Aaron Armstrong's Blog, page 15

Joy and theology belong together

It is increasingly rare that the words “theology” and “joy” find themselves together. The examples of people who (publicly) talk theology are far too often dour or grumpy. Affable on a good day, perhaps. But joyful? Not so much.

And that’s a shame because it’s one of the things I love most about theology. It’s why I care about it and why I study it. Why I write about it and talk about it and read about it. Theology is all about joy.

How do we know joy and theology belong together?

Becau...

Theology shapes the way we see the world (really)

Of all the many topics frequently discussed, none is as high up on the list as that of the concept of worldviews.1 Okay, that’s entirely malarky. Few of us give the notion of “worldview” much thought at all because, as a culture, we don’t really care that much about philosophical concepts like this. We don’t deeply consider the way we understand the world to function and how we operate within it.2 We leave our worldview assumed, and rarely consider what is driving and influencing it.

Make kn...

Theology levels the playing field for humanity

Human beings are a fascinating bunch. Without a doubt, we have some pretty… interesting ideas about ourselves, either seeing ourselves as beings of supreme importance or try to convince ourselves of our own insignificance. Some of us broadcast every thought and life event, no matter how insignificant (and when that doesn’t work, we selectively edit to make ourselves look better). We downplay our abilities in exchange for compliments. Some of us arrogantly act at though we are better than every o...

My next book: ‘I’m a Christian—Now What?’

It was 2005, and Emily and I had both just asked Jesus to save us. We looked at one another, both with the same question on our minds: “Now what?”

Neither of us were coming from families with legacies of faith. We weren’t people who had been taken to church as children who then wandered away shortly after college began. We were starting from scratch. But we didn’t know what that would mean. The people we met at our church tried to help and encourage us as much as they knew how, but there wer...

When is the work of questioning done?

I tend to have big conversations with my kids. I think they sometimes hate it, but, it’s their own fault for having big questions. Okay, that’s a life. We actually all seem to enjoy them, even if we don’t entirely agree, or if some of their questions make Emily and me pray that Jesus will return exactly right now so that we can avoid the topic.

We talk about marriage, human sexuality, abortion and the abolition thereof, transgenderism, homosexuality, politics, healthcare, education… nary a to...

What I’ve learned in my first year of preaching at home

It was Sunday, September 12, 2021, and I was nervous as all get-out. I stood at the mic stand that served as our pulpit, my manuscript fully written and displayed on Emily’s iPad, my printed backups placed beside them for just in case. It wasn’t my first time preaching. But it was my first time preaching at the church I call home.

Preaching at “home” for the first time

For years, I had felt a desire to someday do this, if the Lord allowed the opportunity. I served as pulpit supply for mor...

What are the fundamentals of the Christian faith?

In our current day, there are few worse things to be called than a fundamentalist. For many, it is the dirtiest Christian cuss-word they can think of. It is as a pejorative and a conversation killer. When we think of a fundamentalist, a couple of stereotypes come to mind:

A joyless, angry, fire-and-brimstone preaching, King James-only and hymns-only cranky pantsA Twitter theobro who extolls the virtues of patriarchy and theocracy in a way that might make CBMW uncomfortable

The venn diagram...

The best way to recognize false teaching

One of my favorite books of the Bible is Colossians. Every time I read it, I’m overwhelmed. It is an incredibly powerful book, focused on the gospel message as “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27b) in the context of addressing some pretty serious false teaching. So given that our church is teaching through this book at the time of this writing—and I am preaching on that very verse I just quoted—you can imagine how I’m feeling right now.

The old (and current) problem of false teachi...

What does our faith cost us?

About 100 years ago, GK Chesterton wrote, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” There is much wisdom in this. The Christian faith is not easy for the human mind to grasp in so many ways, and not just because we believe God became a man, and died for the sins of the world.

What is so hard to grasp is its cost. Not simply that which was paid by Christ himself, who set aside his glory to live among us, so that we might live for...

What I’m enjoying about rewriting a project (so far)

A few years ago, I wrote a book exploring a number of the essential truths of the Christian faith. It was a good book, one that people really seemed to enjoy. It was also one of the projects that was simultaneously among the most rewarding and frustrating I’ve ever worked on.

The book was rewarding because it seemed to really help people who read it—especially teens and college students—get a grasp on what it is we believe. It was frustrating because it was definitely a project that I felt l...