Blog - Page 76 of 318 - John H Armstrong

Facing Trials in Our Flesh: The Ordeal of Christian Suffering

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:07-05:00October 25th, 2012|Categories: Divine Providence, Patristics, Personal|

A friend, who is also a member of my local church, has recently undergone a great blow to her body and soul. This sister in Christ has been diagnosed with a very difficult cancer that is extremely rare and very hard to treat. She is a young woman with a desire to minister and presently is in seminary study for ministry. Our church has been praying for her from the first news we received of her ordeal. This week she went into a Chicago hospital to begin very intense treatments. We were encouraged again last weekend to pray for her and also to write her. I have found it hard to know what to write but finally sent an email today. In my own halting way I sent the following letter:

Dear ––––

From the first moment that I learned of your medical crisis I was deeply moved to pray for you. I have only seen you once, sitting to my left side several sections of the church sanctuary removed from where I was seated, on a “rare” Sunday when I was in church (arriving late as I […]

The Church's Mission: Faithful Presence and Extending God's Grace to Outsiders

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:07-05:00October 24th, 2012|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Biblical Theology, Culture, Emergent Church, Gospel/Good News, Missional-Ecumenism, The Church|

One of my Top Ten books, at least over the last five years, is James Davison Hunter’s masterful social and theological critique: To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World (Oxford, 2010). Jonathan Merritt begins his next to last chapter in A Faith of Our Own by quoting the central thesis of Hunter’s book: “If Christians cannot extend grace through faithful presence within the body of believers, they will not be able to extend grace to those outside” (155).

A growing number of millennials (20s and 30s) are no longer shopping for the right pastor, music or church program like bargain hunters in pursuit of the best sale ever” (155). Rather, they are questioning whether or not the church has overlooked its true mission and grown too devoted to “its own self-survival” (155).

Merritt writes passionately about the way his own father, once a leader in the kind of church that Merritt grew weary of, planted a new congregation whose mission was not to attract crowds but to faithfully be present with Christ and each other. He says the most […]

Why Do Millennial Christians Read the Bible So Differently Than My Generation?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:08-05:00October 23rd, 2012|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Biblical Theology, Culture, Current Affairs, Discipleship, Gospel/Good News, Hermeneutics, Scripture|

As I read Jonathan Merritt’s A Faith of Our Own I asked, “Why do younger Christians read the Bible so differently from my generation?” Jonathan Merritt correctly believes that they have “reflected on the Bible” and take it very seriously. This seems very odd to most older evangelical leaders in my generation. Merritt writes that these younger Christians “approach the Bible with fresh eyes, as each generation must” (129).

When Christians like me, from a modernist generational background, read the Bible we are often influenced by rationalist methods and approaches. Like Merritt, I too grew up on this method, indeed I taught it for decades. If you wanted to know what God says you simply study the Bible and find the answer and there it is, the case is closed. This offered so much certitude and closed all new inquiry, to a greater or lesser extent.

Jonathan Merritt concludes:

But rising generations–perhaps as a result of the influence of postmodernism–are falling in love with the Bible’s overarching narrative. That’s why so many people today talk about ‘the story of God’ or the Bible’s ‘grand narrative.’ Not that […]

What Is Faith?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:08-05:00October 22nd, 2012|Categories: Biblical Theology, Faith, Spirituality|

Essential to all true Christianity is an understanding of the word faith. We use the word all the time but rarely do we stop to consider, “What is faith?” The dictionary will tell you that faith is “strong belief or trust in someone or something” but that does not do much to help you as a Christian. When the word faith is used in a religious context the dictionary adds that faith is the “belief in the existence of God (or) strong religious feelings or beliefs.” The problem with this kind of definition is that the New Testament never uses the word translated faith in your English Bible in this way. The fact is that “faith” has several meanings in the New Testament.

Trust in a Person

In its most basic and primary way faith is trust in a person. We are all familiar with this kind of usage in everyday relationships. You trust your parents, your spouse, your best friend. This is a kind of faith. When I go to O’Hare Airport to fly out of Chicago I have faith in my pilot and his plane. When […]

Millennial Evangelicals and Homosexuals: A New Way?

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:08-05:00October 19th, 2012|Categories: American Evangelicalism, Homosexuality, The Church|

One of my favorite novels is Wendell Berry’s book, Jayber Crow. The story of this Kentucky barber moves me deeply every time I read it. I was reminded of old Jayber when I read Jonathan Merritt’s fine book, A Faith of Our Own. He too must love Jayber because he quotes him when he says, “I wasn’t just asking questions; I was being changed by them” (99). If you’ve ever struggled with your faith, I mean really and honestly struggled, then you understand how questions change you. Something you thought unlikely, or out of the blue, happens and you are brought low and feel like a little child. These “faith moments” transform you through the question they pose. I’ve had a number of these moments but some of the more powerful ones came in India in the 1980s. I knew I would never be the same person because of what I saw and experienced. Life could not go back to the old comfortable set of solutions I had so readily accepted.

Merritt describes a moment in his life where he faced the same kind of questions and […]

The Danger of Perpetual Culture War to Christ's Mission

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:08-05:00October 17th, 2012|Categories: America and Americanism, American Evangelicalism, Biblical Theology, Culture, The Church|

I have written several previous blogs that have referenced the excellent book, A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars, by author/blogger Jonathan Merritt. It is to this excellent book I return today and tomorrow.

Merritt argues, quite convincingly I am fully persuaded, that when Christians engage in perpetual culture war the tendency is to “reduce the immense witness of the Scriptures to only a few culture-war issues–namely, abortion and gay marriage. Both are important issues deserving serious thought. The scriptures speak often about life and sexuality. But they also regularly address poverty, equality, justice, peace, and care for God’s good creation” (89).

When Christians live as if the culture-war issues are paramount then “we dismiss the limitless bounty of the Scriptures into a tiny cup of condensed political juice” (89). When this happens we reduce the witness of Scripture and minimize God’s unbounded wisdom about everything necessary for a godly and good life.

What has happened in the millennial generation (20s and 30s) is that a rise of interest in a broader range of social and political issues has prompted a new kind of response […]

The Two Sides of Christianity: Understanding What Truly Matters

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:08-05:00October 16th, 2012|Categories: Biblical Theology, Creeds, The Church, Theology|

We commonly speak of there being “two sides” to one coin. We do this to make the point that “heads” and “tails” are distinctly different. We have used a coin like this since we were all very young. It is still done in various events and ceremonies, like just before the kickoff of a football game when the referee does a “coin toss.” But this coin is one. Both sides are connected and intimately related; of one piece.

Like a coin Christianity also has two sides. These sides are one yet they are quite distinct. They are intimately related yet they are different. These two sides are the faith and the way, or the truth and the life. These are the two great aspects of the whole. Unless we keep both sides of this coin in view we will make major mistakes. These mistakes have broken many who have lost their way as Christians.

Jesus Is the Truth and the Life

In the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. John we read these familiar words:

Jesus said […]

The Mentalist: My Favorite Current Television

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:08-05:00October 16th, 2012|Categories: Television|

I sometimes share reviews of popular movies, both dramas and action films. I am not a serious film critic but do have an “eye” for credible films, or so I think. I have also done a review or two about a television series, e.g. MI-5 and Foyle’s War both come to mind (Both are BBC productions.). In the spirit of sharing my viewing interests, and perhaps prompting a few friends to enjoy a television series with me, I confess that I am “hooked” on the current series, The Mentalist, which stars Simon Baker as California Bureau of Investigation (CBI) consultant Patrick Jane. My brother got me into this series and now I have finished, earlier this week, the last episode of Season Four. Season Five is airing currently on CBS so I am now in the rhythm of using my DVD to watch each week’s episode. It is rare that I do this with a TV series and the only other one that I currently watch in real time (DVR) is “Justified.” (It is a haunting and gripping series that features a number of religious […]

Further Reflections on the Decision of the German Bishops

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:08-05:00October 15th, 2012|Categories: Freedom, Roman Catholicism, The Church|

On October 4 I posted a blog that came from a letter written to me by a dear friend who grew up Catholic and then left the Catholic Church to become an evangelical Protestant. The friend I refer to is named Rick. As I noted before Rick returned to the Catholic Church several years ago and is an active communicant member. Rick and I spoke on the phone last week about this letter and the response that some of you offered to it. I also personally spoke to several Catholic leaders, including knowledgeable priests, who are my close friends because of my ecumenical mission. After I posted Rick’s initial letter (10/4/12), and read the several responses some of my Catholic readers offered, I felt further information was needed regarding the German bishops decision regarding Professor Hartmut Zapp.

It is important to say that this decision of the German bishops is not final. There is a proper appeal process and the Vatican will follow this procedure for dealing with this decision to ex-communicate Dr. Zapp. This means the decision […]

Jesus the Catechist

By John Armstrong|2021-07-02T06:16:08-05:00October 12th, 2012|Categories: Discipleship, Education, Jesus|

Many Christians react to the use of a catechism for teaching Christian doctrine. (I reacted myself until I was already a young pastor around thirty years of age!) I remember a lady in my church, speaking up in a congregational meeting, saying that she opposed all use of catechisms for instruction because they taught people “rote” answers. This was bad she argued. She has a point, albeit a weak one.

The word catechism actually refers to a way of learning that involves questions and answers. You ask a question and seek an answer. Socrates, the wisest of the Greek teachers, used this method. So did our Lord Jesus Christ. He used the “catechetical method” by asking thought provoking questions that awakened the mind and stimulated a search for truth. More often then not Jesus was the answer, or at least he gave (or pointed to) the answer.

So catechetical instruction has been used by the Christian church from the beginning. We see rudimentary elements of it in the New Testament, both in Jesus and the epistles. A catechism is simply a […]