Gandhi II

"A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act."

-- Mahatma Gandhi

The language of love

"Jesus is God spelling Himself out in language that men can understand."

--S.D. Gordon

But Whil-burrr!

"It was this same Jesus, the Christ who, among many other remarkable things, said and repeated something which, proceeding from any other being would have condemned him at once as either a bloated egotist or a dangerously unbalanced person...

when He said He himself would rise again from the dead, the third day after He was crucified, He said something that only a fool would dare say, if he expected longer the devotion of any disciples -- unless He was sure He was going to rise.

No founder of any world religion known to men ever dared say a thing like that!"

--Wilbur Smith

One of these things is not like the others

"Buddha never claimed to be God.

Moses never claimed to be Jehovah.

Mohammed never claimed to be Allah.

Yet Jesus Christ claimed to be the true and living God.

Buddha simply said, 'I am a teacher in search of the truth.'

Jesus said, 'I am the Truth.'

Confucius said, 'I never claimed to be holy.'

Jesus said, 'Who convicts me of sin?'

Mohammed said, 'Unless God throws his cloak of mercy over me, I have no hope.'

Jesus said, 'Unless you believe in me, you will die in your sins.'"

-- Unknown

The War of the Worldviews

"I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history.

Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history."

-- H.G. Wells

My favorite hobbit

Even those who have renounced Christianity and attack it, in their inmost being still follow the Christian ideal, for hitherto neither their subtlety nor the ardour of their hearts has been able to create a higher ideal of man and of virtue than the ideal given by Christ of old. --Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Yancey-pants

“Yet as I read the birth stories about Jesus I cannot help but conclude that though the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog.” 
― Philip Yancey

An old tree

"So far I have felt the normal feelings of a man of my age--like an old tree that it losing all its leaves one by one: this feels like an axe-blow near the roots." ~J.R.R Tolkien on the death of C.S. Lewis

An observation

"From my point of view I would ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it. I love the idea of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the beautiful stories about it, which I loved in Sunday school and I collected all the little stickers and put them in my book. But the reality is that organised religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate." 
- Elton John, The Observer, November 12, 2006 

We're not worthy!

Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that's a tough call. That's rebellion. 
--Alice Cooper 

Majority rule

Error does not become truth because it is widely accepted;
Truth does not become error, even when it stands alone!  --unattributed

Don't worry, be happy

Pray, and let God worry.  -- Martin Luther

Choose your enemies wisely

If a man can do without God, it is certain that God can do without him, and the day 
will come when God will do without him, according to his word, “I will ease me of 
mine adversaries.” -- Chuck "Master C" Spurgeon

The creation

Men fail to see the miracle which God is working in every living thing. --Charles "Chuck E. Cheese" Spurgeon

Imaginary goodness

Our imaginary goodness is more hard to conquer than our actual sin. Man can sooner 
be cured of his sicknesses than be made to forego his boasts of health. Human 
weakness is a small obstacle to salvation compared with human strength; there lies 
the work and the difficulty. Hence it is a sign of grace to know one’s need of grace. -- Charles Spurgeon

Shelf reliance

Rely on self! Let night rely on her darkness to find a light; let emptiness rely on its 
inefficiency to find its fullness; let death rely on the worms to give it immortality; let 
hell rely upon its fire to make it into heaven—such trusts as these would be equally 
strong with those of the sinner who relies upon himself for salvation. --Charles Spurgeon

A logical fallacy

The fact that Christ died for the ungodly renders self-righteousness a folly. --Charles Spurgeon

Pride and ignorance

Self-righteousness arises partly from pride, but mainly from ignorance of God’s law. -- Charles Spurgeon

natural vs spiritual

Great truths that are stumbling blocks to the natural man are nevertheless the very foundations upon which the confidence of the spiritual man is built. --Harry Ironside

broken

God is looking for broken men who have judged themselves in the light of the cross of Christ. When He wants anything done, He takes up men who have come to the end of themselves, whose confidence is not in themselves, but in God. --Harry Ironside

I give myself very good advice

The Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is good news to be believed. --Harry Ironside

A smart boy

I wish you could have met me when I graduated from seminary. I was a smart boy then and I even had the answer to election and free will. But I have a little more sense than I had then, and I realize that we simply do not understand it.

-- Vernon McGee in Thru the Bible Commentary, Volumes 1-5: Genesis through Revelation (Thru the Bible 5 Volume Set)