Quote of the day – Forbes on philanthropy

I heartily endorse this perspective on philanthropy made by Forbes back in 1917.  They re-ran it as part of a 90th anniversary issue.
Too few millionaires who aspire to win fame as philanthropists begin at home, among their own workers.  To grind employees and then donate a million dollars to perpetuate his name is not a [...]

Quote of the day – comfortable Christianity?

I haven’t always been a Christian.  I didn’t go to religion to make me happy.  I always knew a bottle of port would do that.  If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.
C.S. Lewis

Quote of the day: “I thought creationists were monsters, until I married one”

Loving the enemy is an interesting Newsweek article by someone candidly confessing that she had unfairly stereotyped those who believe God created the universe. 

Before Rob, I hadn’t known any creationists. I assumed that they were people who believed in the Bible more than in scientific data, probably out of stupidity. Whenever I imagined what [...]

I’m not sure which is worse . . .

. . . the fact that I had to send an email reminding our Discipleship Committee that we have a false teacher leading a Sunday School class (and other classes) or that the only response I got from fifteen recipients was from one person who wrote “Merry Christmas.” 
Here’s the relevant part of what I sent:
Thanks [...]

Great quote on multiculturalism

Sir Charles Napier, a British general in India, said the following when Hindus complained about the prohibition on suttee (widow burning):
You say that it is your custom to burn widows.  Very well.  We also have a custom: When men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them.  Build [...]

Taking St. Francis too literally

This is a rerun from 2006.
I always appreciated St. Francis of Assisi’s famous quote: ”Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”  To me, that means that our lives should reflect our faith in Christ.   It reminds me of the exercise where you ask, “If I were on trial for being a Christian, [...]

(Foolish) Quote of the day

Katharine Jefferts Schori is the new Episcopal denomination’s presiding bishop.  When Time asked, “Is belief in Jesus the only way to get to heaven?” Schori said:

We who practice the Christian tradition understand him as our vehicle to the divine.  But for us to assume that God could not act in other ways is, I think, to [...]

Quote of the day

I really appreciated this quote, because it speaks volumes about the wrong assumptions people often make when criticizing “Christianity.”  For what they are criticizing is not behavior that Christ taught, but behavior that is often the opposite of what Christ taught.  In addition, the ”good” things about secularism nearly always overlap with Christian principles.   
Secularism looks best when [...]

Quote of the day

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
If you aim at heaven, you’ll get earth thrown in.  If you aim at earth, you’ll get nothing. 
C.S. Lewis

Quote of the day

From the inaugural issue of Salvo magazine (great stuff – check it out!):
From Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins: “Retribution as a moral principle is incompatible with a scientific view of human behavior.  As scientists, we believe that human brains, though they may not work in the same way as man-made computers, are as surely governed by [...]

Quote of the day – Tolerance – revised and expanded!

OK, it turns out the original quote was out of context (Hat tip: Alan, editor-in-chief).  I can’t remember if the source I got it from had it out of context or if I misread it. Either way, my bad. 
But all is not lost.  The quote was still poor, just for different reasons.  And I didn’t even [...]

Quote of the day

I must die or get someone to die for me. If the Bible doesn’t teach that, it doesn’t teach anything. And that is where the atonement of Jesus Christ comes in.
D.L. Moody

Quote of the day

Going to church doesn’t make you any more a Christian than going to the garage makes you a car.
Laurence Peter

Quote of the day

This is one of my favorite quotes. We all have talents we were born with and Christians are given spiritual gifts as well. It is OK to embrace and enjoy those gifts and to honor God with them.

God made me for a purpose and that purpose is China. But He also made me fast and [...]

Quote of the day

Courage is not the absence of fear, but the judgment that something else is more important than fear.Ambrose Redmoon

Quote of the day – Heaven

Earth is an in between world, touched by both Heaven and Hell. Earth leads directly into Heaven or directly into Hell, affording a choice between the two.
The best of life on earth is a glimpse of Heaven; the worst of life is a glimpse of Hell.
For Christians, this present life is the closest they will [...]