Blog - Page 57 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Same-Sex Marriage: Some Final Thoughts for the Week

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:32-05:00July 12th, 2013|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Church Tradition, Culture, Current Affairs, Gospel/Good News, Homosexuality, Love, Marriage & Family, Personal, Politics, The Church, The Future|

In my final blog response to the recent Supreme Court rulings on same-sex marriage I conclude with several reflections on matters that I feel far more comfortable writing about since I am neither a legal expert nor a professional ethicist. These points strike me as both modest and fairly obvious, at least to most orthodox Christians.

Homosexual pairings, in which sexual practice is actively engaged in, is morally questionable, if not a clear violation of God’s law. I believe, with the historic Christian church, that same-sex practice is a violation of God’s holy law. But, and this is very important to say in our present context, a couple engaging in sexual activity of any kind does not make their moral choice right even if they are engaging in sex consensually as heterosexuals. The New Testament word porneia, commonly used for sexual relationships outside of marriage, is rightly defined as inclusive of all illicit sexual intercourse. A standard Greek lexicon says very simply that this word porneia includes the whole range of sexual sins: adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with […]

Same Sex Marriage: Recovering Holy Matrimony While Welcoming and Loving All People

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:33-05:00July 11th, 2013|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Church Tradition, Culture, Current Affairs, Homosexuality, Marriage & Family, Missional Church, Politics, The Church, The Future, Unity of the Church|

I argued yesterday that the new social and legal reality of same-sex marriage is not a passing fad that will just go away because we invest a lot of money and effort into strategies to stop it. This train has left the station!

I then asked, “How do we respond?” I ended by quoting from the apostle Peter’s counsel to a besieged early Christian community living in a time long before Christendom and political favors were afforded to the church. I would add, though one commentator on yesterday’s post said my approach was “naive,” that the Epistles of James and Peter need to become more and more prominent in the life of the Christian community in coming decades. We will face times that look more and more like the first three centuries of Christianity and less and less like the last two in Christendom-based America. My friendly critic was correct to point out that one can take this counsel I give in a simplistic way but the counsel stands as both apostolic and profoundly needed.

Here are several things […]

Same-Sex Marriage: The Millennials and the Way Ahead

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:33-05:00July 10th, 2013|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Church Tradition, Culture, Current Affairs, Discipleship, Homosexuality, Marriage & Family, Missional Church, Religion, The Church, The Future|

The recent Supreme Court rulings on DOMA (The Defense of Marriage Act), and California’s Prop 8 (which said marriage could only be between a man and a woman legally), brought great joy to millions of Americans. It also brought despair and angst to millions of conservative Americans, especially Christians. If opinion polls and surveys are an accurate indicator of American opinion then the changing landscape on this issue was obvious long before these two highly contested rulings/opinions. Within a decade we have moved from a country that generally rejects the idea of “gay marriage” to one that increasingly accepts it. (Many Western nations have already embraced same-sex marriage legally and many more are in the process of doing the same.) The number who believe that same-sex couples should be given the same legal right to marriage as male-female couples has risen every single year and now is a solid and growing majority. The most obvious demographic shift is among young adults. By large numbers they support legal same-sex marriage.

I am often asked, “Why do so many younger […]

An Update on the Summer Capital Campaign

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:33-05:00July 9th, 2013|Categories: ACT 3|

Twice each year I make a general appeal to our friends to help us underwrite the mission of ACT3 Network. One of these efforts is between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. The other has been traditionally in May but this year it began on July 1. Through the slowest month of the year we ask you to pause and help us if you can.

1. Please pray for ACT3. We have some incredible opportunities to build partnerships with missions and churches. We are engaging Millennial leaders in effective ways and intend to stay faithful to this calling in the coming years.

2. Please give, even a small gift, if you are able to do so. Go to our home page where you will find my Capital Campaign Letter and a link to our special donation site for this July effort.

As of today we have received gifts from 25 donors (one church included) and the total amount given has been $6,750. Our goal is $25,000. We can only reach this goal if a large number of new friends, who read this blog and are friends on Facebook, give a […]

Same-Sex Marriage: The Growth of Secularism and Our Christian Response

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:33-05:00July 9th, 2013|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Church Tradition, Culture, Current Affairs, Free Speech, Homosexuality, Marriage & Family, Missional Church, Politics, The Church, The Future|

Yesterday I gave a simple overview of the recent Supreme Court opinions on same-sex marriage. I suggested that from a purely legal standpoint the arguments of the slim majority, in these two 5-4 rulings, were stretched beyond the normal limits of a (historic) legal understanding of marriage. I’m not sure, however, that this response will solve much in the end since we are culturally headed toward redefining marriage whether we agree with this direction or not.

Today I suggest that there are three simple steps that we should follow before we consider how to respond to these particular rulings and the massive culture-changing shift that is clearly underway at this time in history.

First, we should take a deep breath. Instant responses, filled with rhetorical flourish and passionate emotions, are not necessary. In fact, such responses generally solve nothing and often make matters much worse. It is easy to get caught up in the latest “hot-button” social issues and miss the much bigger picture, namely that we are waging a deeply consequential struggle with secularism. This struggle ought to […]

Same-Sex Marriage: The Supreme Court Rulings

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:33-05:00July 8th, 2013|Categories: Culture, Current Affairs, Homosexuality, Marriage & Family, Missional Church, Politics, The Future|

The staggering decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court on same-sex marriage will reverberate throughout our culture for decades to come. I have no doubt that this is only the first of more such decisions that will progressively lead us to a culture-wide legal acceptance of same-sex marriage. I have been saying as much for at least five years. The demographics of those who favor same-sex marriage clearly show that our democracy will very likely embrace this huge social change much sooner than later.

I have a number of responses to this change that I hope will shed light on the debate. I hope to offer a reasonable, just and missional way forward for Christians in an increasingly secular culture. Before I comment, however, please understand that I am primarily interested in “the church being the church” in all cultures and contexts. I am not deeply motivated by partisan political debate about this issue.

This statement of my approach to this highly contentious issue does not mean that I think that the church should cease to be public about Christian […]

Karma and Christianity: Thoughts from Vishal Mangalwadi

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:34-05:00July 6th, 2013|Categories: Uncategorized|

Last Monday (7/1/13) I wrote a blog about the dangers of linking the teaching of karma with that of historic Christianity. I suggested that elements of karma thinking are present in some modern Christian teaching, teaching that at times borders on a number of serious errors. Several friends suggested that the teaching of Vishal Mangalwadi was helpful in this regard. Here is a good seven-minute video of Vishal speaking on the issue of karma and Christianity as distinctively different world views. I found this a helpful overview.

"I Have a Part in a Great Work" – Help Me

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:34-05:00July 3rd, 2013|Categories: ACT 3, Missional-Ecumenism, Personal|

Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) once wrote: “God has created me to do him some definite service; he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission – I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I have a part in a great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons.”

I profoundly identify with Newman’s thinking on this point. I believe every human life has a God-given meaning. The Creator’s ways are good and right. Each of us seeks to know God’s meaning in our lives, in one manner or another, as best we can discern it. Many waste their lives and destroy themselves never finding the purpose for which God made them. For the Christian real meaning and purpose are discovered in God’s son, Jesus Christ. But sometimes a Christian will discover a deep sense of personal call and meaning before they are fully mature adults. I’ve heard this type of story for decades from my friends. In fact, as much as […]

A New Kind of Leader in the Irish Methodist Church

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:34-05:00July 2nd, 2013|Categories: Church Tradition, Current Affairs, Feminism & Women, Leadership, Missional Church, Missional-Ecumenism, Pastoral Renewal, Roman Catholicism, The Christian Minister/Ministry, The Church, The Future, Women in the Church|

Dr. Heather Morris, the first female leader of a major church body in Ireland, was recently installed as the President of the Methodist Church, at a gathering at Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim.

Martin O’Brien, editor of The Irish Catholic, writes that he first heard Dr Morris preach to a huge congregation at Clonard Novena where “she held in rapt attention” a large congregation. The 48-year-old wife of Neil Morris, Heather is a chartered accountant and the mother of two grown children. O’Brien says Heather Morris is “about as far as you can imagine from being a shrinking violet when it comes to presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the charism of her Church.”

He adds:

Radiating a joyous personality she could be said to embody the “heart strangely warmed [by God]” that Wesley famously wrote about in his journal. Morris says Wesley’s vision has not changed in our day but “we are in the process of rediscovery.” And she adds, “It is about being reminded of something we have forgotten. It’s about a warmed heart, and passion for […]

Watch Out for "Christian Karma"

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:15:34-05:00July 1st, 2013|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Culture, Incarnation, Mysticism, Religion, Spirituality|

The words “karma” and “Christian” do not naturally go together. Karma comes from Indian religions and is most definitely not a Christian concept. Karma refers to the concept of “action” or “deed” and is understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect. Thus people popularly speak of someone who experiences a lot of bad events in their life as “having bad karma.”

Karma is generally associated with spiritism and reincarnation. In this context “the law of cause and effect” is situated within a deeply spiritual way of understanding. Karma is even used to determine how one’s life should be lived. Spirits are encouraged to choose how (and when) to suffer retribution for the wrong that they did in previous lives. The problem with this kind of spirituality is simple–such teaching has no clear grasp of how we actually know this reality without remembering whether or not we had a choice in the first place. Disabilities, physical or mental impairment or even an unlucky life are all due, in some way, to the choices a […]