Blog - Page 274 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Can the Mainline Be Saved?

By John Armstrong|2007-03-12T20:15:03-05:00March 12th, 2007|Categories: Renewal|

One of the enjoyable aspects of my life and public ministry is coming to Washington, D.C., twice each year to share in a two-day meeting of the Association for Church Renewal (ACR), a group of individuals who working informally as a network to speak truth to the mainline Protestant churches in North America. Included among this group of people are representatives of the Methodist Church, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ and various Canadian groups as well. I am always inspired by the stories of such people who are courageous and faithful, especially in places where it is very hard to be faithful to the gospel.

The question we always ask seems to be this: "Can the mainline denominations be saved?" I do not mean saved soteriologically but rather saved as apostolic Christian communities (denominations) for the "faith once for all delivered to the saints." The answer in some cases appears now to be "No." In others the answer is "Maybe." In some it seems to be "Yes." New forms of the church are shaping and forming even […]

Political God Talk

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:32-05:00March 11th, 2007|Categories: Politics|

It has become common for politicians to cite God in promoting their programs and views. Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has recently joined this growing list by invoking God’s name in promoting a new Illinois health care program. This proposal is a tax-increase-for-health-insurance plan that the governor promoted last week as something "God intended" for the people of this great state since God does not want people without health insurance. He even says his new tax increase is a "moral imperative." That sounds pretty important to me.

Al Gore, in accepting his Oscar at the Academy Awards ceremony two weeks ago, said that his "inconvenient truth" about global warming was the great moral issue of our time. Now the governor of Illinois says that universal health coverage and a significant tax-hike for Illinois’s citizens is a "moral" issue.

Blagojevich, who is an Eastern Orthodox Christian, is not known for expressions of personal faith and has generally not injected God-talk into his political agenda. A spokeswoman for the governor, however, said this reference was not accidental because he does have a "deeply […]

The Mixed Legacy of Jimmy Carter

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:32-05:00March 10th, 2007|Categories: Politics|

Former President Jimmy Carter has been in the news a lot lately. His most controversial book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, has brought him a great deal of air-time and some rather angry criticism. I have watched this conflict with a measure of sadness. I liked Carter, at least for a time. I even voted for him in 1976, but not in 1980. (Some still remind me of my "wasted vote" in 1976.) Back then I bought into the argument, such as it was, that we needed change, especially after the dark Nixon era. Jimmy Carter was a fresh face, a real outsider, a successful businessman, an Annapolis grad with military experience, and a forthright Christian. I respected Gerald Ford but thought Jimmy Carter would be a fresh alternative, a way to help us put the Watergate mess behind us as a nation.

I am now of the mind that the Carter administration was not a total disaster, but it came pretty close. The highpoint was the Sadat-Begin Middle East peace accord. From there his leadership was a virtual disaster. The tone of […]

Secret Sins & Strange Evils

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:32-05:00March 9th, 2007|Categories: Spirituality|

The Divine Hours is one of my guides during Lent. The Midday Office (between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.) provides what is called a "small verse" for this time of prayer. Today’s small verse reads: "From my secret sins cleanse me. Lord. And from all strange evils deliver me." I have been pondering this verse for several hours, one of the real advantages of such a pre-planned guide.

"Secret sins" is a reference found in the Psalter quite often. Psalm 19:12 comes to mind. The TNIV refers to these sins as "hidden faults," which are distinct from "willful sins" in verse 13. The acknowledgement of my secret sins reminds me that I am profoundly flawed, even in my moral consciousness. This means that even though I am aware of many sins in my life there are sins that still remain "secret" or "hidden," even to me. I am asking God to reveal these sins to me so that I may "discern my errors" and be forgiven. Many times we are content to confess all that we know and leave it at that, […]

Becoming Christian Pluralists

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:32-05:00March 9th, 2007|Categories: Missional Church|

I’ve been thinking for some time that the term "pluralism" has suffered grave misunderstanding among the very people who should be more friendly toward the idea. Let me explain.

Many conservative Christians hear the word "pluralism" these days and the first thought that enters their mind is of something terrible, something sinister, even destructive of true faith in Christ as Lord. I do not hear the word that way at all, at least not in most cases.

Generally the notion of pluralism, at least as I am using the word and believe it is commonly used in our day, refers to a condition, particularly in a wider society, in which there are different groups of people that are distinctive in ethnic origin, cultural patterns, religious beliefs, or the like. Such pluralism is the very reality of the American ideal. We are land of immigrants, a land without a common ethnic glue. Our language unites us, to some extent, thus the debates about "official" English. But we are different in so many ways. This is the very idea of e pluribus unum, a […]

The Beauty of Baseball and the Mystery of the Chicago Cubs

By John Armstrong|2007-03-08T09:49:21-06:00March 8th, 2007|Categories: Baseball|

George Carlin, a comedian whose humor is often irreverent and generally quite obnoxious, wrote a wonderful piece on baseball in 1997 that compared it to other sports played with a ball. For fans of this great game his words bear repeating:

Baseball is different from any other sport, very different.

For instance, in most sports you score points or goals; in baseball you score runs. In most sports the ball, or object, is put in play by the offensive team; in baseball the defensive team puts the ball in play, and only the defense is allowed to touch the ball. In fact, in baseball if an offensive player touches the ball intentionally, he’s out; sometimes unintentionally, he’s out.

Also; in football, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and all sports played with a ball, you score with the ball and in baseball the ball prevents you from scoring.

Carlin then proceeds to compare America’s two most popular sports, baseball and football, by saying:

Baseball is a nineteenth-century pastoral game.
Football is a twentieth-century technological struggle.

Baseball is […]

Depression Still Not Understood

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:32-05:00March 8th, 2007|Categories: Counseling|

Former U. S. Senator Thomas Eagleton (D.MO) died last Sunday, at the age of 77. Some older readers will recall that it was Tom Eagleton who was placed on the Democratic ticket as a vice presidential running mate to Senator George McGovern at the nominating convention in 1972. Only two weeks after the national party convention nominated Eagleton he was removed from that ticket because of an earlier psychiatric hospitalization for depression that was revealed through the press.

Eagleton was tapped, according the McGovern’s campaign director, the future Colorado senator Gary Hart, because he was “Catholic, urban and an unknown from a border state.” The McGovern campaign knew of Eagleton’s previous hospitalization(s) but felt that they could present Eagleton as a man of vitality and hard work who had been hospitalized because of his aggresive campaigning style that drained him.

What finally brought Eagleton down was intense media questioning brought about through, as is almost always the case, anonymous tips. Eagleton admitted he was “voluntarily hospitalized for nervous exhaustion and depression three times in the previous twelve years.” These depressions […]

The Litany of Penitence, Part 2

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:32-05:00March 7th, 2007|Categories: Spirituality|

I began a blog a few days ago on praying The Litany of Penitence during Lent. I shared some thoughts on the first half of this litany. I would like to give you the second half with a few further comments.

The prayer begins with an acknowledgment of God’s holiness and mercy and leads to confession. It then begins a list of things for which we confess to God and the “whole communion of saints” the following sins:

My intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and my dishonesty in daily

life and work,

I confess to you, Lord.

My negligence in prayer and worship, and […]

The Testimony of an Ex-Jehovah's Witness Who Found Grace

By John Armstrong|2007-03-06T18:52:34-06:00March 6th, 2007|Categories: Evangelism|

The first ACT 3 Forum in our 2007 series will feature Ron Nollet, speaking March 18, 2007, at 6: 00 p.m. on: "Delivered from Darkness to God’s Light: How a Jehovah’s Witness Elder Came to Follow Christ”

Ron Nollet was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness and until resigning at the age of 47, served as a pioneer (full-time minister), ministerial servant (deacon) and elder (pastor). He has owned a machine building company for the past 27 years. Since resigning as an elder five years ago and walking away from the religion of his birth, Ron has earned a Bachelor’s degree in Christian Counseling from the International Theological Seminary, and is currently enrolled in the Masters of Divinity program. He is currently the pastor of the East Marion Community Church. He and his wife, Adriana, also raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, live in Southold, New York, and have three children.

This special event takes place on Sunday, March 18, @ 6:00 p.m. @ Immanuel Presbyterian Church, 29W260 Batavia Road, Warrenville, Illinois. All are invited to attend. A Q & A time […]

The Death of a Great Christian Scholar

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:44-05:00March 6th, 2007|Categories: Death|

Bruce M. Metzger was not only a world-class New Testament scholar but a devoted and serious Christian who truly believed that the New Testament was a faithful record of historical events. He died last week at 93 years of age in Princeton, New Jersey, where he had lived for many years after his retirement from teaching at Princeton. Metzger oversaw the translation of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, a text used primarily by mainline churches. (The NRSV is, generally speaking, an acceptable and readable translation, which I have used with great profit in many contexts.) Metzger was a brilliant linguist and perhaps the foremost authority in the world on translating the New Testament. His name was simply the gold standard among scholars, liberal or conservative. He was respected for his work because he did it well and always to the glory of God.

His goal, whether or not you agreed with his conclusions in all cases, was an accessible, accurate and modern reading of the Bible. Among his guiding principles was the much-controversial gender-neutral language used in the NRSV […]