Sociologists have studied 'time horizons.' Cultures in which people have relatively short time horizons are characterized by people devoting little time to thinking, worrying, and planning for a long-term future, and instead focus on maximizing happiness in the present or in the near future. Short time horizons correlate significantly with poverty. Conversely, in wealthier cultures people defer consumption and accumulate savings to make sure they have the monetary means to support themselves even after they quit working.
There is (at least) one other identifiable social subgroup besides the poor that tends to have short time horizons: politicians. They focus almost exclusively on the next election. Thus, they are unwilling to make helpful but inconvenient preventative adjustments today to avert serious crises in the future. The vote-craving politician kicks the can down the road, even though the 'can' (the problem) will be much larger, more costly, and more difficult to fix then. It's an ominous parallel that both poor people and politicians have short time horizons. — Mark Hendrickson
Financial giving is not the only kind of generosity. Each of us must regularly ask: How can I be living a more generous life for God and for others using my time, talents, and material possessions? — worship service bulletin insert, Redeemer Lincoln Square
Without a proper understanding of the State's biblical and constitutional purpose, function, and jurisdiction, Christians can be trapped into believing that the State ought to promote policies beyond its legitimate role and authority as long as it is all for 'the good of the people.' This can lead some to turn to the State for security at any cost to freedom. As long as those in power offer the benefits that come with power, few people complain, except, of course, those who are being fleeced with ever-growing tax bills. — American Vision
The best proof that He will never cease to love us lies in that He never began. — Geerhardus Vos
God assumed from the beginning that the wise of the world would view Christians as fools…and He has not been disappointed…If I have brought any message today, it is this: Have the courage to have your wisdom regarded as stupidity. Be fools for Christ. And have the courage to suffer the contempt of the sophisticated world. — Antonin Scalia
When an old person dies a library burns to the ground. — Unknown
The holy word of God, the Bible, is incarnation flavored. The salvific fragrance of Christ its great Subject exudes from every passage.
In the former days of His humiliation, the living Word ever spoke to men with the glory of His Father as the target of His unerring aim. Even so, faithful expositions of the inerrant written word are doxological as well as hortatory…didactic…consoling.
By the divine appointment of the "foolishness" of preaching, may the Son of man be lifted up to the glory of the Father in the power of the blessed Spirit of God!
It is a dangerous thing, in the service of God, to decline from his own institutions; we have to do with a God who is wise to prescribe his own worship, just to require what he has prescribed, and powerful to revenge what he has not prescribed. — Bishop Hall
Prophets don't dress themselves soft. They don't have an effeminate bearing. They don't dress and talk and carry themselves like women. Prophets aren't gay. John the Baptist was a man's man, and men who want to enter the kingdom of God will imitate him. Like John the Baptist, violent men will take the kingdom of heaven by force. — from the book The Grace of Shame, sub-titled 7 Ways the Church has Failed to Love Homosexuals
I must confess that my own solid hopes for the well being of my country depends not on the wisdom of her rulers, nor on the spirit of her people, as on the persuasion that she still contains many who love and obey the Gospel. — William Wilberforce
The body of the Word, then, being a real human body, in spite of its having been uniquely formed from a virgin, was of itself mortal and, like other bodies, liable to death. But the indwelling of the Word loosed it from this natural liability, so that corruption could not touch it.
Thus it happened that two opposite marvels took place at once: the death of all was consummated in the Lord's body; yet, because the Word was in it, death and corruption were in the same act utterly abolished. — Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation
Gossip runs down more people than cars. — seen on a church sign in Bullock County GA
I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of ages. — C.H. Spurgeon
To the wicked man death is the end of all joys; to the godly man it is the end of all griefs. — Matthew Henry
"Therapeutic Moral Deism: a mockery of what Jude contends for in his inspired New Testament letter. T. M. Deists have a nebulous conception of a god whose highest purpose is to heal, materially bless, happify and generally indulge the adherents of this popular religion which has deceived so many.
T.M.D.'s ethics are not based on the changeless law of the God of all grace. Rather it involves a relativistic, malleable code - loosely so termed. That mushy code can be personalized to fit whatever any given Therapeutic Moral Deist unilaterally declares to be right or wrong.
The T.M. Deist is projecting an idol out of his own foolish heart. His morality is actually doing whatever he wants to do. Thus the T.M.D. adherent usurps the place of humanity's Creator and Lawgiver, Who is also the Redeemer of those only who trust in Christ Jesus the only Savior and only hope of a lost world."
The re-interpretation and eventually (sic) eradication of the concept of right and wrong which has been the basis of child training, the substitution of intelligent and rational thinking for faith...are the belated objectives of practically all effective psychotherapy. The fact is, that most psychiatrists and psychologists and other respectable people have escaped from these moral chains and are able to observe and think freely. — Brock Chisholm, first Director-General of the World Health Organization
The Pharisees...had codified the commands of God's Law (numbering approximately 600), and added 6,000 more of their own rules in an attempt to be certain that they would not violate the 600! Rule-keeping became their way of being 'holy' and it was an abomination to God (see Matthew 23)! God did not redeem men in order to get 'workers' or 'rule-keepers' – if rule-keeping were the issue, men would have a right to be proud of themselves. No, God redeemed men to form His Church, so that He might fellowship with His people (Revelation 3:20). — from the Old Testament Survey course of Mount Zion Bible Institute's prison ministry
Let us all be in earnest prayer as we pass through this worldwide affliction. Let us love others with the love of Christ. In this 'hurricane' let us sow our seed to the winds. Let us publish the glorious gospel of our glorious Christ and pray that God will be glorified in a great harvest of souls. Let us persevere in being faithful servants of a much more faithful Father. — Frank Maxson
Consider what has happened to the word prejudice. When was the last time you heard it used in a neutral or positive sense? And yet originally prejudice simply meant to pre-judge something according to conventional wisdom. It was in this sense, for example, that Edmund Burke extolled prejudice writing that "prejudice renders a man's virtue his habit...through just prejudice his duty becomes a part of his nature." — Roger Kimball
The Christian faith, simply stated, reminds us that our fundamental problem is not moral; rather, our fundamental problem is spiritual. It is not just that we are immoral, but that a moral life alone cannot bridge what separates us from God. Herein lies the cardinal difference between the moralizing religions and Jesus' offer to us. Jesus does not offer to make bad people good but to make dead people alive. — Ravi Zacharias
The big bang today relies on a growing number of hypothetical entities, things that we have never observed -- inflation, dark matter and dark energy are the most prominent examples. Without them, there would be a fatal contradiction between the observations made by astronomers and the predictions of the big bang theory. In no other field of physics would this continual recourse to new hypothetical objects be accepted as a way of bridging the gap between theory and observation. It would, at the least, raise serious questions about the validity of the underlying theory. — An Open Letter to the Scientific Community; the lengthy list of highly credentialled signatories is appended to the letter, readily available online
It is said that in some countries trees will grow, but will bear no fruit because there is no winter there. — John Bunyan
Samuel and Samson were both Nazarites for life. Only three such are mentioned in Scripture, the third being John the Baptist. Samuel and Samson embody the differences existing in the religious life of Israel at this period [late in the era of the judges, ed.]
Samson was a Nazarite because God demanded it; Samuel was offered voluntarily as a Nazarite. Samson was a Nazarite outwardly, and was blessed with outward strength. Samuel was a Nazarite from his heart, and was blessed with strength of soul. It was Samuel, not Samson, who was used of God to deliver Israel from both the oppression of the Philistines and the sin which caused that oppression. — Mount Zion Bible Institute correspondence Old Testament survey course for prisoners
No sin disgraces men more than pride, and that is the curse of God upon it. Pride seeks for the greatest honour to a man, and there is nothing that does more dishonour him. — Jeremiah Barrow
The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact. — Malcolm Muggeridge
The worst of persecutions have often been carried on under colour of the necessary support of authority and government. — Matthew Henry, Bible commentator, A.D. 1662 – 1714
In the heavenly glory to come, there will be no theological conversation which is merely "about" God. He will be not only the visible, core Subject of all conversation, but also an active Participant. He will be the chief Speaker from Whom all the others will never cease to learn in adoring amazement.
It is never about winning, Greg. It is about exposing their inconsistency. God does everything else. Never forget the antithesis. — Cornelius Van Til to Greg Bahnsen
...the pulpit is ever this earth's foremost part; all the rest comes in its rear; the pulpit leads the world. From thence it is the storm of God's quick wrath is first descried, and the bow must bear the earliest brunt. From thence it is the God of breezes fair or foul is first invoked for favourable winds. Yes, the world's a ship on its passage out, and not a voyage complete; and the pulpit is its prow. — Excerpt From Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Man is not to rack his brain about the future, but live in the hour that has come. That is the same as living in faith, receptive to God who is present now and has something he will do now. — Martin Luther
"How willing are we to find rest here! To dream of that, which Christ never found in this world, nor any ever found before us. O think not of resting till you have done working and done sinning. Your life and your labours must end together. 'Write (saith the Spirit) blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours,' Revelation 14:13. Here you must have the sweat and there the sweet.
It is too much to have two heavens. Here you must be content to do well in the tents of Kedar; hereafter you shall be within the curtains of Solomon. Heaven is the place of which it may be truly said, that there the weary be at rest. O think not of sitting down on this side of heaven. There are four things that will keep the saints from sitting down on earth to rest, viz. grace, corruption, devils and wicked men." — John Flavel
The rock on which socialistic experiments have hitherto always foundered is human nature. Any sound political system must be based on a correct appreciation of human nature; and socialism is bound to fail because it offends the best elements of human nature and panders to the worst. — British M.P. and former socialist Ivor Thomas, A.D. 1905-1993
Take comfort in the fact that you are a wrestler. This struggling within you, if upon the right ground and to the right end, only proves there are two nations within you, two contrary natures, the one from earth earthly, and the other from heaven heavenly. And for your further comfort, know that although your corrupt nature is the elder, yet it shall serve the younger - Genesis 25:23. — William Gurnall
...It takes about 300 to 400 times more land on average for a wind farm or solar farm to generate the same amount of electricity as a nuclear power plant or a natural gas plant...if the United States were to try to generate all of the energy it uses with renewables, 25% to 50% of all land in the United States would be required. By contrast today's energy system requires just 0.5 % of the land in the United States...
Solar and wind are fundamentally inefficient and costly ways to produce energy...
Windfarms are also devastating to endangered species of birds, bats, and insects, especially when the wind farms are located on their migratory paths. Wind turbines especially threaten large, endangered species such as hawks, eagles, owls and condors. — Michael Shellenberger, climate policy expert and author of "Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All"
Those who measure actions by the consequences of them rather than by the divine law, will find themselves mistaken in their measures. — Matthew Henry
Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable. How many hours are there in a mile? Is yellow square or round? Probably half the questions we ask – half our great theological and metaphysical problems – are like that. — C.S. Lewis, on grieving the death of his wife
So, when on one side you hoist in Locke's head, you go over that way; but now, on the other side, hoist in Kant's and you come back again; but in very poor plight. Thus, some minds for ever keep trimming boat. Oh, ye foolish! throw all these thunder-heads overboard, and then you will float light and right. — Herman Melville, in Moby Dick
Christian, let God's distinguishing love to you be a motive for you to fear Him greatly. He has put His fear in your heart, and may not have given that blessing to your neighbor, perhaps not to your husband, your wife, your child, or your parent. Oh, what an obligation should this thought lay upon your heart to greatly fear the Lord! Remember also that the fear of the Lord is His treasure, a choice jewel, given only to favorites, and to those who are greatly beloved. — John Bunyan
Let charity be the power that enables you to forget what lies behind. Let charity be the primary motive for all you do today. Let charity be the grand aim at the center of all your plans. Have faith, hope, and charity...that's the way to live successfully. How do I know? The BIBLE tells me so!
There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine! — Abraham Kuyper
Truth always carries with it confrontation. Truth demands confrontation; loving confrontation nevertheless. If our reflex action is always accommodation regardless of the centrality of the truth involved, there is something wrong. — Francis Schaeffer
Now dear people, there is nothing Christian on either side, and nothing Christian is an issue between you. Both lords and peasants are discussing questions of justice and injustice in natural or worldly terms. Furthermore, both parties are acting against God and are under his wrath, as you've heard. For God's sake then, take my advice. Take a hold of these matters properly, with justice and not with force or violence, and do not start endless bloodshed in Germany. For because both of you are wrong, and both of you want to avenge and defend yourselves, both of you will destroy yourselves and God will use one rascal to flog another. — Martin Luther, addressing both adversaries of the "Peasant's Revolt" of A.D. 1524-25
...it is to be observed that the language of Scripture is, as a general thing, not philosophical but popular, not scientific but poetic, not so much an analytical language, fond of sharp discriminations and exact statements, as a synthetical language, abounding in concrete terms, the representatives not of abstractions but of facts of actual existence and experience, which in their meaning gradually shade into each other without any definite line of distinction. This character leads to some peculiar forms of expression, which abound in the Bible, and are important for the interpretation of many texts. — John A. Broadus
Instead of trying to fit the Bible into a prearranged pattern, we must try to discover the patterns that are already there. We must allow the Bible's own structure to arise from the text itself, to impose itself upon our own understanding. We must become accustomed to the Biblical vocabulary and modes of expression, seeking to shape our own thinking in terms of Scriptural categories. — David Chilton
Most people say that it is the intellect which makes a great scientist. They are wrong: it is character. — Albert Einstein
...the redemptive revelation of God had to be as comprehensive as the sweep of sin. Redemption must, in the nature of the case, be for the whole world. This does not mean that it must save every individual sinner in the world. It does mean, however, that the created universe which has been created as a unit must also be saved as a unit. — Cornelius Van Til
Salvation was definitively accomplished in the perfect, finished work of Jesus Christ; it is progressively and increasingly applied during this age, personally and institutionally; and it will be finally achieved, in its highest fulfillment, at the end of history on the Last Day. We have been saved (2 Tim. 1:9), we are being saved now (Phil. 2:12-13), and we will be saved in the future (1 Pet. 1:9). — David Chilton
Heaven is not a stage in a natural process. Heaven is redemptive. There are two lines of Biblical evidence that bear this out. The first is the contrast between human sin on earth and the purity and spotlessness of heaven. To enter heaven as we are, and for heaven to remain heaven in the process, is a moral impossibility. Nothing that defiles can enter heaven (Rev. 21:27), and so the idea that death marks a natural and inevitable transition to the bliss of heaven, a bliss which awaits us all, is a deep and deadly mistake." — Paul Helm
The bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bridegroom's face;
I will not gaze at glory, but on my King of grace;
Not at the crown He gifteth, but on His pierced hand:
The Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land. — Anne Cousin
(from her 1860's hymn, "The Sands of Time Are Sinking," reflecting on the last words of Samuel Rutherford, d. A.D. 1661)
The plain fact is, as I say, that there is no longer any king or prophet nor Jerusalem nor sacrifice nor vision among them; yet the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of God, and the Gentiles, forsaking atheism, are now taking refuge with the God of Abraham through the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ. — Athanasius, On the incarnation
Truth sounds like 'hate' to those who hate the Truth. — Pastor Geoffrey Willour
Unattributed quotes are the words of the web site editor.