there are times when a man is his own devil

The Devil is not to be blamed for everything; there are times when a man is his own devil.

- Augustine

quoted in Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 2000, p. 241

Who needs prayer?

The church’s or Christian group’s methods are as important as its message. It is to deal consciously with the reality of the supernatural. Anything that exhibits unfaith is a mistake, or may even be a corporate sin. The liberal theologians get rid of the supernatural in their teaching, but the unfaith of the evangelical can in practice get rid of the supernatural.

May I put it like this? If we woke up tomorrow morning and found that all that the Bible teaches concerning prayer and the Holy Spirit were removed (not as a liberal would remove it, by misinterpretations, but really removed) what difference would it make in practice from the way we are functioning today? The simple tragic fact is that in much of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ – the evangelical church – there would be no difference whatsoever.  We function as though the supernatural were not there.

If the Church does not show forth the supernatural in our generation, what will? The Lord’s work done in the Lord’s way does not relate only to its message; it relates also to the method. There must be something the world cannot explain away by the world’s methods, or by applied psychology.

- Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality, in Complete Works of Francis A Schaeffer, 4.363.

The English bible was made in blood

The English bible was made in blood. 

- David Daniell, speaking about Tyndale's work

Scholars differ on the issue...

... more and more evangelical churches and institutions are overthrowing their heritage, sometimes on the superficial basis that scholars are divided on the issue. The truth is that scholars are divided on most theological issues, including even the doctrines of the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ and of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ that validates him as the Son of God.  In other words, giving up a doctrine on the basis that scholars differ in their opinions shows that no doctrine is secure and the more liberal perspective and practice will prevail.  This is so because, if authorities differ - so the argument goes - one does as he or she thinks best. Anthony Thiselton, citing Robert Morgan, rightly notes that "some disagreements about what the Bible means stem not from obscurities in the text, but from conflicting aims of the interpreters."  Luther once said - borrowing from a saying of Euripides - that "whom God intends to destroy, he gives them leave to play with Scripture."

- Bruce Waltke, An OT Theology, p.236.

Gratitude

If you can't be thankful for what you recieve, be thankful for what you escape.

- Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Turning desire into policy

"Arguments can always be found to turn desire into policy. "

- Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August, p.370

On the Kaiser's hesitance which led the German administration not to use their navy in WWI.