Thursday, 9 January 2025

THE FOLLY OF IDOLATRY

'Idolatry is the folly of expecting a gift to be a giver. The good things of this life are not meant to generate joy in and of themselves. Rather, they are to be gratefully received as they bring our eyes up to our greatest treasure, the one who provides all things and seeks our deepest joy, the Triune God. Idolatry always disappoints, God never does.'
Dane Ortlund, In the Lord I Take Refuge: 150 Daily Devotions through the Psalms, p.373.

Saturday, 4 January 2025

WHAT HISTORY TEACHES US

'First, whom the gods would destroy they must first make mad with power. Second, the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceedingly small. Third, the bee fertilizes the flower it robs. Fourth, when it is dark enough you can see the stars.'
Charles A Beard in Martin Luther King Jr., 'The Death of Evil upon the Seashore', p.86.

EVIL DESTROYS ITSELF

'...evil carries the seed of its own destruction. In the long run right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.'
Martin Luther King Jr., 'The Death of Evil upon the Seashore' in The Gift of Love, p.86.

CAESAR VS. CHRIST

'Caesar occupied a palace Christ a cross, but the same Christ so split history into A.D. and B.C. that even the reign of Caesar was subsequently dated by his name.'
Martin Luther King Jr., 'The Death of Evil upon the Seashore' in The Gift of Love, p.81.

THE PRESENCE OF EVIL

'Is anything more obvious that the presence of evil in the universe? Its nagging, prehensile tentacles project into every level of human existence. We may debate the origin of evil, but only a victim of superficial optimism would debate its reality. Evil is stark, grim, and colossally real.'
Martin Luther King Jr., 'The Death of Evil upon the Seashore' in The Gift of Love, p.79.

WORLD TRANSFORMING CHRISTIANITY

'We need to recapture the gospel glow of the early Christians who were nonconformists in the truest sense of the word and refused to shape their witness according to the mundane patterns of the world. Willingly they sacrificed fame, fortune and life itself on behalf of a cause they knew to be right. Quantitively small, they were qualitatively giants. Their powerful gospel put an end to such barbaric evils as infanticide and bloody gladiatorial contests. Finally they captured the Roman Empire for Jesus Christ.'
Martin Luther King Jr., 'Transformed Nonconformists' in The Gift of Love, p.16.

WHERE OUR ULTIMATE LOYALTY LIES

'Living in the colony of time, we are ultimately responsible to the empire of eternity. As Christians we must never surrender our supreme loyalty to any time-bound custom or earth-bound idea, for at the heart of our universe is a higher reality - God and his kingdom of love - to which we must be conformed.'
Martin Luther King Jr., 'Transformed Nonconformist' in The Gift of Love, p.12.

Tuesday, 31 December 2024

MY 2024 READING / LISTENING

 Top 10 in bold...

January 

  1. Adam Sisman, The Secret Life of John le Carre
  2. Alice Winn, In Memoriam 
  3. Anna Keay, The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown 
  4. Alister McGrath, Through a Glass Darkly: Journeys through Science, Faith & Doubt
  5. Thomas Eidson, St. Agnes' Stand 
  6. JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers [Audiobook]
  7. John Owen, Communion with God (Abridged by RJK Law)
  8. Philipp Meyer, American Rust
  9. Arinze Ifeakandu, God's Children Are Little Broken Things 
  10. JRR Tolkien, The Return of the King [Audiobook]
February
  1. Penelope Fitzgerald, The Blue Flower
  2. Monica Guzman, I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times  
  3. Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful [Audiobook] 
  4. Sam Allberry, What God Has to Say about Our Bodies: How the Gospel Is Good News for Our Physical Selves  
March
  1. Caleb Azumah Nelson, Open Water [Audiobook]
  2. Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt 
  3. Robert Hardman, Charles III: New King. New Court. [Audiobook] 
April 
  1. Edmund Morris, Theodore Rex 
  2. John W Kleinig, Wonderfully Made: A Protestant Theology of the Body
  3. Larry McMurty, The Last Kind Words Saloon  
  4. Jon Ransom, The Whale Tattoo 
  5. Nay Dawson, She Needs: Women flourishing in the church 
  6. Bonnie Garmus, Lessons in Chemistry [Audiobook] 
May 
  1. Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These
  2. Marilynne Robinson, Reading Genesis 
  3. Michael Magee, Close to Home 
  4. John Wyatt, Transforming Friendship: Lessons from John Stott & Others 
  5. Dorothy Canfield Fisher, The Home-Maker 
  6. Edmund Morris, Colonel Roosevelt
  7. Trent Dalton, Boy Swallows Universe 
  8. Ferdinand Mount, Kiss Myself Goodbye: The Many Lives of Aunt Munca 
  9. Walker Percy, The Moviegoer 
  10. Wallace Stegner, Wolf Willow 
  11. Sigrid Undset, Olav Audunsson: Vows
  12. Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway 
  13. JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit [Audiobook]
  14. Dale Ralph Davis, God's Rascal: The Jacob Narrative in Genesis 25-36 
  15. David Gibson, The Lord of Psalm 23: Jesus Our Shepherd, Companion and Host
  16. Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
  17. Claire Keegan, Antarctica 
  18. Henri JM Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World
  19. Gary Thomas, Sacred Pathways: Nine ways to connect with God
June
  1. Niall Williams, This is Happiness
  2. Jean Trumpington, Coming up Trumps: A memoir 
  3. John Grisham, A Painted House 
  4. Ken Clarke, Kind of Blue: A political memoir
  5. Sigrid Undset, Olav Audunsson: Providence
  6. Laura Freeman, Ways of Life: Jim Ede and the Kettle's Yard Artists
  7. Makoto Fujimura, Art and Faith: A Theology of Making 
July 
  1. John Hindley, Weakness Our Strength: Learning from Christ Crucified 
  2. Sigrid Undset, Olav Audunsson: Crossroads 
  3. Monty Don, The Ivington Diaries 
  4. Sigrid Undset, Olav Audunsson: Winter 
  5. Dorothy L Sayers, The Mind of the Maker 
  6. Rebecca MacLaughlin, Does the Bible Affirm Same-Sex Relationships? Examining 10 Claims about Scripture and Sexuality
August 
  1. Ian Dunt, How Westminster works...and why it doesn't [Audiobook] 
  2. Elizabeth Oldfield, Fully Alive: Tending to the soul in turbulent times 
  3. Kevin Barry, The Heart in Winter
  4. Adam Ramsey, Faithfully Present: Embracing the Limits of Where and When God Has You 
  5. Rory Carroll, Killing Thatcher: The IRA, the Manhunt and the Long War on the Crown [Audiobook]  
  6. Dave Harvey, The Plurality Principle: How to Build and Maintain a Thriving Church Leadership Team 
  7. Peter J Williams, The Surprising Genius of Jesus: What the Gospels Reveal about the Greatest Teacher
September 
  1. Lucy M Boston, The Children of Green Knowe 
  2. Gavin Ortlund, Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage
  3. Simon Boas, A Beginner's Guide to Dying 
October 
  1. Steve Richards, The Prime Minister We Never Had: Success and Failure from Butler to Corbyn [Audiobook] 
  2. Richard Norton Smith, An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R Ford 
  3. Tim Winton, Dirt Music 
  4. Sebastian Faulks, The Fatal Englishman 
  5. Carys Davies, West 
  6. Simon Cozens, Looking Shame in the Eye: a path to understanding grace and freedom 
November 
  1. Alan Hollinghurst, Our Evenings [Audiobook] 
  2. Pete Grieg: How to Pray: A simple guide for normal people 
  3. Dominic Hibberd, Wilfred Owen 
December
  1. Meg Mason, Sorrow and Bliss
  2. Elizabeth Strout, Tell Me Everything 
  3. Phil Knox, The Best of Friends: Choose Wisely, Care Well 
  4. Matt Searles, Comfort & Joy: Advent Devotions from Isaiah 40-55

Tuesday, 24 December 2024

APOLOGETICS DEFINED

'Apologetics is in the business of trying to create for the reader of goodwill a kind of temporary, virtual body for faith; one they can borrow and try out, so that they may have a concrete inkling of what it might be like to assent, long before they do.'
Francis Spufford, 'C.S.Lewis as apologist' in True Stories & Other Essays, p.165.

Monday, 28 October 2024

NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME

'It avails nothing that a man is clever, learned, highly gifted, amiable, charitable, kind-hearted, and zealous about some sort of religion. All this will not his soul, if he does not draw near to God by Christ's atonement, and make use of God's own Son as his Mediator and Saviour. God is so holy that all men are guilty and debtors in his sight. Sin is so sinful that no mortal man can make satisfaction for it. There must be a mediator, a ransom-payer, a redeemer, between ourselves and God, or else we can never be saved. There is only one door, one bridge, one ladder, between earth and heaven, - the crucified Son of God. Whosoever will enter in by that door may be saved; but to him who refuses to use that door the Bible holds out no hope at all.'
JC Ryle, Expository Thoughts on John: Volume 3, p.67.