21 December 2007 by Brian.

I’ve started reading a couple more books. Today’s quote comes from, “The Cross of Christ“, by John R. W. Stott.

“All inadequate doctrines of the atonement are due to inadequate doctrines of God and man. If we bring God down to our level and raise ourselves to His, then of course we see no need for a radical salvation, let alone for a radical atonement to secure it. When, on the other hand, we have glimpsed the blinding glory of the holiness of God, and have been so convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit that we tremble before God and acknowledge what we are, namely ‘hell deserving sinners’, then and only then does the necessity of the cross appear so obvious that we are astonished we never saw it before.”

Christianity in a secular humanist age. This is our challenge.

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4 December 2007 by Brian.

This topic has been on my mind a lot lately and, while I wholeheartedly endorse the pursuit of excellence, I’ve come to the conclusion that perfectionism is a disease.

Hannah Arendt said, “In order to go on living one must try to escape the death involved in perfectionism.”

There are many of us (myself included) who would do well to ponder that statement for a some time. We enslave ourselves, as well as those around us, with a perfectionistic mindset in spite of the fact that no one, other than Jesus Himself, has ever achieved sustained perfection.

Posted in Religious fanaticism, Religion, Quotes, Naturalism, Community, Humanism, Morality, Morals, Contemporary Christianity, Marriage, Biblical Worldview, Spirituality, False Doctrine, Sanctity of Life | No Comments »

17 November 2007 by Brian.

“There’s so much comedy on television. Does that cause comedy in the streets?” - Dick Cavett

Further evidence that mankind is not basically good, as secular humanists would have us believe.  If we are, why are we so much more easily influenced toward evil than we are toward good.

(Comedy is, of course, neither necessarily good or evil, but the fact is that we find sin and evil prevalent in our world, regardless of the prevailing messages in our media/entertainment.)

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12 November 2007 by Brian.

Calamapportunity. (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the AT&T Commercial and it might make a little more sense.)

It’s been a while since I posted a Friday quote, so I figured I’d use one today.

“An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist a calamity in every opportunity.” — Winston Churchill

Fact is, we all live in Calamapportunity and it’s up to us to determine how we’ll respond. Most importantly, will God be glorified by our approach to life? Or will we act out of fear and insecurity like those who don’t understand that there is a loving God who wants to work in our lives?

Posted in Social Injustice, Social Justice, Israel, Religious fanaticism, Quotes, Eurabia, Politics, Community, Humanism, Naturalism, Radicals, Radicalism, Contemporary Christianity, Marriage, Islam, Sanctity of Life, Biblical Worldview, North Korea, Religion, False Doctrine, Spirituality, Secularism | No Comments »

26 August 2007 by Brian.

“Very few really seek knowledge in this world. Mortal or immortal, few really ask. On the contrary, they try to wring from the unknown the answers they have already shaped in their own minds – justification, explanations, forms of consolation without which they can’t go on. To
really ask is to open the door to the whirlwind. The answer may annihilate the question and the
questioner.”

Spoken by the Vampire Marius in
Ann Rice’s book The Vampire Lestat
Ballantine Books. New York, NY. 1985.

(Remember, Ann Rice became a Christian late in life…interesting what happens when you dare to really take a look at reality!)

I found this quote at http://tchriscrain.blogspot.com/2007/07/critical.html .

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15 August 2007 by Brian.

Hard times.  People all around us are going through them all the time.  You’ve probably just gone through one, are going through one now, or you’re about to go through one.  Life is just like that.  Too often, we fail to capture the grace available to us in the hard times.  Our first instinct is to focus on the difficulty, to “fix the problem”, to “suck it up” and go on with life the best we can.  How often, do we have the wisdom to ask God, “What are you trying to teach me through this?”  That, I believe, should be our first response question in prayer as we turn to our Heavenly Father for help.

On the rare occasions that I exhibit the maturity to ask that important question, I am almost always brought back to a realization of my abiding need to rely on God.  Then, God reminds me of just how Mighty, Able, Powerful, and Loving He is.  This experience is vital to my own spiritual well-being, as I’m always tempted to rely on myself in day to day life.

The words of the old hymn, “The Solid Rock” express it with excellence:

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Refrain:
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

There are two lesser known verses, in addition to the preceding ones:

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
’Midst all the hell I feel within,
On His completed work I lean.

I trust His righteous character
His council, promise, and His power;
His honor and His name’s at stake,
To save me from the burning lake.

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11 August 2007 by Brian.

Here’s the Friday quote, several weeks and one day late.

“We ought to be persuaded that the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained.”

- George Washington

Isn’t this obvious these days?

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1 July 2007 by Brian.

I figured that I’m two days late, I should throw in an extra quote.  Here you go…

“In times like these men should utter nothing for which they would not be willingly responsible through time and in eternity.” – Abraham Lincoln

“No man can purchase his virtue too dear, for it is the only thing whose value must ever increase with the price it has cost us. Our integrity is never worth so much as when we have parted with our all to keep it.” – Ovid

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23 June 2007 by Brian.

“At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. In struggling for human dignity the oppressed people of the world must not allow themselves to become bitter or indulge in hate campaigns. To retaliate with hate and bitterness would do nothing but intensify the hate in the world. Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can be done only by projecting the ethics of love to the center of our lives.” - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Of course, the “ethics of love” proceed directly from the nature and character of God, let’s not forget.  A anthropocentric definition will always fall far short of true love.

Posted in Social Justice, Morality, Social Injustice, Quotes, Eurabia, Morals, Spirituality, Islam, Marriage, Contemporary Christianity, Biblical Worldview, Sanctity of Life | No Comments »

21 June 2007 by Brian.

Plato once wrote, “Give me the songs of a nation, and it matters not who writes its laws.”  Why?  Because songs express the heart of a culture or a nation.  Actions are, of course, the result of what is in the heart more so than what is demanded by any external laws.  The song reveals the heart, but that’s not all it does.  Songs also shape the heart and mind of the listener and far more can be accomplished by capturing the imagination of a group through song, than can be forced by dictating rules or procedures.

This blog questions how purposeful our worship is in the contemporary church.  I’d love to see more worship leaders take his article to heart and choose to use songs that have been written with the purpose of exalting God as He has revealed Himself to be, rather than those simply creating an emotional response or a utilizing a catchy tune.

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