Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

ISIS WON IN ORLANDO

Quote of the day from David French.  Longer article here:

Incredibly, ISIS won not just in Orlando. It’s winning the aftermath. The American response to the attack has been beyond ineffective, veering decisively toward the counterproductive. We’re doing nothing more to deter or prevent terror attacks and everything to deceive our own people about the true nature of the threat. Rather than unite to fight a common enemy, we’re dissolving into partisan, polarizing stupidity. . . 

 

This is perhaps the most astounding aspect of the aftermath — leftist thought leaders are responding to the massacre by condemning Christians. In other words, rather than educating Americans about the truly vicious nature of jihadist theology and encouraging Americans to remain vigilant, the New York Times, CNN, and similar news outlets are training their fire on Republican governors and attorneys general. To the extent that ISIS follows domestic American debates, there have to be high-fives all around in Raqqa. A Muslim kills gay people and ISIS’s Christian enemies face blowback? They couldn’t conceive of a more complete propaganda coup.

And so proceeds the unraveling of a nation.

See also Dennis Prager, "What If the Orlando Murderer Had Been a Christian?"

 

QUOTES OF THE DAY

  Western powers have been fighting jihad for more than 1,300 years — but for the American trained in cultural relativism and silly university ideals of diversity, reality can be so shocking that it’s simply easier and more satisfying to deny its existence.  - David French

   Western elites remain constitutionally unable to acknowledge that there are greater forces of evil in the world than the West itself.  - Heather MacDonnald

   The sexual revolution. . .  is the centerpiece of a new orthodoxy and new morality that elevates pleasure and self-will to first principles. This has become, in effect, a rival religion.  - Mary Eberstadt

Quotes of the Day

Rich Lowry recounts a couple of Carly Fiorina zingers on abortion:

A woman accosted Fiorina to ask, “How can you as a woman not support our health care?” In a firm and frank exchange, Fiorina probably left the woman determined never to try that again. “Oh, I support your health care,” the candidate shot back. “I don’t support butchering babies.”

... “Liberals and progressives will spend inordinate amounts of time and money protecting fish, frogs, and flies,” she said last week after a visit to a pro-life pregnancy center. “They do not think a 17-week-old, a 20-week-old, a 24-week-old is worth saving.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Ann Coulter - 

If tolerance is so important, why aren’t Third World immigrants asked to be tolerant of American laws and morals? To the contrary, in any cultural conflict, Americans are expected to give way to immigrant values — or be accused of opposing “inclusivity.”

QUOTES OF THE DAY

"For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver."  - Martin Luther

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well"   - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

 "Young man, what we meant in going for those Redcoats was this: we always had governed ourselves and we always meant to. They didn't mean we should."  - (Captain Levi Preston, of the Danvers militia, at age 91)

 “Little by little the look of the country changes because of the men we admire.” – Melvyn Douglas, (1963)

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Climate change has become what philosophers call a “non-falsifiable hypothesis.”  Everything—Hurricane Sandy, warm winters, cold winters—is said to be proof of climate change.

"Try this parlor game out at a cocktail party next time you’re clinking ice-free glasses with a warmist: ask him to specify what climate or weather phenomenon would not be consistent with the general theory of climate change.  And then step back and enjoy the fun."  - Steven Hayward at Powerline blog.  (more . . }

QUOTE OF THE DAY

From Mark Steyn:

It’s worth noting that Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Britain now all have prime ministers to the right of the US president.   That’s a kind of American exceptionalism the world could do without.

QUOTE OF THE DAY - THE POWER OF A WOMAN TO BRING A MAN TO REPENTANCE

From Robert L. Short's dedication of The Parables of Peanuts: 

         For My Own Sweet Ellen Kay . . . of whom Professor Barth must have been thinking when he wrote,

              "If there is a way of bringing man to repentance, it is the way of the woman who refuses to let herself be corrupted and made disobedient by his disobedience, but who in spite of his disobedience maintains her place in the order all the more firmly . . ."

ROGER AILES ON THE U.S. AND MULTICULTURALISM TODAY

Roger Ailes is the head of Fox News.  The other night he described America this way:

“Are we losing America to the inevitable onrushing tide of history? No. But we’re in a storm, the mast is broken, the compass is off , and there’s a damn big hole in the boat. We have allowed ourselves to be manipulated by others, many of whom want to impose their culture and laws under the manufactured utopian idea that all all cultures are equal and most of them are better than America….America is a culture, it has a culture, and it must be recognized….We must not allow our collective memory to fade or morph into trendy revisionist versions of political correctness, which become a substitute for the truth.”

QUOTES OF THE DAY

Selected from an email:

--   Prayer is not a "spare wheel" that you pull out when in trouble, but it is a "steering wheel" that directs the right path throughout.

--  Friendship is like a book. It takes a few seconds to burn, but it takes years to write.

--  A blind person asked St. Anthony, "Can there be anything worse than losing eye sight?" He replied, "Yes, losing your vision!"

-- When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them; sometimes, when you are safe and happy, remember that someone has prayed for you.

-- Worrying does not take away tomorrow's troubles, it takes away today's peace.

QUOTE (TWEET) OF THE DAY

MATT DRUDGE @DRUDGE There will be over 3,500 killed in USA today from abortion. No flags lowered, no presidents crying. No media hyperventilating. Normal day.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

RT @toddstarnes: The President said we are not doing enough to keep children safe. Does that mean he's going to defund Planned Parenthood?

Quote of the Day

From a Wall Street Journal letter to the editor:

"What you are not hearing [and should] is that every child deserves and wants a married mother and father."

I like that: simple, direct, and totally true.   A child's welfare should trump all other considerations.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Ken Blackwell -  [my bolding]

It would not be a stretch to call Mr. Obama’s health care Mandate a "kulturkampf."  If he can force Catholic institutions—hospitals, schools, and para-church ministries—to provide drugs that can cause abortions now, why wouldn’t his next move be to mandate they actually provide for surgical abortions next year? And why not force all of us to pay for sex change operations, too?

Me:  Why not indeed?  There is no logical stopping point to curtail government's expanding power to mandate whatever it wants over the will of the American people.

MICHAEL NOVAK - THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Kathryn Jean Lopez interviewed Michael Novak (author of two recent books), who came forth with the thought for the day:

NOVAK: A wise teacher once told our class: Keep a worn journal by the bed, and write in it every night — five minutes, no more — jotting down the most memorable image (or even insight) of the day. Four minutes if you must. But do it. You will be surprised how this will teach you to notice many vivid images each day, and many insights. Only choose one at night, though, “to snatch from the flames.”

QUOTES OF THE DAY

"Dilbert "comic strip creator, Scott Adams, on "The Benefits of Boredom":

We've won the war on boredom! If you have a smartphone in your pocket, a game console in the living room, a Kindle in your backpack and an iPad in the kitchen, you never need to suffer a minute without stimulation. Yay!

But wait—we might be in dangerous territory. Experts say our brains need boredom so we can process thoughts and be creative. I think they're right. I've noticed that my best ideas always bubble up when the outside world fails in its primary job of frightening, wounding or entertaining me.  . . .  [more . . .]

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Thomas Sowell - "I think that we’re raising whole generations who regard facts as more or less optional."

View the entire 7 minute Uncommon Knowledge video interview.  (It's well worth one's time.)

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Pakistani-born Church of England Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali responds to an article on "Islamophobia" in Britain:  (my bolding)

'Diversity cannot be mere diversity. It must be consistent with the best of British values, such as human dignity, freedom and equality, which derive from the Judaeo-Christian tradition of the Bible.

'I know from personal experience that extremism as a mind-set is spreading throughout the Muslim world. We do not want it to spread here through the teaching of hate and the radicalisation of the young.

'That is why we must distinguish between those Muslims who want to live peacefully with their non-Muslim neighbours and those who wish to introduce Shari'a into this country, restrict freedom of speech and confine women to their homes, not to speak of introducing draconian punishments such as death for blasphemy recently awarded to a poor Christian woman in Pakistan.

'If relations are to improve between Muslims and other people in the world, these are the kind of issues that must be tackled.'

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Wise words from Myron Augsburger, the former president of Eastern Mennonite Seminary:

"I believe in justice: but I am not a preacher of the gospel of justice, but the Gospel of Christ who  calls us to justice. I believe in love, but I am not a preacher of the gospel of love, but the Gospel of Christ who calls us to love. I am committed to peace, but I am not a preacher of the gospel of peace, but the Gospel of Christ who calls us to peace. I believe in the value of the simple life, but I am not the preacher of the simple life, but of the Gospel of Christ that calls us to the simple life. Let us beware of the ultimate plagiarism of borrowing some great concepts from Jesus then running off proclaiming these concepts and not sharing the Christ that empowers these concepts."

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION RIDDLED WITH POLITICAL CORRECTNESS -- WHICH PUTS US AT RISK!

From Robert Costa at The Corner:

Rep. Peter King of New York, the leading Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, tells National Review Online that the Obama White House has built an “iron curtain” around national-security information in order to block Congress from investigating Northwest Airlines Flight 253. “This administration is not cooperating,” says King. “They have a stonewalling mentality.” . . .

The following, excerpted from Costa's short post at the Corner as well, could qualify as the "quote of the day": (my bolding)

“Some people call it profiling, but I call it common-sense screening, and that’s what we need to do,” says King. “When the FBI went after the mafia, they investigated Italian groups. When they investigated the IRA, they went to Irish bars. If you’re looking for the Ku Klux Klan, you don’t go to Harlem. When you know that nearly 100 percent of the terrorists coming after us are Muslims, you need to put aside political correctness and focus on young males from Middle Eastern countries. Israel does it and it makes sense. Otherwise, we’re wasting time by grilling the Scandinavian grandmother. The overwhelming majority of Muslims are good people, but we have to be frank. The terrorists are Muslims. We need the president to come out and admit that we’re at war with Islamic terrorism.”  [more . . .]

Update: Ralph Peters posts a scathing article related to the above, "Lying to Ourselves."

We proclaim that the terrorists "don't represent Islam." OK, whom do they represent? The Franciscans? We don't get to decide what's Islam and what isn't. Muslims do. And far too many of them approve of violent jihad. . .

On Christmas Day, a Muslim fanatic attempted to butcher hundreds of Christians (dead Jews would've been a bonus). Our response? Have airport security analyze the contents of grandma's mini-bottle of shampoo -- we don't want to "discriminate." [more. . .]

CLIMATEGATE SENTENCE OF THE DAY

Clive Cook writing in The Atlantic:  (HT: HotAir)

The stink of intellectual corruption is overpowering."

Read on...

LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT ISLAMIST BUTCHERY

Ibn Warraq in Forbes magazine:  [my bolding]    HT: NRO Corner

There are said to have been at least 14,396 acts of Islamic terrorism (if we include the latest blast in Peshawar, Pakistan) since the World Trade Center atrocity; more people are killed by Islamists each year than were killed in all 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition; more civilians were killed by Muslim extremists on 9/11 than in the 36 years of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. Then let us not forget the recent acts in Bali, Madrid, London, Mumbai, Thailand, India, Somalia, Nigeria, the Philippines and almost on a daily basis in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. And yet, it is Muslims who are offended when we raise these facts.  [more . .]

QUOTE OF THE DAY

On the road today I came unexpectedly upon a major book sale being held in a small town about an hour and a half away.  I happened to see a sign on the road advertising the sale, and since I had a few extra minutes, I wandered in.  I picked up Willliam F. Buckley Jr.'s Nearer, My God: An Autobiography of Faith which I expect to enjoy perusing.  I also picked up Philip Yancey's Reaching for the Invisible God.  I read a few pages a moment ago and came across this quote from C.S. Lewis:  "The Christian has a great advantage over other men not by being less fallen than they, nor less doomed to live in fallen world, but by knowing that he is a fallen man in a fallen world."  Of this Yancey says, "That recognition forms my starting point in understanding a journey to know God."   I appreciate that starting point.  It liberates us from a lot of false notions and expectations.  I shall look forward to reading this book.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Atheist Christopher Hitchens offers this discovery as a result of his numerous debates with theists:

I have discovered that the so-called Christian right is much less monolithic, and very much more polite and hospitable, than I would once have thought, or than most liberals believe.

Me:  That comes as no surprise to me.  I am glad that the Christians he has debated, and those in the audience,  have displayed manners.  Hitchens, of course, has much more to say.

Update 10/27/09 - Something of the flavor of the Hitchens - Doug Wilson debates can be found in this Huffingtron Post exchange.

IS THE YEARNING FOR PEACE UNIVERSAL?

No.  Cliff May injects needed reality:

President Obama: “The yearning for peace is universal.”

 

Cliff May:  Unfortunately, it is not and has never been. Genghis Khan did not yearn for peace. Napoleon did not yearn for peace. Hitler did not yearn for peace. People who call themselves “jihadis” — by definition — do not yearn for peace except the peace that follows the defeat of all infidels who are — by definition — their enemies.

C.S. LEWIS ON OBJECTIVE VALUE

1. "The doctrine of objective value [is] the belief that certain attitudes are really true, and others really false, to the kind of thing the universe is and the kind of things we are. . . . Because our approvals and disapprovals are thus recognitions of objective value or responses to an objective order, therefore emotional states can be in harmony with reason (when we feel liking for what ought to be approved) or out of harmony with  reason (when we perceive that liking is due but cannot feel it). No emotion is, in itself, a judgement: in that sense all emotions and sentiments are alogical. But they can be  reasonable or unreasonable as they conform to Reason or fail to conform."  --The Abolition of Man (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975), 31-32.   (HT: Doug Groothuis)

Me: This is a great quote.  A bombshell, really.  So many people assume that their "feelings" tell them truths about the universe and about ethics.  Not so.  Anyone who absorbs the message and insights of "The Abolition of Man" will find themselves at revolutionary odds with the insanity of contemporary Western culture.

QUOTE OF THE DAY - LIMITS OF WESTERN WILL?

Mark Steyn:

[...] The president of the United States congratulates himself on his fearlessness in standing up for the right of a woman to choose to wear a hijab but won't say a word about the young Muslim girls murdered by their families in America, Canada, Britain, Sweden, Germany, and around the world for choosing not to wear a hijab. As is now traditional for the observances of the anniversary, the media offer their doleful reports on American Muslims' "fears" of a "backlash" against them, even though the post-9/11 period has been an era not of Islamophobia but of weirdly insistent Islamophilia. And in our broader culture, self-loathing, trutherism, and other fin du civilisation poses run rampant, even unto the heart of the government.

9/11 was bad news if you were enjoying the good life in a jihadist training camp in the Hindu Kush. But, over the long run, it was a useful lesson in the limits of western will.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I can live two months on a good compliment."  - Mark Twain

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Earlier today I was going through an old computer file and came across the following quote.  I don't know where I picked it up.  If anyone knows the source, I will be glad to give proper credit. [Update: A reader informs me that this was spoken by the late Dr. Adrian Rogers of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN.]

Here's the quote:

The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. 

When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for,

 that my dear friend,

 is about the end of any nation.

MARK STEYN - OBAMA HAS THE KNACK OF APPEARING MODERATE WHILE ACTING RADICAL

Steyn:

The theater of thoughtfulness is critical to the president’s success. He has the knack of appearing moderate while acting radical, which is a lethal skill. . .  But underneath the thoughtful look is a transformative domestic agenda that represents a huge annexation of American life by an ever-more intrusive federal government. One cannot but admire the singleminded ruthlessness with which Obama is getting on with it, even as he hones his contemplative, unhurried, moderate routine on primetime press conferences. On foreign affairs, the shtick is less effective . . .

MEANING IN LIFE

In Shantung Compound: The Story of Men and Women Under Pressure, Langdon Gilkey wrote the following (pp. 193-94),:

Let us take it [meaning in life] to refer simply to a sense of worthful purpose in what we do and the life we lead.  A man possesses a sense of "meaning" when he feels there is a vital connection between the goals he values and the activities and relationships in which he is involved.

Then what he does each day becomes a coherent means to ends he really prizes, his life and work accomplish something of value to him and so "make sense."  Consequently his energies and powers are called forth in creative effort; he is vigorous, hardworking, and, in the good sense of that word, ambitious.  In this sense, meaning in life is the spiritual fuel that drives the human machine.  Without it we are indifferent and bored; there is no ambition to work, we are inspired by no concern or sense of significance, and our powers are unstirred and so lie idle.  Without "meaning" we are undirected and a vulnerable prey to all manner of despair and anxiety, unable to stand firm against any new winds of adversity.  

Me:  Shantung Compound remains one of the top 10 most insightful books I have ever read.  I first read it years ago.  It's the true story of men and women from all walks of life interned in a Japanese prison camp durng World War II.   One won't find a better exposition of "lived" psychology, sociology, philosophy, anthropology and morality anywhere-- better than textbooks!

QUOTE OF THE DAY - (ON MEDIA'S FAILURE TO EXPLICATE TRANSNATIONALISM)

 Andy McCarthy writes:

The mainstream media did not vet President Obama.  His transnational progressive positions were not scrutinized — and even though the President is even now on an important trip, crafting new global regulatory arrangements with other heads of state, we still have not gotten anything approximating an examination of Obama's views.  Bluntly, the public has been better informed about Gov. Sarah Palin's handling of the Alaska State Police than about their President's fondness for international redistribution of wealth, international treaties, and the transfer of national sovereignty to transnational bureaucracies and tribunals.  [my bolding]

Me:  McCarthy made this statement in the midst of a larger blog post concerning the upcoming confirmation hearing for Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh for the job of State Department legal adviser.  I encourage you to read McCarthy's whole post.  It's important.

Quote of the Day - G. K. Chesterton on Original Sin, Beggars, and Kings

From G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy  -

Christianity preaches an obviously unattractive idea, such as original sin; but when we wait for its results, they are pathos and brotherhood, and a thunder of laughter and pity; for only with original sin can we at once pity the beggar and distrust the king.

Me:  One could draw all manner of applications from this quote, but perhaps the most relevant would be to distrust all would-be "messiahs."  There are none, except Christ alone.  All who suppose otherwise will have their hopes and dreams dashed.   

QUOTE OF THE DAY

               If you view circumstances from God's point of view,
                  you may be called on to do something that the
                 average non-Christian, who sees nothing but the
            visible world, would consider foolish and a tragic waste
                                     of time and talent.
                                                             - Paul LIttle

CURRENT QUOTES FROM THOMAS SOWELL

Found here:

- Senator John McCain could never convince me to vote for him. Only Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama can cause me to vote for McCain.

- There is no question that Barack Obama is a clever and glib fellow. There is also no question that some of the most foolish, dangerous, and horrific things done around the world in the past hundred years have been done by clever and glib fellows.

- Nothing is more fraudulent than calls for a “dialogue on race.” Those who issue such calls are usually quick to cry “racism” at any frank criticism. They are almost invariably seeking a monologue on race, to which others are supposed to listen.

Quotes of the Day

From Fred Thompson:

At the Villages: "It’s more and more apparent to me every day that the average 20 year old who is serving us in Iraq knows more about national security than many of the 20 year veterans in Congress.”  (HT: K.J. Lopez)

Quotes of the Day

Thomas Sowell:

"Does anybody seriously believe that “hate speech” prohibitions will be applied to Muslims demonizing Jews, to blacks demonizing whites, or to women demonizing men?"

I forget who first said this:

"If a million people say a foolish thing, it remains a foolish thing."

Thomas Sowell's Musings

No blind observer to the passing scene, Thomas Sowell offers his take on cultural craziness.  A sampling:

- Will those who are dismantling this society from within or those who seek to destroy us from without be the first to achieve their goal? It is too close to call.

- "Women's Liberation" and the "sexual revolution" have not liberated women. They have liberated the sort of man who is a "love and leave 'em" kind of guy, who lets the woman deal with the consequences, including pregnancy. 

- Amid all the media hysteria over the price of gasoline and the profits of "Big Oil," one simple fact has been repeatedly overlooked: The oil companies' earnings are just under 10 percent of the price of a gallon of gas, while taxes take 17 percent. Yet who ever accuses the government of "greed"? 

- After President Bush fired a handful of U.S. attorneys, it has become a big scandal in the media. But when President Clinton fired all the U.S. attorneys in the country — including those who were investigating him for corruption in Arkansas — it was no big deal. Yet many in the media still claim that there is no bias.

Read the whole article for much, much more.

Quotes of the Day

The other day I entered a store that had a number of "sayings" posted on the wall.  Many of them I thought quite memorable.  Here is a sampling:

The road to success is always under construction.

Tact is the ability to see others as they wish to be seen.

A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.

Ideas won't work unless you do. 

Children need models more than critics.

If the going gets easy you may be going downhill. 

Failure is the path of least persistence

Some folks won't look up until they are flat on their backs.

A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor.

The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention.

Quotes of the Day

"Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots." - Frank A. Clark

***

"The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once."

Quotes of the Day

Internet browsing turned up this gem:

“Use what talents you possess; The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.”
                                                  - William Blake

Quote of the Day

If America abandons its Judeo-Christian values basis and the central role of the Jewish and Christian Bibles, its founders' guiding text, we are all in big trouble, including, most especially, America's non-Christians. Just ask the Jews of secular Europe.   - Dennis Prager

QUOTES FROM GEORGE VERWER, FOUNDER OF OPERATION MOBILIZATION

George Verwer, founder of Operation Mobilization, has said:

"Without faith and love your Christianity will be a hollow thing, no matter what its intellectual credibility."

"Failures for the believer are always temporary.  God loves you and me so much that he will allow almost any failure if the end result is that we become more like Jesus. Forsake your wimp factor, take a step and be proactive."

"We need a constant work of the Holy Spirit.   I often tell the story about D L Moody who would   emphasize the need to be filled with the Spirit again and again. One day when asked, "Mr. Moody why do you   keep saying we have to be filled again and again?"   he replied, "because I leak".   Thank God for free refills." 

Quotes of the Day

God does not comfort us to make us comfortable, but to make us comforters."  - J. H. Jowett

If I had but one sermon to preach, it would be on the homesickness of the soul for God."  - Samuel Shoemaker (a key figure in the beginnings of Alcoholics Anonymous)

QUOTE OF THE DAY - ATTITUDE OF BABIES

The New York Times today printed a surprisingly flattering picture of Phyllis Schlafly, the arch opponent of the Equal Rights Amendment and one of the most influential figures in modern American politics.  Here's the line that caught my eye:

A regular lecturer on college campuses, she is often asked to speak on the subject of balancing work and family.  "Feminism has changed the way women think, and it has changed the way men think," Mrs. Schaflly said, "but the trouble is, it hasn't changed the attitudes of babies at all."

Hat tip: The Corner: National Review

BEING OBJECTIVE TOWARDS OURSELVES AND SUBJECTIVE TOWARDS OTHERS

Like many others, I have posted meaningful quotes in my Bible.    Also, like many others, from time to time I actually read them!    The following is a quote, positioned innocently between the Old and New Testaments, that has sat quietly challenging me for over 25 years.

The majority of men are subjective towards themselves and objective towards all others, terribly objective sometimes – but the real task is in fact to be objective towards oneself and subjective towards all others.”      -  Soren Kierkegaard, Journal 

THE EVER UNSETTLING C.S. LEWIS

C.S. Lewis has a way of unsettling habitual ways of thinking.   Here's food for thought - and grounds for making us feel uneasy:

He [Jesus] was not at all like the psychologist's picture of the integrated, balanced, adjusted, happily married, employed, popular citizen.   You can't really be very well "adjusted" to your world if it says you "have a devil" and ends by nailing you up naked to a stake of wood.
                                           -  The Four Loves (chapter on "Affection")

Quote of the Day

“Yes, I know that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.  But sometimes it is necessary to curse the darkness as well, just to prevent our getting used to it.”  

                  - Richard John Neuhaus, First Things magazine, Jan., 2006, p. 64

Quotes of the Day

On Christ's behavior -  "It is clear from many of His sayings that our Lord had long foreseen  His death.    He knew what conduct such as His, in a world such as we have made of this, must inevitably lead to." - C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm

On the Shortness of life - "Life is a pil­grimage between two moments of nakedness."

I attended the funeral of a good and godly man on Sunday.  The quote above came to mind as a great commentary on the New Testament passage, I Timothy 6:6-8: “There is great gain in godliness with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content."

Quotes of the Day

On doing the will of God - "The more a man is committed to doing the will of God in the world, the more he will know the need to pray."  - Lesslie Newbigin, Honest Religion for Secular Man, p. 150

On the measure of a life -  "The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.  How much will you be missed?"   - source unknown

On the glories of reason -  "People sometimes say they feel a rush of emotion and feel the presence of God.  Another said, 'I fell a rush of reason and feel the presence of God.'"