Little Bundles of Sin

Children do not begin in some neutral place. They do not start out innocent. As my father used to say, with great affection, ‘Babies are little bundles of sin.’ All that is necessary for the sinning to start is the requisite muscle strength and intelligence. Once the muscle strength and intelligence are there, the sinning starts. And sometimes it starts a little bit before that.”

Keep Your Kids, p. 3

Descend to Hilarity

“Few earthly blessings compare to sitting around a dinner table with your grown kids and their spouses, all of them Christian. Someone starts telling spanking stories, and the evening descends into hilarity. In the next room, the grandkids are going at it as well. All this, coupled with wine, and laughter, and psalm singing, and jokes, and sausage stew, and a fire in the fireplace . . . The covenant is a wonderful thing.”

Keep Your Kids, pp. xi-xii

No Nuance at All

“All of this means you have to settle in your mind, in your soul, down in your bones, what you actually believe. And you have to be ready to walk into a buzz saw if you’re really going to practice some of the things that the Bible says we ought to practice. Your stance should be that of the sailor at Pearl Harbor who, when the third wave of Japanese Zeros was flying overhead, thought to himself, ‘The time for nuance has passed.’”

Keep Your Kids, p. xi