From Around the Internet
"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.”
— C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (Fontana Books: London, 1960): 111-112.
As one who loves History-of-Jesus research (even though I don’t always know what to make of it), I appreciated this review of Dale C. Allison’s most recent Jesus-book: a review of Dale Allison's CONSTRUCTING JESUS.
Ed Cyzewski has an interesting post up on our need for seasons of rest. As someone who has always had a problem with taking time off and Sabbath — or resting when I do — this is a very needed word: Why Seasons of Rest Are Risky and Why We Need Them. He says:
“Our culture prioritizes progress, accumulation, and growth. Rest is resistance to these idols—or rest-istance perhaps. When we pull ourselves out of the race, we may be terrified by the unknown. Can rest really bring benefit?
When I have successfully stopped myself, I have found that I often return to my work with renewed focus and energy. Work can be a wonderful blessing, but when allowed to grow too large for us, we’ll find that it can become self-defeating. “
"Mention of Rand in church would be a waste -- particularly during Advent -- were it not that this tough old atheist now enjoys a renaissance under the patronage of some prominent public figures.
...
"I’m amazed that these politicians promote Rand’s philosophy without concern for her atheism. But more amazing is the grand celebration we Christians are about to witness. Christmas, the nativity of Jesus Christ, is an eloquent rebuke to Rand and her contemporary devotees, because Christmas is God’s grand revelation of who God really is."
I will be going through the 1912 book of the same name, posting one or two of Steele’s Q&A entries from the book per week. I will also post a few other items of interest as I go along. I’ll also try to post some of his (lengthy) sermons on Sundays, as well. I’ve never read the book Steele’s Answers, so I have no idea of it’s worth. The Q&A entries are brief — perfect as blog entries — and look like they were once part of a regular “Ask Dr. Steele” column that ran in some Holiness magazine of long ago. I’m sure people are mystified by my fascination with the old Holiness writers, and by John Wesley’s doctrine of Christian Perfection — but I find it quite an antidote to the easy-believe-ism of our day.
And the series continues....