Theology That Bites Back
“Some preachers are always preaching the last book which they have read, and their congregations always find it out. The feeling of superficialness and thinness attaches to all they do . . . If I am right in this idea, then it will follow that the preacher’s life must be a life of large accumulation”
Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching, p. 122
“There are people who go to respectable churches because it seems like a good place to network with people who might want to buy insurance.”
Let the Stones Cry Out, p. 12
Introduction: For various reasons, I consider this post as one of the more important things I have written. Not to overstate it, or to puff it up, or to give way to ungodly hype, but I do believe ...
“We have a perennial temptation to locate sin as resident in the stuff. Some refuse to see sin in the stuff, and therefore conclude there must not be any sin. Those are the technophiles. Others see clearly that there is sin, and so they conclude that it must be in the stuff, though maybe it is not in the earlier stuff. These are the technophobes . . . Maxwell’s silver hammer did come down upon somebody’s head, but we go astray when we blame the silver hammer. The problem was in Maxwell.”
Ploductivity, p. 10
“When the saints start to come in for the service, the building should say, ‘Shhh . . . the church is here now.’ The saints should not say, ‘Shhh . . . you’re in church now. The building is not God’s mausoleum”
Let the Stones Cry Out, p. 9
“Is it possible to be both relaxed and driven? People who are only relaxed are frequently slackers, and much of the book of Proverbs would appear to apply to them. But people who are driven give a diligent work ethic a bad name. Nobody wants to be like that. We might admire the house they can afford, but nobody wants to be like the people who live in it.”
Ploductivity, p. 7
“If we are to put on the white robe called Jesus, there are certain foul rags that we have to take off in order to do so.”
Let the Stones Cry Out, p. 7
“A basic truism of modern design is that form follows function. This is self-evidently true, but the reason modern men have found themselves living, working, and worshiping in overgrown shoeboxes is that we have allowed ourselves to drift into a truncated and reductionist view of what our actual function as human beings truly is.”
Let the Stones Cry Out, p. 7
Introduction That's not thunder. Don't worry about it. The angels are just moving their beds. I have a word of reassurance for everybody. You want a bit of encouragement? I knew you did. Okay, ...
