“If our hearts were a slab of concrete, and we wanted to keep them that way, our desire to have them caressed with a feather duster would exhibit no love of tenderness, but rather the contrary. The one who really wanted a tender heart would be calling for the jackhammer. Hard words, hard teaching, are the jackhammer of God . . . When Christians call for smooth words, easy words, the result is hard people. When we submit to hard words, we become the tenderhearted of God.”

The Cultural Mind, pp. 47-48

“We are not to give to others because we have been infected with wealth, and we, the guilty, want to pass on the cooties. We are to give from a sense of enjoyment and gratitude. A man plagued with guilt will give only enough to bring down the level of the guilt. A man giving from gratitude will always give much more.”

The Cultural Mind, p. 46

“Throughout the book of Revelation, the earth has many plagues that rain down upon it. Over the last two thousand years, Revelation has itself been treated to nearly the same number of interpretations, some of them the size of hailstones.”

When the Man Comes Around, p. 4

“When a man enrolls in a math class, we hope he is not surprised when he encounters math problems. When a man is living under the blessing of God, his temptations will of course come from those blessings.”

The Cultural Mind, p. 44