Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
My faith tells me that God shared poverty, suffering, and death with human beings, which can only mean that such things are full of dignity and meaning, even though to believe this makes a great demand on one's faith, and to act as if this were true in any way we understand is to be ridiculous. It is ridiculous also to act as if it were not absolutely and essentially true all the same. Even though we are to do everything we can to put an end to poverty and suffering.
Marilynne Robinson, Lila
Why did God create man and man rather than woman and woman to be together? Our different relational roles are modeled after the trinity. It's so comfortable and effortless to be with those of the same gender. We have the same communication style, the same concerns. It's only when we come together with those who are so different from us that we are greatly challenged to practice perspective-taking and self-sacrifice. We have to set aside our own modes of thought to accommodate those of others. We see this in how Jesus submitted to the father.
We may come to love knowledge—our knowing—more than the thing known: to delight not in the exercise of our talents but in the fact that they are ours, or even in the reputation they bring us. Every success in the scholar’s life increases this danger. If it becomes irresistible, he must give up his scholarly work. The time for plucking out the right eye has arrived.
C. S. Lewis, “Learning in War-Time,” in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses, p. 50.
Of all the miracles that Jesus performs, the one that most non-believers find the most unbelievable and take the greatest issue with is the virgin birth. They don't complain about Jesus walking on water or multiplying loaves, because these miracles deal with Jesus's own body or with Jesus giving gifts. But the miracle of Mary conceiving Jesus involves God making claims on our bodies. Many non-believers don't like the idea that God has claims on us, that we might, like Mary, have to say, "behold your maidservant," thus enduring judgment, suffering, and inconvenience. The reality is--nearly all people believe in virgin birth. Christians believe in Mary and Jesus, while non-creationists believe in life being immaculately conceived from a concoction of chemicals, the primordial soup.
What does it mean that the Kingdom is here but that we are also waiting for it to arrive? This situation is comparable to prisoners sitting in a German concentration camp. They've heard rumors that the Allies won, but they have yet to be liberated. Are they already free or yet-to-be-free?
After Adam sinned, God was obliged to subject creation to futility so that man in his sinful state might retain some measure o dominion over creation. Nature was involved for evil in man's fall; she will be emancipated when man receives the adoption as sons.
ESV Study Bible Romans 8:20
In
each of my friends there is something that
only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large
enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my
own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never
again see Ronald's reaction to a specifically Charles joke. Far from
having more of Ronald, having him "to myself" now that Charles is away, I
have less of Ronald.
Hence true Friendship is the least jealous
of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a
fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend. They
can then say, as the blessed souls say in Dante, "Here comes one who
will augment our loves." For in this love "to divide is not to take
away." We possess each friend not less but more as the number of those with whom we share him increases.
In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious "nearness by resemblance" to heaven...for every soul, seeing Him in her own way, communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim, in Isaiah's vision are crying, "Holy, Holy Holy" to one another (Is 6:3). The more we share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall all have.
In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious "nearness by resemblance" to heaven...for every soul, seeing Him in her own way, communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim, in Isaiah's vision are crying, "Holy, Holy Holy" to one another (Is 6:3). The more we share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall all have.
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves
"Charles Spurgeon said it best, 'The gospel is like a caged lion. It does not need to be defended, it just needs to be let out of its cage.' The mystery of Jesus is just like the mystery in Revelation 5. He’s called the Lion of Judah, but when John looks, he sees a lamb slaughtered. Jesus is a powerful, victorious lion who achieved that victory by the act of the lamb who was slain."
Jefferson Bethke
When I have learned to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. In so far as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving towards that state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.
C.S. Lewis
What does it reveal about people’s hearts when they want someone condemned to Hell? They are obviously judging that person’s actions against their own merit. They believe they are good enough to pass judgment on another person, but they accuse God — who is holy — of condemning people to this foreboding place.
Billy Graham
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