was fighting the devil, an awful looking thing. I had a stick or a bat or something, and every time I hit the devil he’d fall back and get up. Over and over I hit him, until I was exhausted and he was still standing.” He awoke, sweating, and then walked into his grandmother’s room and crawled under the covers with her. […]

The Brave Story of a Child of Islamic Martyrs

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:58-05:00August 11th, 2007|Categories: Islam|

Now They Call me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror
Nonie Darwish.
Sentinel, Penguin Books (2006)
Cloth, 258 pages, $23.95

A Book Review by Shirley W. Madany

From my first encounter with Nonie Darwish, through her articles and web site, I felt that she was someone special. I was attracted by her open and obvious love for America. That web site disappeared, only to reappear as www.arabsforisrael.com , with its unique opening statement:

To Muslims and Arabs across the globe: Reject hate, embrace love. Bring out the best in Islam by showing your compassion, gratitude and forgiveness. Make the holy land truly holy by giving Israel and the Jewish people the respect they deserve in their tiny little country. This is not a crisis over land. It is a crisis of the soul; a crisis in our faith, judgment and self confidence. Israel should not be regarded as an enemy, but as a blessing to our neighborhood. We need not fear peace, but embrace it.

These are remarkable words coming from […]

The ELCA: "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:58-05:00August 10th, 2007|Categories: Homosexuality|

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has been meeting this week at Navy Pier in Chicago. The big-issue has once again been the attempt to legitimate homosexual practice among clergy. This issue will divide the church for certain. But those who propose the acceptance of the practice officially have shown no concern about church unity at all. They believe that this is an issue of justice and thus it is time for the church to repent and embrace their sexual identity and practice.

On Tuesday 80 gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans-gendered ministers attacked what they called a present policy of "don’t ask, don’t tell." This policy, in effect, allows some latitude for such clergy so long as these ministers do not openly create divisions in their churches that bring about opposition. But this policy is not enough for the aggressive activists. They want a church-wide policy that embraces their lifestyle as biblically and morally ethical. Many of those who openly displayed their opposition to the ELCA on Tuesday are part of the Extraordinary Candidacy Project, a group of ordained gay clergy […]

Sweet Land: One of the Sweetest Movies of the Year

By John Armstrong|2007-08-09T11:07:14-05:00August 9th, 2007|Categories: Film|

If you as sick of the boy meets girl and “hooks up” for a hot evening of passion, and falls in love (?) for ever and ever, but then not quite, then you will love Sweet Land. I did. This is the kind of movie that should have gotten an Academy Award nomination or two but would never have a chance since it was produced on a small budget and had no money for advertising. But don’t let that fool you. It is one of the finest movies of 2006 and was released on DVD in July of this year.

Sweet Land is a gentle period-piece based upon A Gravestone Made of Wheat, a short-story written by Will Weaver. The film explores the lives of early 20th century Norwegian immigrant farmers in Minnesota, just after the end of World War I. Written and directed by the son of Egyptian immigrants, Ali Selim, it bears the rich marks of the immigrant experience in a powerful and transcendent way. It is a gorgeous film, a nearly perfectly told story and extremely intelligent. What Selim […]

756: The Milestone and My Thoughts

By John Armstrong|2007-08-08T11:44:36-05:00August 8th, 2007|Categories: Uncategorized|

As baseball fans, and even many non-fans, know by now Barry Bonds hit career home run number 756 last evening in San Francisco, breaking the 33 year-old record of my childhood hero, Hank Aaron. The controversy surrounding this event has been huge. A great deal of this, as usual, was media-generated. Before we put this to rest I want to share a few reflections on the day after the famous long ball.

1. This new record will likely not stand for another 33 years. In fact, if Alex Rodriguez does not have serous injuries he will break it in less than ten years! If he doesn’t break it a half dozen others will challenge it in the next twenty years; e.g., Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, etc.

2. Barry Bonds actually handled himself fairly well during the last part of this home run chase. He was cordial, not sullen as he was for so many years, and seemed to have some measure of peace about it all.

3. Hank Aaron should not be faulted for not being present last night. His […]

Albert Ellis and the Birth of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:58-05:00August 7th, 2007|Categories: Counseling|

Albert Ellis (1913-2007) died a few days age. He was the father of a counseling method called Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. When he was only 19 years old he devised a therapeutic technique to help him deal with his personal shyness. He sat on a park bench at the New York Botanical Gardens and decided to speak to every woman who sat down alone. Over the course of one month 30 women walked away but 100 stayed and chatted with him. This direct approach led him to believe that emotional hang-ups could be altered by discipline and rational choices. The National Institute of Mental Health says that today more than two-thirds of all therapists in the U.S. use this method in their counseling. When you consider where we were before Ellis, with the influence of Freudianism so strong, this is nothing less than a massive shift. It was Ellis who famously referred to Freud’s doctrines as "horseshit." He got that right.

No matter what a person had suffered or struggled with in the past Ellis argued that "Neurosis is a high-class name […]

You Can't Control Community but You Can Nurture It

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:22:58-05:00August 6th, 2007|Categories: The Church|

Thankfully large numbers of Christians are coming to understand that individualistic lifestyles are sub-Christian at best. In some cases they are anti-Christian, at least when they become utterly self-centered. The emerging generation, and the postmodern social and cultural context, have both reminded us that we need people, people in community and people in families. This is more than a new mantra. It is fundamental to our identity as creatures made in the image of the triune God, a God who enjoys community within himself as a trinity of persons. Further, God made the solitary to live in the family and he created the family to be the original community designed for life together. And he made Israel and the Church to be living communities.

What is hard for so many who are pursuing participation in community with new joy is to understand is that they cannot control community. You can’t even make it happen or create it, all tendencies my generation thinks it can manage. No, you can’t control community but you can nurture it. Find it and enter into it. Accept […]