Category Quotes & Verses

The Sins That Matter Most: A Quint of Quotes

Todd R Leave a comment

Dear fellow travelers,

Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection on the theme of sin, which is all around us, but also within us:

“God had one Son without sin; but He has no son without temptation.” – Charles Spurgeon, on Luke 11:4

“Oh, this was the great ploy of Satan in that kingdom of his: to display such blatant evil that one could almost believe one’s own secret sins didn’t matter” – Corrie ten Boom, speaking of the Holocaust

“What good was the Promised Land if the Israelites were just as wicked as the nations already living there?” – Life Application Study Bible, on Deuteronomy 1:1-2

“I have more trouble with D. L. Moody than with any man I know.” – D.L. Moody

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:8-9

Modern Media: A Quint of Quotes

Todd R 1 Comment

Fellow travelers,

Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection.  These five somewhat related sayings are about the way news is reported and used today.  I hope you find them thought-provoking, or at least interesting, but please don’t fight over them!

“The news media has decided that the way to arrive at neutrality is to put two opposing voices together and let them yell at each other.” – Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales

“In my experience, the more I know about a subject, the less I’m impressed with related media coverage” – Howard Marks, investor

“Most of Washington punditry is private letters, written to other pundits, appearing in public space.” – Christopher Hitchens

“The truth is, most of us read the news to gain ammunition, not information.” – Bill Haslam, former governor of Tennessee

“Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense,
            but a man of understanding remains silent.” – Proverbs 11:12

Is Democracy Good? A Quint of Quotes

Todd R Leave a comment

Fellow travelers,

Too often people argue over whether something is 100% good or 100% bad and lose sight of the fact that everything in this world is imperfect.  In light of that imperfection, here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection, on the theme of democracy:

“Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.” – E.B. White

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” – H.L. Mencken

“Mankind will in time discover that unbridled majorities are as tyrannical and cruel as unlimited despots.” – John Adams

“Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.” – Edmund Burke

“Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?” – Ecclesiastes 7:13

To Us a Child is Born

Todd R 1 Comment

In response to a reader suggestion, I’ve figured out what Bible verses are quoted the most here and am writing a series about those verses.  Today’s post is #2 of the series, covering the verse quoted the 2nd least out of the 10 most quoted, Isaiah 9:6.

“For to us a child is born,
            to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
            and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
            Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

This verse makes the most-quoted list because I of a Christmas series about it inspired by James Boice, who compared the 4 names Christ is called in this verse to Christmas gifts we can all have.  “Four gifts for Christmas. They are the greatest gifts that anybody can give or we can have, and they are all in Jesus. They are for us. They are for you, if you will have them.”

Boice speculated that if we took a poll (and people were honest), we could find out that people’s deepest needs are wisdom, the power to do what is right, satisfying relationships, and reconciliation with God and others through forgiveness.  Then we’d realize that the 4 aspects of Christ from Isaiah 9:6 would meet those deepest, most significant needs, like this:

            As Wonderful Counselor, He is our source of wisdom;
            As Mighty God, He will empower us to live as He did;
            As Everlasting Father, He invites us with unconditional love into His family;
            As Prince of Peace, He buys peace between us and Him, and between us and others.

Because Jesus came and lived and died for us, we can have all of these things because He offers them to us as a free gift to those who accept Him.  So, Christmas may have already passed, but Jesus still lives and is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy:

“For to us a child is born,
            to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
            and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
            Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Regardless of the season, we can be thankful for all that God has given us in Christ.

Amen.

Popular Orthodoxy: A Quint of Quotes

Todd R 1 Comment

Fellow travelers,

Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection.  These five somewhat related sayings suggest the particular time and place we live in may not be very different from every other time and place.  I hope you find them interesting and thought-provoking.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.  He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?…the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.” – Genesis 3:1,4

“Every age has some ostentatious system to excuse the havoc it commits. Conquest, honour, chivalry, religion, balance of power, commerce, no matter what, mankind must bleed, and take a term for a reason” – Horace Walpole, British politician, in 1762

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” – Proverbs 14:12, 16:25

“At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas of which it is assumed that all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to say this, that or the other, but it is ‘not done’ to say it… Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness. A genuinely unfashionable opinion is almost never given a fair hearing, either in the popular press or in the high-brow periodicals”. – George Orwell, in the 1945 introduction to ‘Animal Farm.’

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.  As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” – 2 Timothy 4:3-5