Even If He Had a Thousand Heads

Quotes

On Martin Luther after refusing to retract his writings when called before Charles V:

For Luther, it was the word of God that had freed him and saved him. He had no other security. But with it he had the courage to stand . . . When he got there [back to his quarters], he raised his hands, smiled and shouted, ‘I’ve come through! I’ve come through!’; then, turning to a friend, he told him that, even if he had a thousand heads, he would rather have them all lopped off than abandon his gospel.

– Michael Reeves in The Unquenchable Flame: Discovering the Heart of the Reformation

Here is the exact quote of Luther’s words referenced above:

If I had a thousand heads I would lose them all rather than to recant.

The danger of asking God ‘Why me?’

Link

Tim Keller has an excelled article on CNN.com today.  Here is an excerpt:

We don’t know the reason God allows evil and suffering to continue, or why it is so random, but now at least we know what the reason isn’t, what it can’t be.

It can’t be that he doesn’t love us. It can’t be that he doesn’t care. He is so committed to our ultimate happiness that he was willing to plunge into the greatest depths of suffering himself.

Someone might say, “But that’s only half an answer to the question ‘Why?’” Yes, but it is the half that we need. If God actually explained all the reasons why he allows things to happen as they do, it would be too much for our finite brains.

What we truly need is what little children need. They can’t understand most of what their parents allow and disallow for them. They need to know their parents love them and can be trusted. We need to know the same thing about God.

Read it all.

Mercy Has Swallowed Up All Misery

Quotes

He was sold, to buy us back; captive, to deliver us; condemned, to absolve us; he was made a curse for our blessing, sin offering for our righteousness; marred that we may be made fair; he died for our life; so that by him fury is made gentle, wrath appeased, darkness turned into light, fear reassured, despisal despised, debt canceled, labor lightened, sadness made merry, misfortune made fortunate, difficulty easy, disorder ordered, division united, ignominy ennobled, rebellion subjected, intimidation intimidated, ambush uncovered, assaults assailed, force forced back, combat combated, war warred against, vengeance avenged, torment tormented, damnation damned, the abyss sunk into the abyss, hell transfixed, death dead, mortality made immortal. In short, mercy has swallowed up all misery, and goodness all misfortune.

John Calvin

Piper on How to Watch the Olympic Games

Quotes
London 2012 Olympic Torch by Petr Kratochvil

London 2012 Olympic Torch by Petr Kratochvil

[T]ranspose the temporary struggles and triumphs of the Olympic Games onto a different level of reality — the level of spiritual life and eternity and God. When you see the athletes run, see another kind of running. When you see them boxing, see another kind of boxing. When you see them training and denying themselves, see another kind of training and self-denial. When you see them smiling with a gold medal around their neck, see another kind of prize.

-John Piper

Read it all at Desiring God

Created to Worship [Quote]

Quotes

It is easy to see that you and I have been created to worship. We’re flat-out desperate for it. From sports fanaticism to celebrity tabloids to all the other strange sorts of voyeurisms now normative in our culture, we evidence that we were created to look at something beyond ourselves and marvel at it, desire it, like it with zeal, and love it with affection. Our thoughts, our desires, and our behaviors are always oriented around something, which means we are always worshiping (ascribing worth to) something. If it’s not God, we are engaging in idolatry. But either way, there is no way to turn the worship switch in our hearts off.

from Matt Chandler’s The Explicit Gospel

What We Revere,We Resemble

Bible, Idolatry, Quotes

What we revere, we resemble, either for ruin or restoration. To commit ourselves to some part of the creation more than to the Creator is idolatry. And when we worship something in creation, we become like it, as spiritually lifeless and insensitive to God as a piece of wood, rock or stone. We become spiritually blind, deaf and dumb even though we have physical eyes and ears. If we commit ourselves to something that does not have God’s Spirit, to that degree we will be lacking the Spirit.

From G. K. Beale’s We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry

Marriage has a heterosexual problem

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Marriage has a heterosexual problem.

When the termites have done their work on the foundations of the home, it doesn’t take much to knock it down. Such is the case of traditional marriage. It does not face a homosexual crisis as much as a heterosexual one.

Don’t place the blame on politics, Hollywood or a beleaguered minority. The problem lies with the vast number of Christians who fill church pews week to week. Their views on the pattern and power for marriage are no different from the surrounding culture. Their reality of failure is also no different.

Read more:

http://thinkchristian.net/why-the-real-challenge-to-marriage-is-heterosexual