Quotes for the Journey: Christianity Christianity might be a good thing if anyone ever tried it. George Bernard Shaw

No people are true Christians who do not think constantly of how they can lift their brother and sister, how they can assist their friends, how they can enlighten mankind, how they can make virtue the rule of conduct in the circle in which they live.        -Woodrow Wilson     An immortal soul, from its very nature, cannot find what it needs anywhere except in God Himself.  True religion begins in the heart.  It is not a mere set of rules to be obeyed--an example to be copied.  It is Christ coming into the heart and dwelling there.       -James R. Miller     We cannot say this or that trouble will not befall, yet we may, by the help of the Spirit, say, Nothing that does befall will make me do that which is unworthy of a Christian.        -Richard Sibbes     It is not the multitude of hard duties, it is not the constraint and contention that advance us in our Christian course. On the contrary, it is the yielding of our wills without restriction and without choice to tread cheerfully every day in the path in which Providence leads us. It is to seek nothing, to be discouraged by nothing, to see our duty in the present moment, and to trust all else without reserve to the will and power of God.       -Francois Fenelon     Christianity is different from all other religions.  They are the story of humanity's search for God.  The Gospel is the story of God's search for humans.        -Dewi Morgan      The Christian life that is joyless is a discredit to God and a disgrace to itself.        -Maltie D. Babcock

The true Christians are the true citizens, lofty of purpose, resolute in endeavor, ready for a hero's deeds, but never looking down on their task because it is cast in the day of small things; scornful of baseness, awake to their own duties as well as to their rights, following the higher law with reverence, and in this world doing all that in their power lies, so that when death comes they may feel that humanity is in some degree better because they lived.        -Theodore Roosevelt

As soon as we lay ourselves entirely at His feet, we have enough light given to us to guide our own steps. We are like the foot soldiers, who hear nothing of the councils that determine the course of the great battle they are in, but hear plainly enough the word of command that they must themselves obey.       -George Eliot

Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where he or she found bread.       -D.T. Niles

Humans need Jesus Christ as a necessity and not as a luxury.  You may be pleased to have flowers, but you must have bread. . . . Jesus is not a phenomenon, He is bread:  Christ is not a curiosity, He is water.  As surely as we cannot live without bread, we cannot live truly without Christ: If we know not Christ we are not living, our movement is a mechanical flutter, our pulse is but the stirring of an animal life.       -Joseph Parker

The first thing that we have to realize is a fact of fundamental importance, because it means breaking away from all the ordinary prepossessions of orthodoxy. The plain fact is that Jesus taught no theology whatever. His teaching is entirely spiritual or metaphysical.  Historical Christianity, unfortunately, has largely concerned itself with theological and doctrinal questions which, strange to say, have no part whatever in the Gospel teaching.  It will startle many good people to learn that all the doctrines and theologies of the churches are human inventions built up by their authors out of their own mentalities. . . .  There is absolutely no system of theology of doctrine to be found in the Bible; it simply is not there.       -Emmet Fox

Christianity knows no truth which is not the child of love and the parent of duty.       -Phillips Brooks

A Christian is nothing but a sinful person who has put him or herself to school for Christ for the honest purpose of becoming better.       -Henry Ward Beecher

Christianity is the least concerned about religion of any of the world's faiths.  It is primarily concerned about life.       -T.D. Price

The heart of the Christian Gospel is precisely that God is the all holy One; the all powerful One is also the One full of mercy and compassion.  He is not a neutral God inhabiting some inaccessible Mount Olympus. He is a God who cares about His children and cares enormously for the weak, the poor, the naked, the downtrodden, the despised.  He takes their side not because they are good, since many of them are demonstrably not so.  He takes their side because He is that kind of God, and they have no one else to champion them.       -Desmond Tutu

I once read in a Bible commentary that the word "Christian" means "little Christs." What an honor to share Christ's name! We can be bold to call ourselves Christians and bear the stamp of his character and reputation.  When people find out the you are a Christian, they should already have an idea of who you are and what you are like simply because you bear such a precious name.        -Joni Eareckson Tada

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.       -The Apostle Paul in Colossians 3:12-14

Jesus is God spelling himself out in language that humans can understand.       -S.D. Gordon

In its essence the Gospel is a call to make the experiment of comradeship, the experiment of fellowship, the experiment of trusting the heart of things, throwing self-care to the winds, in the sure and certain faith that you will not be deserted, forsaken nor betrayed, and that your ultimate interests are perfectly secure in the hands of the Great Companion.  This insight is the center, the kernel, the growing point of the Christian religion, which, when we have it, all else is secure, and when we have it not, all else is precarious.       -L.P. Jacks

Christ does not save us by acting a parable of divine love; He acts the parable of divine love by saving us.  That is the Christian faith.        -Austin Farber

Why not make the following experiment, which will not only be thrillingly interesting, but will certainly teach you more in one day than you could learn from books or lectures in many weeks.    Here is what you have to do:  For one whole day think, speak, and act exactly as you would if you were absolutely convinced of the truth of the statements that God has all power and infinite intelligence, and that His nature is infinite goodness and love.    To think in this manner all day will be the most difficult thing, because it is so subtle.  To speak in accordance with these truths will be easier, if you are vigilant.  To act in accordance with them will be the easiest part, although it may require much in the way of moral courage.       -Emmet Fox

True Christians, who have power over their own will, may live nobly and happily and enjoy a clear heaven within the serenity of their own minds perpetually.  When the sea of this world is roughest and most tempestuous about them, then they can ride safely at anchor within the haven by a sweet compliance of their will with God's will. They can look about themselves, and with an even and indifferent mind behold the world either to smile or frown upon them. Also, they will not abate in the least their contentment for all the ill and unkind usage they meet with in this life. They who have mastery over their own will, feel no violence from without, find no contests within. When God calls them out of this state of mortality, they find in themselves a power to lay down their own lives, and it is not so much taken from them, as quietly and freely surrendered up by them.        -Dr. John Smith

I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it but because I see everything in it.       -C.S. Lewis

This is a cheerful world as I see it from my garden under the shadows of my vines. But if I were to ascend some high mountain and look out over the wide lands, you know very well what I should see: brigands on the highways, pirates on the sea, armies fighting, cities burning; in the amphitheaters men murdered to please applauding crowds; selfishness and cruelty and misery and despair under all roofs.  It is a bad world, Donatus, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret.  They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not.  They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world.  These people, Donatus, are the Christians--and I am one of them.       -St. Cyprian

Let love be your greatest aim.       -1 Corinthians 14:1

It is a great deal better to live a holy life than to talk about it.  Lighthouses do not ring bells and fire cannons to call attention to their shining--they just shine.        - Dwight L.  Moody

This coming to know Christ is what makes Christian truth redemptive truth, the truth that transforms, not just informs. . .      -Harold Cooke Phillips

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.  He would either be a lunatic--on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell.  Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse.        -C.S. Lewis

If you wish your children to be Christians you must really take the trouble to be Christian yourselves.  Those are the only terms upon which the home will work the gracious miracle.      -Woodrow Wilson

I maintain Christianity is a life much more than a religion.       -R.M. Moberly

It is the great work of nature to transmute sunlight into life.  So it is the great end of Christian living to transmute the light of truth into the fruits of holy living.       -Adoniram J. Gordon

The Christians do not commit adultery. They do not bear false witness.  They do not covet their neighbor's goods.  They honor father and mother.   They love their neighbors.  They judge justly.  They avoid doing to others what they do not wish done to them.  They do good to their enemies.  They are kind.       -St. Aristides

The Christian is not one who has gone all the way with Christ.  None of us has. The Christian is one who has found the right road.      -Charles L. Allen

When we were watching the distribution of clothing in Jordan, I found myself wondering what it would be like to be wearing the clothes of someone else; how it would be like always in someone else's shoes. Then it occurred to me that this is precisely what Christianity means--eternally being in someone else's shoes.       -R. Paul Freed

The ship's place is in the sea, but God pity the ship when the sea gets into it.  The Christian's place is in the world, but God pity the Christians if the world gets the best of them.      -Anon

The whole history of the Christian life is a series of resurrections. . . Every time we find our hearts are troubled, that we are not rejoicing in God, a resurrection must follow; a resurrection out of the night of troubled thought into the gladness of the truth.       -George  MacDonald

Christianity teaches that the human soul is directly related to God.  Such immediacy is the hallmark of the Divinity of the soul and the center of our freedom.       -Helmut Kuhn

This is what Christianity is for--to teach people the art of Life.  And its whole curriculum lies in three words, "Learn of me."       -Anon

A true Christian should have but one fear-- lest he or she should not hope enough.       -Walter Elliot

The purpose of Christianity is not to avoid difficulty, but to produce a character adequate to meet it when it comes.  It does not make life easy; rather it tries to make us great enough for life.        -James L. Christensen

Christianity is not a theory or speculation, but a life; not a philosophy of life, but a living presence.       -Samuel Taylor Coleridge

No one is without Christianity, if we agree on what we mean by the word.  It is every individual's individual code of behavior by means of which he or she makes him or herself a better human being than their nature wants to be, if they followed their nature only.       -William Faulkner

The root of the matter, if we want a stable world, is a very simple and old-fashioned thing, a thing so simple that I am almost ashamed to mention it for fear of the derisive smile with which wise cynics will greet my words.  The thing I mean is love, Christian love, or compassion.  If you feel this, you have a motive for existence, a reason for courage, an imperative necessity for intellectual honesty.       -Bertrand Russell

I have an unquenchable desire to slow down and find my life going deeper in my walk with Christ.  I want to meet him in the depths of my soul, away from the stress and press of everything on top.  A relationship with Christ is the key to fulfilling our deepest longings.  All of life is about filling the void that sin and separation from him have created within.  Filling the emptiness with piles of things, earthly friendships, satisfying experiences, and sensual encounters ultimately proves to achieve less than what we had hoped for.  Christ is the only one who fits.       -Joseph M. Stowell

Jesus had the same needs we do as a human being.  He needed food, shelter, safety, and love. He showed us how God loved him and provided for him.  He showed us his need for rest when he pulled away from others to a quiet place.  He showed us how God wanted us to love our brothers and sisters by loving the people around him.  He showed us his need to depend on God and for relationship with God when he prayed.       - Betty Blaylock

When I look at Jesus' warm and intimate friendships, my heart fills with praise that Jesus was. . . a man.  A man of flesh-and-blood reality.  His heart felt the sting of sympathy.  His eyes glowed with tenderness.  His arms embraced.  His lips smiled.  His hands touched.  Jesus was male! Jesus invites us to relate to him as the Son of Man.  And because he is fully man, we can relate to Jesus with affection and love.       - Joni Erickson Tada

If Jesus is Lord then the only right response to him is surrender and obedience.  He is Savior and he is Lord.  We cannot separate his demands from his love.  We cannot dissect Jesus and relate only to the parts that we like or need.  Christ died so that we could be forgiven for managing our own lives.  It would be impossible to thank Christ for dying and yet to continue running our own lives.       -Rebecca Pippert

Jesus' ministry was clearly defined. . . . A choice was made-- life abundant, full, and free for all.  Make no mistake about it, the day the choice was made, Jesus became suspect.  That day in the temple he sealed the fate already prepared for him.  How was the world to understand one who rejected an offer of power and control?       -Joan B. Campbell

The essence of religion is that it releases in people a power and a force beyond human capacity to generate, by which they may rise to a plane of existence in which they are superior to everything life may bring them.  There once lived a man who had the gift of power to overcome anything the world could do to him; and through the years other people, through contact with this man in spiritual communion, have found the same power.  Wistfully, we remember that once he said:  "Verily, I say unto you, they that believeth on me, the works that I do shall they do also; and greater works than these shall they do."  Why are we not "doing works" like that?  What is wrong?  His was a way of living that made weakness and trouble drop away like withered leaves in the fall.  Is it a lost art?  How shall we find it again?     If the art has been lost to many of us, what can we do?  The answer is, go back and examine it at its source.  And when we go back and analyze the life of Jesus, the source of his power, and of his Divine energy, we are impressed by his faith in God.  He believed God was near to him, using him.  He believed in God with the faith of a child.  He kept in close contact and communion with God and as a result he was an open channel for Divine energy.       -Norman Vincent Peale

Once in a while there comes into the world one who from the very first recognises no separation of his life from the Father’s life, and who dwells continually in this living realisation; and by bringing anew to the world this great fact, and showing forth the works that will always and inevitably follow this realisation, he becomes in a sense a world’s saviour, as did Jesus, who, through the completeness of His realisation of the Father's life incarnate in Him, became the Christ Jesus.  He in this way pointed out to the world how all men can enter into the realisation of the Christ-life and thus be saved from all impulse to sin.  And so instead of coming to appease the vengeance of an angry God—difficult for one who has any adequate conception of God even to conceive of—He brought to the world, by exemplifying in His own life as well as by teaching to all who will hear His real message, the method whereby all of us can enter into the full and complete realisation of our oneness with the life of the tender and loving Infinite Father that dwells within. Redeemed from the bondage of the senses through which alone sin comes, and born into the heavenly state, into life eternal, is everyone who comes into the same relations with the Father, and hence into the same realisation of their oneness with the Father's life, that Jesus came into.  It is difficult, however, to see how anyone will be redeemed from the bondage of sin and enter into the heavenly state simply by believing that Jesus entered into it while here.  No amount of believing that He lived the life He lived will take anyone into the heavenly state, but living the life that Jesus lived will take everyone who lives it there, in any age and in any time, even whether or not they know that such a man as Jesus ever lived. Ralph Waldo Trine

Christianity was a difficult struggle for me for a very long time, mostly because of my logical/rational mindset and approach to life. I didn't choose the way my mind works, but I do have to respect it, and my mind didn't allow me to accept blindly much of the theology and dogma that I heard being preached at services I went to. I found it difficult to believe that so much was being taught that wasn't at all Biblical, and I didn't know what to do with that--if the New Testament is our Holiest text, shouldn't our beliefs come directly from there? Reading the works of Ralph Waldo Trine and Emmet Fox has helped me a great deal in coming to terms with many of the doubts I've had, for they also approach their relationship with Christ from a practical, logical perspective. Helen Keller tells us to value the faith that doesn't come easily, for the faith that we struggle with becomes stronger through the struggles. The bottom line for me is this:  Christ came to teach us how to live our lives so that they'll be fulfilling and full of love, and if we're to get all we can out of this life, we need to heed his words and make them a part of our lives. Christianity is about reaching potential and loving unconditionally, not about following rules blindly and judging and condemning others. Christianity is about brother- and sisterhood in Christ, for a house divided simply cannot stand. But teachings aside, we can't ignore Christ's claim to be God.  As C.S. Lewis explains so well, this claim takes away the "great teacher" status that many give to Christ.  Either Christ is God, or he's not.  If he's not, he's making a claim that most of us would consider to be fanatical, and therefore his credibility as a teacher is shot.  If he is, then we have to take him at his word, that he is God; and we also have to take him at his word that we are just as much God as he was, and that we can do greater things than he did if only we have faith. There have been many horrible things done in the name of Christ and of God, but those have been the actions of people who were selfish or arrogant or afraid to lose their power, so they acted in un-Christian ways and passed their actions off as valid in the eyes of God.  I cannot let my faith in Christ and God be swayed by the selfish and hurtful acts of others who don't want to take the responsibility necessary to live a Christian life and give up their futile attempts at control. So I believe.  I believe that God is with and in us, always, and that Christ knew this and lived this in order to show us many important things that we need to know if we're to live fulfilling lives.  Christ taught us to love, to be responsible, and most importantly, to have faith in unity, God and life, to have faith that things will be fine if we let things work as they've been made to work, instead of trying to control every aspect of our lives ourselves.  Now, I don't love as much as I could, and I sometimes shirk responsibility that I don't really want to have, and my faith often falls short so that I try to control things that are simply out of my control, but I try.  And it's in the trying that I grow.   Christianity is not about rules and regulations--it's a way of life that was given to us so that we may make the most of this beautiful gift of life without the worries of what will happen to us when we die--instead of focusing on the fear of the unknown, we can focus on the beauty of the known. tdw

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