Quotes to Ponder

[tenderhearted]

      “The less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray.”
 George Muller quote
 

Thank you Uncle Buck for this quote:  It is so TRUE...

Continue on with this idea: The less we desire to read it, the more likely we slide further back into our sinful nature. With that vacuum needing to be filled, more prodigal we become.

[Uncle Buck]

“The probability of life originating from accident is comparable to the unabridged dictionary resulting from an explosion in a printing shop.”
     –Dr. Edwin Conklin

[Uncle Buck]

Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.

The price of greatness is responsibility.


We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.


Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.
 
Sir Winston Churchill

[outdeep]

There are three things that are true in Dan Brown's book The Da Vinci Code that Christians need to reckon with:

1.  Paris is in France.
2.  London is in England.
3.  Leonardo da Vinci painted a bunch of pictures.

(heard on the radio so I didn't catch the attribution).

Thanks to RS for spelling correction.

[Uncle Buck]

WHAT GOD HATH PROMISED
 
God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain, rocky and steep,
Never a river, turbid and deep.

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the laborer, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

     –Annie Johnson Flint

[outdeep]

The debate sparked by the Iraq war over American rashness vs. European escapism is dwarfed by what the world now faces ... the common danger of a wider war merging into a war of civilizations against the backdrop of a nuclear-armed Middle East. ... We now know that we face the imperative of building a new world order or potential global catastrophe.

-Henry Kissinger

[Oscar]

"The demagogue is usually sly,
a detractor of others,
a professor of humility and disinterestedness,
who acts in corners and avoids open and manly expositions of his course,
appeals to passions and prejudices rather than to reason,
and is in all respects a man of intrigue and deception,
of sly and cunning and management."

James Fenimore Cooper

[yakomoto]

Jesus, Savior, pilot me
Over life's tempestuous sea:
Unknown waves before me roll,
Hiding rocks and treach'rous shoal;
Chart and compass came from Thee–
Jesus, Savior, pilot me!

     –Edward Hopper

[Oscar]

Folks,

Here is a quote from Steve Hassan's, Realeasing the Bonds:

"In any case, when a leader with a questional background organizes a group so that power is totally centralized, you can assume that a destructive cult is being formed.  World-renowned Christian apologist Norman Geisler puts it this way: 'Whenever you have an individual who claims a direct pipeline with God and has no accountability, if you don't have a cult today, you will have one tomorrow'."

Tom

[outdeep]

People who pray consistently freeze to death, too.

Though I assume any story involving Saint Peter at the gates of heaven is intended for humor, not sound theological thinking.

[Joe Sperling]

Thanks Yakamoto. Here's one more:

The woodworker accidentally sat down on his automatic sander and got a little behind in his work.

Also, there was the optician who fell into the lensmaking machine and made a spectacle of himself.

[Christine]

Thanks for the quotes theyre very funny. I got a real laugh out ot the one with the 3yr old resisting a rest. For some reason my daughter has been resisting a rest for the last couple days :rofl:

[outdeep]

It's only a quarter.....

Several years ago, a preacher from out-of-state accepted a call to a church in Houston, Texas .  Some weeks after he arrived, he had an occasion to ride the bus from his home to the downtown area. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him a quarter too much change.

As he considered what to do, he thought to himself,  'You' d better give the quarter back.  It would be wrong to keep it.'  Then he thought, 'Oh, forget it, it's only a quarter. Who would worry about this little amount?

Anyway, the bus company gets too much fare; they will never miss it.  Accept it as 'a gift from God' and keep quiet.'

When his stop came, he paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the quarter to the driver and said,  'Here, you gave me too much change.'

The driver, with a smile, replied,  'Aren't you the new preacher in town?  I have been thinking a lot lately about going somewhere to worship.  I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change.  I'll see you at church on Sunday.'

When the preacher stepped off of the bus, he literally grabbed the nearest light pole, held on, and said,  'Oh God, I almost sold your Son for a quarter.'

Our lives are the only  Bible some people will ever read. This is a really scary example of how much people watch us as  Christians and will put us to the test!  Always be on guard and remember that you carry the name of  Christ on your shoulders when you call yourself  'Christian'.

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits, they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not PROTECT you...Stay FAITHFUL and be GRATEFUL.

OK, the lessons, I came away from this story are these:

1.  Make broad, sweeping generalization judgments against those who make minor infractions.  Never mind, that the person may not have counted the change he got back, if he didn't correct it assume he is a crook and have nothing to do with him.

2.  If you make such an infraction, such as keeping a quarter that isn't yours, be sure to condemn yourself for all the people your stumbled, won't go to your church, and may even refuse to come to Christ.  The gospel is so fragile, any little slip-up might turn folks away.


To me, a better principle of life might be this:  Try to live upright in all of your dealings.  If you screw up, try to make amends the best you can.  If you can't make amends, move on.  Trust God that He can work in spite of your weakness and daily failures.

[outdeep]

The gospel is so fragile, any little slip-up might turn folks away.

Yes, that quote I made would turn folks from the BB and Christianity if they didn't realize that I was making it all toungue-in-cheek.  I don't think the gospel is so fragile that any little slip-up would turn folks away.  That is one of the exceptions I take with this story.

This story reminds me of the one I heard a few times in the Assembly:  sin is like nails in the soul.  God can forgive you by pulling the nails out but the holes will always be there.  Stories like this never helped me with my moral defects.  It only condemned me and made me feel excessively guilty for having them.

[Mark C.]

This story reminds me of the one I heard a few times in the Assembly:  sin is like nails in the soul.  God can forgive you by pulling the nails out but the holes will always be there.  Stories like this never helped me with my moral defects.  It only condemned me and made me feel excessively guilty for having them.

  Bingo Dave!

     Guilt and fear, as a method of motivating Christians to "overcome" their normal human weakness, is a poor means to producing good character.  Continual homilies that stress good moral choices (or all will be lost) from those who first came to Christ as helpless sinners seems to suggest that once a person gets saved by grace that somehow the new child of God must complete his own salvation----- in other words, there still is a large gap in my relationship with God that can only be filled in the perfection of my own character.

   Even when you add to the message of Christians fearfully taking responsibility for their own weak humanity the phrase, "but God has the grace to help you make the right choice", the full weight of gaining "the Victory" still rests with the believer in the final analysis of this kind of thinking.

   I agree with Dave that it makes the Gospel appear to be fragile and weak (as indeed it would be) if it is based on how good a Christian I can be.  The Gospel is about what God has done in Christ for a very needy and weak humanity.  The Gospel is about how God loves me inspite of all of my liabilities and failings, and that never changes for the whole duration of my Christian life!

   What the super achiever believer message can produce is an Assm. like GG, or a Ted Haggard, where their own desperate inner failings (becoming outer failings), really make a stink as the world judges Christians and their faith as a bunch of baloney.

   Yes, Christian character is important, and it does have an impact in our world, but guilt/fear motivational messages are a poor substitute for a firm foundation in the facts of my completed salvation.  The "fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc.", and it is these that spring from the removal of guilt and fear via the Gospel that really impact the world around us.   

 Any Mormon or JW might feel the guilty need to give the quarter back to the bus driver (this contrived story, btw, would never, ever, happen in the real world) and thus win the driver over to their religion, but it would never point to the message of eternal life.

                                                     He Is Risen!                   Mark C.