“The problem with this scoffer is that his attitude is a universal corrosive, and eats out every container you might try to keep it in.”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 191
Actually the Opposite of Language
“Now suppose that someone else in a frenzy says something like ‘bah bah bah shambalah na na.’ There is basically only one vowel sound in all of that, and they are all stirred up together like they were vegetables in a sizzling wok, separated from one another by only three consonants. This is not a language at all.”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 184
Damnation and Proportions
“Hell is not the result of God losing all sense of proportion, condemning someone to eternal flames because they used to cheat at pinochle. Rather, the judgment of God falls on someone because of their complete loss of all sense of proportion. The damnation is eternal because the lack of repentance is eternal.”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 177
The Hellish Thought Is the Center
“The damned could be sent anywhere and they would bring the Hell with them. Hell is the kind of place that wraps around the hellish thought.”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 176
The Hellfire Preacher
“When it comes to lurid descriptions of the damned, no one in the New Testament rivals an eloquent Dublin Jesuit from 1878, but there are moments when Jesus comes close. And only Jesus.”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 169
Which Is a Surprise to Some
“The hellfire preacher of the New Testament is Jesus, not the apostles. Not Paul.”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 169
On Not Kidding Ourselves
“But whenever we are dealing with symbolic language, we must remember that the symbol is always less than the reality. The wedding ring is less than the marriage. The flag is less than the country it represents. This means that if the lake of fire is a literal lake of fire, then it must be really bad. But if the lake of fire is merely symbolic, then that means that the reality it represents is far worse . . . Saying that the fire and brimstone are symbolic does not fix our dilemma. Symbolic of what?”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 166
Which Catches Them Off Guard
“In order to be formidable adversaries to the darkness confronting us, we have to understand that we will never look formidable to them.”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 163
Uncouth Good News
“But we proclaim Jesus. Not the Jesus who plays in ten thousand places, but the Jesus being preached by a hard fundamentalist prophet in a Flannery story.”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 161
A Ghastly Wrecking Crew
“The progressive agenda is nothing but a wrecking crew of gracious femininity—bloody wombs, barrenness as glory, perverse arts, grotesque lesbianism, and all the rest of it.”
The Light From Behind the Sun, p. 161