“No, peer pressure just blows in different directions, and so those vulnerable to peer pressure blow over in different directions. Watching last year’s compromises go out of fashion is not repentance.”
Fog Bricks
“Racism as defined by the world . . actually, there is the problem. The world is unable to define racism. How could they? They have assiduously built a Great Tower out of the fog bricks of relativistic nonsense, but they still expect everyone to react with horror whenever they snap their fingers and declare that a moral outrage has been committed.”
Nothing On Earth
“I happen to believe that a good deal of racial repentance really is in order, but it sure won’t be ushered in by any study committees on racial reconciliation who have been reading all the wrong sort of books. It will be brought in by a fundamentalist preacher, right out of a Flannery O’Connor short story, preaching hot gospel with his shirt sleeves rolled up and looking like nothing on earth. I don’t care what color he is. What will matter is the color of his words.”
Prevailing Winds
“If you have a cottage on the beach, the breezes blow in from off the bay. If you are in the PCA, the breezes blow in from Manhattan. Perhaps the problem, ye Presbyterians, is that you try to address problems like this with study committees. What a white thing to do.”
Inexcusable and Unforgivable Are Not the Same
“Apart from the cross of Christ, nothing is forgivable because all of it is inexcusable. But in Christ, the inexcusable can be forgiven.”
And I Mean “Seriously Tries”
“Don’t use words like ‘dialogue’ or ‘conversation’ when what you have planned is a lecture . . . In a Christian conversation, everyone talks, and everyone tries to listen.”
Because Politics Doesn’t Know
“Sin has political consequences, but avoid putting politics in charge of the definition of sin.”
Microracism
“We have gotten to the ludicrous point where those who are ‘guilty’ of microracism are treated as though they owned a fleet of slave ships.”
The Color of Sin
“Regardless of the color of our skin, we all share the same color of sin. You can describe those sins as scarlet, or you can describe them as black, or as crimson, or as any other color that will upset somebody, but Christ will make them white as snow, white as wool. And one of the things that will happen when Christ sets you free is that you will be able to handle color metaphors like a grown-up.”
Absolutely Woebegone
“Socialist paradises don’t offer too many of those [lucrative opportunities], and so the ideal would be to find another host body. The problem they will confront is that when America is gone, the tapeworm will lament having killed the last fat guy. And you haven’t seen forlorn sorrow until you see a tapeworm who wouldn’t think ahead.”