THE REAL ALTERNATIVE TO PHARISAISM
The Christian alternative to Pharisaism is not Publicanism but costly discipleship. The laxity of the Publican is just as repugnant to God as the self-righteousness of the Pharisee. In the parable it is not the Publican as such but the repentant Publican who is praised.
–Donald G. Bloesch in
“Theological Notebook I”
KNOW-IT-ALLS
As the methods of science achieved greater and greater triumphs, both theoretical and practical, the old picture of how things are, the picture derived from the Bible . . . was replaced by a quite different one. The real world . . . was a world of material bodies–as vast as the sun or as small as an atom–moving ceaselessly according to unchanging and mathematically stable laws in a fixed and infinite space through time, which moved with unvarying velocity from an infinite past to an infinite future. . . To have discovered the cause of something is to have explained it.
–Lesslie Newbigin in
“Foolishness to the Greeks”
GOD’S CREATIVE GOODNESS
I accept the existence of angels as an element of the mysterious reality of God’s plenitude. Obviously, with angelic choirs the creation must be a more complex, diverse, and manifold reality than one might want to imagine. Angels are a sign that God’s goodness must be excessively fruitful; it overflows in creative energy. Infinite varieties of beings can be sustained and flourish in this good and bountiful system.
–Sidney Callahan in
“Commonweal” (Dec. 1, 1995)
THE DRAMA OF DOGMA
The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man–and the dogma is the drama. That drama is summarized quite clearly in the creeds of the Church, and if we think it dull it is because we either have never really read those amazing documents or have recited them so often and so mechanically as to have lost all sense of their meaning.
–Dorothy Sayers in
“Dorothy L. Sayers: A Reckless Rage for Life”
LIVING IN RELATIONSHIP
Just as husband and wife live out their lives against the backdrop of being married, so do we live out the entirety of our lives against the backdrop of a constant relationship with God. He is always there, always loving us, always ready to listen to us. As we recognize his unwavering commitment to us, we are able to live in the day to day adventure and challenge of his presence. We enjoy the dialogue. It’s as if we say, “Oh, I must talk to him about this!”
–John Guest in
“Only a Prayer Away”
THE PERIL OF PERSONAL MONARCHY
We would not put up with a debauched king, but in a democracy all of us are kings, and we praise debauchery as pluralism.
–John Gardner in
“On Moral Fiction”
“IF ANY ONE WILL COME AFTER ME . . .”
The way of Christ is not a crossless way. But if Christ is with us, and we are with him, we can survive, and we can be effective.
–William Hunter Hester in
“Wisdom of the Ages: The Mystique of the African American Preacher”
AN ECLIPSE IS NOT UNSEEN
Take heed to yourselves also because there are many eyes upon you. So there will be many who observe your fall. If you miscarry, the world will also echo with it. It is the same as the eclipses of the sun in broad daylight–they are seldom without witnesses.
–Richard Baxter in
“The Reformed Pastor”
SPEED KILLS–THE SOUL
A generation of Christians reared among push buttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age methods to our relations with God. We read our chapter, have our short devotions and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting. . . .
The tragic results of this spirit are all about us: Shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification of men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships, salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the Spirit. These and such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and serious malady of the soul.
–A. W. Tozer in
“The Pursuit of God”
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