Blog - Page 281 of 318 - John H Armstrong

The Gerald R. Ford Funeral

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:49-05:00January 2nd, 2007|Categories: Current Affairs|

I watched most of the funeral of President Gerald Ford today. It was deeply moving to me personally. The service was conducted with dignity and deep respect for the Christian faith and historic and liturgical practice. I felt that both President George H. W. Bush and President George W. Bush were superb in their comments but Tom Brokaw, as he has done for me in the past, moved me deeply. He spoke with unusual eloquence and grace. What happened to national news reporters and anchors like him? He loves his country, appreciates the graces of other people, and speaks with a rare beauty.

I saw Tom Brokaw in person at the Lincoln Day address at the Gettysburg Cemetery a few weeks ago. I carefully watched him greet ordinary people and speak with impressive gravitas in the windy, cold outdoors to a crowd of maybe 1,500. He was very impressive to me that day and my only regret was that his speech was not made available in some form following that November 19th event.

I was particularly moved this morning by […]

Neo-Gnosticism

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:50-05:00January 2nd, 2007|Categories: Spirituality|

If I’ve heard it once I’ve heard it a thousand times: "I’m not very religious but I am a very spiritual person." I would guess this expresses the beliefs of millions of Americans, to varying degrees, especially those who under thirty-five. Real religion requires disciplines and doctrines (cf. James 1:27), congregations and pews/chairs with other people sitting next to us. Real religion means looking after widows and people in dire distress. And it means that we talk to people that we would not normally talk to and that we eat with people, for heaven’s sake, that we would not generally want to eat with either.

Spirituality without religion is the seeking of a special knowledge without commitment. Put simply it is a form of neo-gnosticism, of insight and knowledge without the messy business of having to work at things that are physical by nature. The ultimate gnostic goal is to be free from this vile material world and thus to be released from this fleshly body that inhibits our real spiritual growth. Who needs these politics, for that is what relationships are […]

A Church Home: Some Reflections

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:50-05:00January 1st, 2007|Categories: Reformed Christianity|

In the summer of 2006 my wife and I joined First Reformed Church in South Holland, Illinois. The church is located 46 miles from our home so we can’t attend every week. (We attend a neighborhood Lutheran congregation, as associate members, when I am not speaking elsewhere.) We joined First Reformed Church, so far from our home, for several reasons. First, I wanted to submit my ministerial credentials to a Reformed body of believers and ultimately to other ministers, thus the Illiana Classis. Second, we wanted to unite as a couple with a local congregation that would wholeheartedly support our wholistic vision for ACT 3. (Several friends at First Reformed Church, unbeknown to us, had been praying for us to consider this decision from some years.) Third, my own views of ecclesiology have changed enough over the last fifteen years to lead me to embrace the Three Forms of Unity of the Dutch Reformed tradition with growing conviction. To put this in very simple theological terms, my understanding of the covenant and the church became increasingly Reformed. And fourth, I wanted to be connected, […]

Life is Unpredictable

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:50-05:00December 31st, 2006|Categories: Death|

My local newspaper includes a "Year in Review" section in the December 31 edition that is titled "In Memoriam." Pictured, and listed, are a number of nationally prominent persons who died in 2006. Also listed are a number of local people as well, several of whom were friends of mine. It seems that this kind of looking back on the loss of loved ones, as well as prominent people, is something we do every year at this time. For some years now, when I have read a story like this one, I have always done one thing: I have asked God to grant me the grace to live for his glory in 2007 with the full realization that this might be my last year. Of course, some year, at some point in time, will actually be my last year. I think about this a great deal and do not consider it morose in any true sense of the term.

This particular article began with this sentence: "Life is unpredictable." I pondered that statement most of the day. There is an obvious truism […]

Sin and the Human Genome

By John Armstrong|2006-12-30T08:05:07-06:00December 30th, 2006|Categories: Science|

Francis Collins, who heads the human genome project, is a devout Christian. He actually believes in original sin. He also believes there is evidence for original sin at the most basic genetic level. "There are no perfect human specimens at the DNA level," says Collins. "We are all walking around with a significant number of misspellings [in our DNA]." Most of us have as many as 40 or 50 glitches in our DNA, most of which never cause us serious problems. But some of these glitches are the real causes of ailments like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Collins believes that the genome project may be "a bright light we can shine into the darkness of our ignorance about almost every disease." Most of these diseases, Collins believes, will eventually be addresssed by pharmogenetics, drugs designed to address specific genes or DNA misspellings.

These potential solutions may be nearer than we think but they will be costly. They also have huge downsides since someone must decide who gets them, at least initially, and who does not. This all underscores the incredible potential of […]

Good Guys and Bad Guys 2006

By John Armstrong|2006-12-29T12:33:39-06:00December 29th, 2006|Categories: Culture|

I thought I had seen almost every possible poll imaginable until AP-AOL News issued its leading "good guys/bad guys" poll today. President Bush tops both polls. People either think he is worse than Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden or they think he is the best guy of the year. (His numbers for best guy were much lower than for worst!) In fact, President Bush won the villain poll by a huge landslide, with Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein very far behind him.

Regardless of your political views, and regardless of whether you like or do not like George W. Bush, you have to admit that this kind of response reveals far more about our culture than about the president. Bush may offend you, with his confident and brash Texas style, and he may be wrong about a lot of important issues as well. There is clearly room to disapprove of Bush’s handling of the job. The ratings say most Americans do disapprove. But to compare Bush with Saddam and Osama as the "bad guy of the year" is beyond sanity. […]

Who Really Cares for the Poor?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:50-05:00December 28th, 2006|Categories: Poverty|

Syracuse University professor Arthur Brooks challenges perceived mainstream social orthodoxy in his new book, Who Really Cares: Who Gives, Who Doesn’t and Why It Matters. For generations it has been assumed that political and social liberals are generous towards the poor while conservatives are proverbial tightwads. At least since the days of Charles Dickens’ Scrooge this has been the popular view. Liberals continually remind us that they are the ones who really care about welfare since they promote the grandiose government solutions to the problem.

No one should doubt that government has a role to play in finding solutions. Private charity cannot do it all. But the question has always been what role government should have and how the solutions it creates should be paid for and then properly delivered. I believe government does best in this area when it administers welfare at the local level, where people know people and thus get involved with them personally. When welfare comes from a large bureaucratic government trickling downward through numerous agencies it repeatedly fails to accomplish what is promised. This is one reason […]

Gerald R. Ford, RIP

By John Armstrong|2006-12-27T09:38:25-06:00December 27th, 2006|Categories: Politics|

The death of Gerald R. Ford (1913-2006) is an occasion for a little historical reflection. He came to the presidency as the only non-elected president in our history. Under the 25th Amendment he was appointed as vice-president when Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace in 1973. On August 9, 1974, he became our 38th president when Richard Nixon resigned under the duress of the Watergate fiasco and an impending impeachment trial. He won the Republican nomination in 1976 only to loose to Jimmy Carter, in an extremely close election. (I voted for Carter and have regretted it for many years!)

Little known facts about Ford include the following: (1) He survived two assassination attempts. (2) He vetoed 39 bills in his first fourteen months, most of which were sustained by Congress. (3) He worked successfully to prevent a new conflict in the Middle East between Egypt and Israel. (4) His work focused mainly on the economy, which got much worse under President Carter.

When Richard Nixon considered a nominee for vice-president in October 1973 he had four finalists in mind: John Connally, […]

Love and Marriage

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:23:50-05:00December 26th, 2006|Categories: Marriage & Family|

Today Anita and I celebrate our 36th wedding anniversary. I love my wife more now than I did when I met her, in fact even more than I did at our 35th anniversary. Love, to me, is first friendship. Friendship, like love, is destroyed by long absence, though it may be increased by short intermission. Anita and I have understood this for many years and realized that we need to be together a lot but we also need intermissions, the very brief intervals that feed true love and deep abiding friendship. We get along wonderfully, enjoy each other immensely and share many common interests. But we also are very different personalities. In our case it could be said that opposites did attract. But the glue that has kept us together so well for all these is the glue of divine love, the love that God gives to those who seek His kingdom above their own happiness.

The philosopher Leibnitz once said, "To love is to find pleasure in the happiness of the person loved." I think we could both say that this […]

The Nativity Story

By John Armstrong|2006-12-25T19:07:49-06:00December 25th, 2006|Categories: Film|

I waited until Christmas afternoon to see "The Nativity Story," thinking it would be an interesting day on which to see a movie that corresponded to the Christian celebration of Christ’s birth. Though the script clearly had some facts out of place (e.g., the wise men visited the Bethlehem birth site the same night the Savior was born in the movie version while the facts are quite different as Bible readers well know) the overall story line was quite well done. The roles of Mary and Joseph were well acted in my view. Mary displayed elements of honest fear, real doubt and then incredible trust, displaying exactly what you would expect to have happened to a young teen, who received such an announcement from an angel. And the response of people in Nazareth to her pregnancy was also quite well done and very believable. Furthermore, Joseph proved to be an honorable and decent man in a believable way.

Hollywood often misrepresents biblical narratives very badly but this movie gets things about right, if you can overlook the few minor historical mistakes made […]