Classic and contemporary excerpts.
Insulting Prohibition
The existence of [England’s] blasphemy law must be painful to most Christians, and the idea that a faith which has produced so many heroic martyrs cannot put up with “scurrilous” attacks is insulting to believers. In all the murderous fuss that has been made in the Rushdie affair no Muslim has ever suggested that The Satanic Verses has destroyed his or her faith; beliefs are no doubt confirmed by argument and even ridicule. The Devil’s Advocate is, after all, an important Vatican official.
—Barrister and novelist John
Mortimer in The Spectator
(April 21, 1990)
Mouthful Of Bitterness
Ignorance is not bliss! Ignorance is like sneaking that first bite of Hershey’s unsweetened chocolate while your mom’s out hanging the clothes. Without all the other ingredients, all you’ve got is a mouthful of bitterness. In marriage some of those other ingredients are understanding, humor, compromise, faith, love, and maturity. If you are just married for the look of it, then you’ll end up with a bitter taste in your mouth.
—Pam Young and Peggy Jones in
The Sidetracked Sisters’
Happiness File
Great expectations
Lech Walesa made the observation that “Americans are drifting away from spiritual values as they become richer.”
He said that “sooner or later we will have to go back to our fundamental values, back to God, the truth, the truth which is in God.” And then he made a most interesting statement: “We look to America, and we expect from you a spiritual richness to meet the aspirations of the 20th century.”
—Quoted by James A. Baker III
in Decision (May 1990)
No Passive Worship
The fellowship of the Body is always two-way; receiving and giving. Wanting only to receive is not fellowship. We may not be preachers, but when we come to worship we nevertheless bring what we have. There must be help of the pulpit from the pew. Sitting and looking on will not do. We must give others to drink, not necessarily by speaking, but maybe by quiet prayer.… Every member of the Body has a ministry, and every member is called to function in the place appointed by the Lord. It makes no difference who does the work if the glory is his.
—Watchman Nee in
What Shall This Man Do?
Useful Pain
We are called to be not the honey of the world but the salt of the earth. Salt stings on an open wound, but it also saves one from gangrene.
—Donald Bloesch in Theological
Notebook, Volume 1
Prisoners Of Ourselves
It is not that someone else is preventing you from living happily; you yourself do not know what you want. Rather than admit this, you pretend that someone is keeping you from exercising your liberty. Who is this? It is you yourself.
—Thomas Merton in New
Seeds of Contemplation
New Tomorrows
Some people have simply stopped expecting. They have accumulated enough of life’s disappointments to become afraid to dream, to reach, to stretch, to broaden their horizons.… [But] God wants to free us unto tomorrow; He won’t allow us to blame yesterday.… Neither will He allow us to cast blame on anything or anybody who seems to restrict our tomorrows.
—Jack W. Hayford in Taking
Hold of Tomorrow
Self-Deception
Sometimes we are moved by passion and think it zeal. We blame small things in others, and pass over greater things in ourselves. Quickly enough we feel and weigh up what we endure from others; but how much others bear from us we do not notice.
—Thomas à Kempis in
The Imitation of Christ
