“For some reason, no one wants to admit that the grace of the new birth is irresistible. But our first births are just as irresistible, and virtually no one complains about that. I was born in 1953, and I do not recall ever being consulted in 1952 about whether I wanted to be born or not. Life was simply thrust upon me, somewhat violently they tell me, and first thing I knew, I was playing with toy trucks on the floor of this family’s living room. The name was Wilson, they said, and the prison door clanged shut. That whole business was irresistible—it makes your skin crawl to think of it. I was now somebody’s brother, not someone’s sister, and I hadn’t been asked about my preferences there, either. I was an American, not an Englishman. I was a Wilson, not a Williams or Smith. In short, there was a good bit of tyranny all around.”

The Cultural Mind, p. 282

“Imagine going into a hospital for the soul and inviting them to run every test imaginable—spiritual blood work, MRIs, X-rays, the works. Imagine further that omni-competent angelic technicians are running the show, recalling that the law was delivered to us through angels. This is what the law of God does. It detects everything—the slightest stirring of lust, the first few cancer cells of envy, the leprosy of vainglory, the pustules of pride, which we think are beauty marks. And the report always comes back to us in the words of God to Abimelech: ‘Behold, you are a dead man’ (Gen. 20:3, NASB).”

The Cultural Mind, p. 278

“Faith without works is dead. Religious experience, understanding, or giftedness don’t mean a thing if they ain’t got that swing.”

The Cultural Mind, p. 275

“The devil is a spirit and is unspiritual, and my neighbor, made out of meat and bones, is a very spiritual man.”

The Cultural Mind, p. 274