“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.”
Indignant Chemicals
“If there is no God, then we are all just inchoate chemical assemblages and random neuron firings, and all of our moral indignation over this travesty or that outrage are on exactly the same level as what happens when you pour vinegar into baking soda. Something awful happens, and there you are, foaming away at it, and above you . . . only sky. So change that ‘something awful’ into ‘something that apparently displeased the baking soda.’”
Indignation Doesn’t Begin to Describe It
“One of the things I have noticed in my interactions with atheists is the fact that they are very good at getting themselves into a fever pitch of moral indignation. It is one of their signature moves. Hitchens used to do it, Dawkins does it, and Harris does it. They banish any and all possible grounds for any kind of moral evaluation at all, and then they wheel on you, jowls quivering and anger in their eyes, like a Victorian archbishop who just found a couple of painted ladies in the choir loft.”
Repenting of Learned Helplessness
“Whenever socialism—the singular mania of the Democrats—is imposed anywhere, it is the death of that place. It has been imposed on black America, and it was imposed on black America by the Democrats. The results have been an unmitigated disaster. The ones who should be held responsible should be the ones who did it. I have no objection to black leaders calling abuse. It is long past time for them to do so. But they ought to call abuse on the one who is actually hitting them.”
When Sovereign Grace is Corny
“A preacher of the gospel can say no condemnation, but no one else can. If a preacher of the gospel undertakes to deliver this message, he must preach it to every creature. He must do it in the spirit of the Sunday School song I learned when I was a kid—preach to red and yellow, black and white. Does that sound corny? Too bad.”
Not This Week Anyway
“The answer is that such a thing is impossible. Being impossible, it may be tentatively ranked among those things that are not going to happen.”