Blog - Page 265 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The Call of the Entrepreneur

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:03-05:00June 18th, 2007|Categories: Culture|

I referred, in a blog from the Acton University last week, to a new movie produced by Acton Institute that I saw in Grand Rapids. This film is titled "The Call of the Entrepreneur" and is 58 minutes long. It features the story of three people: a merchant banker, a failing dairy farmer in West Michigan, and a refugee from Communist China who built a successful and lucrative business in Hong Kong. The banker risked his savings, the farmer risked his entire dairy farm and the man from China risked his very life. Each had a goal of using their money and time to serve God as entrepreneurs. Each sacrificed and dreamed. Each succeeded and thus provides for us a moving story of what the spirit of the entrepreneur really is all about.

But why do these types of stories really matter? For the simple reason that the way we view such entrepreneurs, as greedy capitalists or as altruistic servants, will determine how we view the destiny of both people and nations. Are such actions virtuous or vicious? I was so moved […]

Economic Myths and Emergent Christian Thought

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:03-05:00June 16th, 2007|Categories: Culture|

Popular, but widely believed, economic myths abound in every age. Some are harmless while others are actually dangerous, harming whole societies through the loss of personal freedom and the genuine opportunity to express human creativity. (Consider the human devastation of communism, primarily a failed economic theory.) Christians are not immune to these bad theories. This is often true because Christians sincerely want to address the issue of poverty in light of the major biblical witness about loving justice and pursuing the well-being of the poor.

I have seen the really truly poor, up close and in very graphic ways. My two long trips which took me to a number of places in India in the 1980s have allowed me to see what the poor of the world really face every day. What is needed among the really poor is water, food, clothing and shelter, the basic necessities of life. In India the issue is not better schools and better classrooms, the issue in India is education in any form at all. But since I was in India in the 1980s the situation […]

Protestantism and Natural Law Theory

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:03-05:00June 15th, 2007|Categories: Church History|

Protestantism has an odd history, at least over the last two hundred or so years, with regard to the doctrine of natural law. Catholics, on the other hand, have a rich intellectual history with regard to this subject. One of the excellent seminars that I attended at Acton University yesterday was taught by Dr. Stephen J. Grabill, a staff member of Acton who is also a research scholar in theology with the Institute and the editor of the Journal of Markets & Morality. His most recent book, Rediscovering the Natural Law in Reformed Theological Ethics, was recently published by Eerdmans and is an important contribution on the natural law debate.

What then is natural law? Dr. Grabill defined it as “the foundational principles of morality that are not only right for all, but at some level known to all.” It equates, in some sense, with the biblical reference to “a law written on the heart.” It is an appeal to all mankind that establishes foundational principles of morality known to reason and conscience. Christians do not believe that men know God savingly […]

More Sights and Sounds at Acton University

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:03-05:00June 15th, 2007|Categories: Culture|

The diversity of the Acton University gathering in Grand Rapids is nothing less than amazing. I have met entrepreneurs from all over the planet, as well as ministers, lawyers, educators and retired businessmen. I shared a meal with a young Hungarian woman Wednesday evening who is a news editor related to the Vatican. Her personal story, and that of her Hungarian friend who grew up a Communist, moved me deeply. I have met PCUSA and UCC ministers who clearly stand outside the mainstream thought forms of their respective denominations. At lunch yesterday I met a young Asian graduate student at the University of California in Berkeley who got her last degree at Westminster Seminary in California before moving to Berkeley. Her journey in doctoral work will be an important one I am sure. She understood my own sectarian roots, having lived in that same world as a student, and she relished the opportunity to ask new questions and grow in the world she has now entered. (I want to introduce her to friends in the Berkeley community who will be a great blessing to […]

Integrity, Virtue and Vision in the World of Business

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:15-05:00June 14th, 2007|Categories: Culture|

The relationship between integrity, virtue and vision is not often developed in the business world. Yesterday the Acton University experience afforded me a unique opportunity to understand better why such a relationship fosters both free markets and free people. The moral dimension is critical to both sound economics and entrepreneurial leadership. This is one of several ways that Acton brings together the worlds of faith and freedom.

Last evening Mr. Jeff Sandefer, a Texas businessman who twice made a fortune and then sold his hugely profitable companies, shared his own story: “A Journey from Pride to Gratitude.” It felt a little like being back in the world I experienced growing up in Tennessee or the world I saw when I visited my businessman-farmer uncle in northeast Texas. Jeff is a down-to-earth humble guy who has made enough mistakes to fill a book. Divorced, filled with himself and his accomplishments, and determined to follow a course of running from God at several junctures in his life, he again and again met the God of all grace who called him to radical faithfulness and gratitude. […]

"What is Man?" Why the Answer Profoundly Matters

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:15-05:00June 13th, 2007|Categories: Culture|

The Acton Institute (www.acton.org) was begun through the vision of two men in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1990. It exists for the study of democracy and liberty in order to promote a free society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles. Acton’s major contribution is in training young professionals such as ministers, lawyers and business leaders, often while they are engaged in their graduate studies. The goal is to help such young leaders learn how to think clearly about the virtues of a free and faith-based society. This includes demonstrating why the “good life” requires both liberty and virtue.

I am attending my second Acton University, this time as an active Acton blogger. This means that I will be writing about various subjects related to this event over the course of the next several days. I will seek to report in a first-person manner on the overall event as well as provide you with some reflections upon the workshops that I attend and the people that I encounter.

Issues such as globalization, environmental […]

The Great Home Run Chase and Popular Culture

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:15-05:00June 12th, 2007|Categories: Baseball|

Baseball is presently facing a major public relations crisis as Barry Bonds pursues the all-time home run record of Hank Aaron. Bonds is very likely to break Aaron’s home run record of 755 in July or early August. At least as things are presently unfolding. But Major League Baseball (MLB) is not sure how to respond to this amazing accomplishment.

Normally such an event would be the stuff of daily reports and deep fan interest. The problem is that only 8% of fans believe Barry Bonds is the greatest home-run hitter ever. Why? His alleged use of illegal steroids to enhance his performance has convinced people he cheated. It must be said that Bonds has not been convicted of a crime, nor has he admitted one. He has admitted that he “unknowingly” used drugs and the company that supplied them to him has five people connected with it who have been convicted of the illegal distribution of steroids. Several sports writers have all but proven that Bonds knew what he was doing and most fans plainly believe them. On top of all […]

The True North American Mission Context

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:16-05:00June 11th, 2007|Categories: Missional Church|

Few American Christians understand what is really happening in our lifetime, either spiritually or politically. The following information ought to stab us wide awake but most of us will more than likely continue to sleep through one of the most important religious and social transitions in Western history.

In America spirituality continues to rise while religion does not. Gallup explained in a 2002 poll that 50% of Americans describe themselves as “religious” while another 33%, a figure that is rising each year, say they are “spiritual but not religious.”

The fastest growing religious group in American is those who describe their religion as “none.” Every two years this group increases by 1%. We are worried about Islam in America while the overwhelming majority of the next generation will have no religion at all.

The face of North America is also changing rapidly. From 1970 to 2005 the foreign born population in the United States rose from 4.7% to 12%. By 2050 it is expected that 50% of the U. S. population will be of a different ethnicity than […]

Biblical Seminary & the Missional Church

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:16-05:00June 9th, 2007|Categories: Missional Church|

I noted yesterday that I am attending a two-day board meeting of Biblical Theological Seminary (BTS) in Pennsylvania. Biblical Seminary is, to my mind, a well-kept secret. Begun in 1971 as a fundamentalist break-off seminary from the orbit of the late fundamentalist minister Carl MacIntyre Biblical has come a long way from those days, now engaging the world as a faithful, evangelical and orthodox interdenominational seminary with a misisonal philosophy. Our mission statement is:

To prepare missional leaders who incarnate the story of Jesus with humility and authenticity and who comunicate the story with fidelity to Scripture, appreciation of the Christian tradition, and sensivity to the needs and aspirations of postmodern culture.

If I were to personally write a mission statement for a modern seminary that was consistent with the mission statement of ACT 3 this would be the statement I would write, which is one of several reasons why I am on the BTS board. (I had nothing to do with the writing of this excellent statement since it was already in place and helped to encourage me to […]

Doing Big Things About Unimportant Sutff

By John Armstrong|2007-06-08T07:21:37-05:00June 8th, 2007|Categories: Personal|

I am in Philadelphia for a board meeting. I have had the opportunity to visit with a number of friends the last few days. Such visits are always encouraging and remind me of things that I need to hear much more often. An impression that has formed in me, with growing depth over recent years, is this: We are so busy doing big things about very little and unimportant stuff.

I try to ask myself each day, “How important is this?” Does it fit with what God has really called me to be doing? Why or why not? My “to-do” list too often drives me rather than my calling and vision list. I am praying, past mid-life as the world uses the expression, “Lord, teach me to know the difference between the important and the really important.” I do not aspire to importance or greatness, as the world defines them, but I do deeply aspire to make a real difference for the kingdom. The kingdom defines the word "difference" for me so my values are not like those of many who aspire […]