Blog - Page 50 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Silence is Often Golden – On Why I Should Not Use Social Media to Encourage Christian Disunity

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:09-05:00October 24th, 2013|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Apologetics, Biblical Theology, Current Affairs, Jesus, Love, Personal, The Church|

In the light of various posts last week regarding the “Strange Fire” conference hosted by John MacArthur, and the response to it by Mark Driscoll who stood outside the event giving away copies of his book to people attending the conference, I posted several blogs (written by others) regarding these events on my own Facebook page. I did so with a minimum of personal comment. I confess that I am conflicted about posting these kinds of items, much less passing along my comments on them. Why?

First, I am reminded to consider what the Apostle Paul says about love. When I do this I am always forced to hit “pause” and slow down. Here are his memorable words (1 Corinthians 13:4–7) in case you’ve forgotten:

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (NRSV).

Years […]

“What Has Athens to Do with Jerusalem?” – An Old Question for Modern Christians

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:09-05:00October 21st, 2013|Categories: Culture, Discipleship, Film, Philosophy, Spirituality|

Evangelical Christianity teaches people how to share the basics of simple faith and Christian living fairly well. It shows people how to read their Bible, how to pray and especially how to share the “simple” gospel with others. Now we even have a growing interest in spiritual formation, including teaching on contemplation and meditation. All of this is our strength. But we do have more than a few weaknesses as well. If ecumenism has taught me anything it has helped me learn how to listen to other Christian traditions and learn from my brothers and sisters.

One of the more intriguing questions that raises difficult questions for all Christians, especially evangelical Christians, is this: “How we can be faithfully Christian while we participate in popular American culture?” This question is actually not new. In the third century the church father Tertullian famously asked, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” What he meant by this was what has biblical faith to do with secular learning, or to be more precise, “What has the gospel to do with philosophy?”

Steve […]

How Long Does It Take to Form a New Habit?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:09-05:00October 18th, 2013|Categories: Personal|

You have probably heard that it takes three weeks for a new habit to form. I have even heard fifty days from some teachers. Both sound neat and simple but the data simply does not support this idea. The European Journal of Social Psychology (2010) published an article on habit changes that suggested what seems to be a far more reasonable understanding of habit change. It found that participants took anywhere from 18 to 254 days to make a behavior automatic.

By using the tools and support system of Weight Watchers for a little over a year I can tell you that it has taken every bit of twelve-plus months for me to build new habits that “feel” more automatic, or routine. (I realize that these habits are not automatic because various factors could trigger a response that would break my “new” habits quickly!)

True weight loss is a lifestyle, not a diet. If I have learned anything from this process it is that educated and sound choices become a habit once you practice what you know long enough […]

Gravity – A Film of Special Effects and a Few Powerful Moments

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:10-05:00October 17th, 2013|Categories: Culture, Evangelism, Faith, Film|

There can be no serious dispute that movies occupy a significant role in popular American culture. More than any other art form films supply cultural references that become a part of our everyday life and vocabulary. I am sometimes asked, “Why do you blog about films and television?” The answer is really simple – there is no more meaningful entryway into the lives of many people than through the door opened by extremely popular movies. It is a natural point of contact and seems to fit with Paul’s use of culture to appeal to people who lived in the world of his time. (I watch films for many other reasons but I will say more about this in another post.)

Films are the way many people explain their emotions, their personal narrative or even their belief system. I recently read that in 2001 a census taken in England and Wales found almost 400,000 people who registered their religious faith as “Jedi.” This is, as many of you know, a reference to Star Wars, one of the great movie […]

Do You Want to Understand Others?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:10-05:00October 16th, 2013|Categories: Biblical Theology, Books, Current Affairs, Education, Faith|

Research released last week suggests that if you want to better equip people to understand others, and help their mental well-being, you should encourage them to put down their popular, commercial fiction and read more classic literary fiction.

In a series of experiments, participants read a short passage, and then completed several tasks, including one in which they were encouraged to identify people’s facial expressions in photos. (I confess this type of social psychology and study deeply fascinates me.) Analysts said that when people read the less commercial fiction the response in their performance temporarily improved. (This research, according to an October 4 USA Today story, was done by David Comer Kidd and Emanuele Castano of the New York School for Social Research in New York.) Kidd says, “The effect was the same (even for not particularly well-read subjects) . . . if they pick up a work of literary fiction and read it, they will be more sensitive to other people’s subjective states.” But why is this true?

Castano says that he believes this is true because literary […]

Are We Reading Less Because of the Rise of the Digital Generation?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:10-05:00October 15th, 2013|Categories: Books, Culture, Current Affairs, Personal, Social Networking|

Will reading decline because of the digital revolution? Instinctively many (most?) of my generation thinks the correct answer is a resolute yes. But, as college football analyst Lee Corso often says, “Not so fast my friend!”

We are dumbing down, or so the accepted line of argument goes, thus fewer and fewer books are now being sold. Libraries will soon be dinosaurs, or so I heard more than a few friends and enemies say in my recent experience with the Library Board election this year in my hometown of Carol Stream. Few bothered to really dig into this pressing question when it was raised, pro or con. I am not sure why but as with so many popular conclusions this one is just wrong.

In an age of countless data downloads and multiplied distractions one simple fact is now becoming more clear – a significant number of Americans, especially between 18-40, are reading more books than ever thanks to using e-readers and tablets. A national poll conducted for USA Today, and a website designed to help readers discover and […]

David & Goliath: Have We Misunderstood a Classic Biblical Story?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:10-05:00October 14th, 2013|Categories: Books, Culture, Leadership, Psychology|

Popular author Malcolm Gladwell is one of the best-selling non-fiction writers of our time. His insights into how we think, make decisions and process complex data are intriguing to most who’ve read his books. He can be exasperating, however, when he glosses over big and important issues to make a central point, something that he does quite often.

In his new book, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, the bestselling writer tells us we’re living in a world where the weak are really strong. Gladwell argues that many of our disadvantages can easily become advantages. Even something as debilitating as dyslexia can be a road to success for an ambitious individual.

“The one trait in a lot of dyslexic people I know is that by the time we got out of college, our ability to deal with failure was very highly developed,” says Gary Cohn, a man of humble origins whose bold decisions took him to the top of the U.S. financial industry. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without my dyslexia,” he […]

God in Proof: A Book Review – Part 5

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:10-05:00October 11th, 2013|Categories: Apologetics, Philosophy, Uncategorized|

It is safe to say that I enjoyed Nathan Schneider’s wonderful book, God in Proof, as much as any work on apologetics I’ve ever read. If I teach the subject again the future I will require my students to read this narrative of one young man’s search for proof of God.

In the final two pages Schneider writes:

The idea of God, after it first became lodged in me, and once I even partly entertained it, began to take on a life of its own. This process started through other people, but the idea transcended even them. As Anselm replied to Gaunilo, there’s something special about the one most perfect idea, something that applies to no other. You might be able to grasp a humbler notion enough to refute it. But this necessary and infinite being is more elusive, while being also more fully present, than anything else we know. No refutation can suffice. It’s to big. Its possibilities never stop exceeding what we might happen to rule out. This God exceeds what we think about it, […]

God in Proof: A Book Review – Part 4

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:10-05:00October 10th, 2013|Categories: Apologetics, Philosophy|

I think the most intriguing aspect of God in Proof, by Nathan Schneider, is his personal story. Schneider describes his early quest for proof of God as it relates to the separation of his parents. He says of this sad moment: “That night my world bifurcated” (15). Schneider kept a journal during his teen years (that is amazing enough to me) and writes of going to a local Baptist church with a friend. He wrote in his journal: “I felt like we had just entered hostile territory” (15, italics are all his). He adds that God was a question he stayed clear of at first but he was haunted by reading of The Brothers Karamazov. The Russian classic caused him to remember the monk Zosima speaking of his love for God. He was more than intrigued.

He provides one of the best descriptions of millennials that I have read when he writes:

I wrote about having the feeling of “skin hurting”– when I felt like there’s absolutely nothing I can do to make my life bearable again. […]

God in Proof: A Book Review – Part 3

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:10-05:00October 9th, 2013|Categories: Apologetics, Philosophy|

Anyone who has spent any time at all reading the proofs, both for and against belief in the existence of God, knows the essential arguments. They can be enumerated, in one form or another, as follows:

Cosmological
Dialectical
Historical
Ontological
Phenomenological
Sociological
Teleological
Transcendental

It proves helpful, at least for the non-academic reader, to state what these proofs are in rather simple ways. I will also give at least one reason why opponents find the argument(s) not convincing.

The cosmological argument “relates to the existence of the universe” (250). This argument starts with cause. The cause of the universe must be (a) God beyond the universe. This argument can be refuted by those who reject it in numerous ways. For example, “The universe is unexplainable without God, so it is simpler not to believe in God’s existence” (250). In the end the argument comes down to this: It is better to believe in something, or Someone, than nothing!

The dialectical argument relates to the processes by which we reflect on the place of meaning. The consequences, for example, of not believing are so drastic that one has no […]