Why A Lot of the Sermons in the Book of Mormon Didn't Make Sense To Me Until Now

My favorite Book is and has been the Book of Mormon. The stories and adventures in it are incredible and inspiring. And while the stories are the parts that are easiest to understand and retell, it's the sermons that are recorded that are supposed to be the most valuable parts, but other than snippets, and isolated verses, most LDS people who quote from the Book of Mormon have a hard time giving context for the long speeches that someone went through the trouble of recording into writing, and then re-recording them onto metal plates to last through the centuries.

I would sit there and wonder, when Alma and Amulek are getting cross-examined by the lawyers in the city of Ammonihah, do they bring up the Resurrection as evidence of their criminality? And why does Alma respond by talking about the Tree of Life and the Fall of Adam?

Why were Anti-Christs such a problem to the prophets and so successful among the Nephites?

Why was Isaiah so important to the prophets of the Book of Mormon?

Why is it that when prophets are persecuted (like Lehi before he left Jerusalem) is the persecution blamed on their preaching of Christ? I mean, sure, some people don't want religion shoved down their throat, but this was a religious people! Why would they be so offended when a member of their own community preaches about a Messiah? Isn't blaming the persecution on the preaching of Christ, just a bit dramatic, and self-victimizing?

Turns out, it's not. I've been wrong, not the people of the Book of Mormon. I've been reading the book, my whole life, from the context that knowledge of Jesus Christ was a given, an accepted fact of life, as if the Nephites were a "Christian" people. They were not. The PROPHETS who wrote the books in the Book of Mormon were Christians, but for the most part, the people were not, they were "Jewish" or, they lived a very misunderstood, but widely accepted version of the Law of Moses. Very similar to what was believed and accepted by the Jews of 600 BC.

The Law of Moses is a theocratical government of sorts. There's rules about civil law and civil life and rules about religious ceremony and they are intermingled to a large degree. Many of the things we like to criticize about the Law of Moses are misunderstandings on our part. It doesn't preach an "Eye for an Eye" as a religious doctrine, but as a civil one. If someone steals $20 from me, they should pay me $20 back, not $20 PLUS emotional damages. If my neighbor accidentally kills my cow, I should get his cow, not his-cow-plus-damages. Religiously, it preaches forgiveness, and letting go of anger and hatred. There are a great many other things we like to criticize about the Law of Moses compared to our current society and how terrible it would have been to live under, but given the historical context it was given in, it was REVOLUTIONARY and bold in the rights and protections it gave to women and children and criminals and, really, everyone.

Religiously, the Law of Moses gave its people a huge set of ceremonies and practices to be used in the worship of Jehovah. Central to these were the idea of remission of sins, forgiveness of misdeeds, debts, and transgressions, and of the need for a Mediator to bring people back into the presence of God and make everything right between us. The trouble was, and is, these symbolic ceremonies weren't terribly explicit in that they were Prophetic and Symbolic, not just Ritualistic and Superstitious. Moses preached of a Prophet to come (Jesus Christ) but wasn't terribly clear on many details of that Prophet's true mission, at least, not in any of the writings we have from him (but our copies of his writings aren't as old as Moses, they're from hundreds of years later and who knows what may have been intentionally taken out or altered by then).

So the people who lived under the Law of Moses, DIDN'T -for the most part- believe in Christ. Christians today love to look backwards and glory in the symbolic representations of the Savior throughout the law, but hindsight is 20-20. Under the law, preaching of a Savior was treated by most people as a form of Heresy, an unauthorized addition to the law. "God come down and live with us??" "We -as a PEOPLE/SPECIES, not just individually- are fallen and need redemption from Death?", "You're saying we have to rely on a Savior and that all these sacrificial ceremonies and huge efforts we're putting into living our religion won't save us and won't do a thing to help us?"

Yes, sort of. And that's why anyone who preached Jesus among the Jews at the time of Jeremiah, or among the Nephites were misunderstood. When Abinadi is arrested for preaching against the wickedness of King Noah, what do the priests ask him about? His understanding of the Law of Moses. And what is his response? He asks about their understanding of the Law of Moses, and then preaches what the Law of Moses is REALLY about.

The Anti-Christs, what is their beef? They are trying to preach a literal or strict interpretation of the Law of Moses. And Jacob and Alma have to explain the scriptures and what the scriptures REALLY mean. The lawyers in Ammonihah, why are they upset that Alma and Amulek are preaching about the Resurrection? Because it wasn't a real explicit part of the Law of Moses! Remember the Sadducees in the New Testament? They were a group of Jews with their own interpretation of the Law of Moses (much like we have Methodists and Baptists and Presbyterians with their interpretations of the New Testament) and a huge differentiating factor for them was that they refused to acknowledge the doctrine of the Resurrection.

The Zoramites? What had happened to them? They had become elitists, much like the Israelites had, in thinking they were a special people because of their interpretation of the Law of Moses. A major problem among the Israelites (and among the early LDS) was their idea that because they had the "correct" knowledge of God, they were elevated and more important than their neighbors and would look down their noses on those around them. This doesn't win friends.

So, while we recognize the Book of Mormon is a very Christian book, it doesn't make complete sense until we understand who wrote it and to whom. While all groups of the world from all cultures can benefit from it's clear teachings of the Savior, it was written in the context of proving to a people, very similar to the Jews of 600 BC that the Law of Moses and the Old Testament, is very much a Testament of the coming, and more importantly the Need for Savior, a Jehovah Messiah, or Jesus Christ.

And one last thing, why would a 21-year-old farmer with only a basic-life-skills-education like Joseph Smith write a book from that context, when all he knew, everything he had been taught at church, all the turmoil and Great Awakening going on around him in his formative years, was arguing and debating over interpretations of the New Testament, automatically assuming and taking for granted the need for a Savior as a "duh, that's a given"?

I've got a Job for you

Sometimes in the car I listen to "smart stuff", you know, NPR, public radio, jazz, stuff like that. A closet habit I indulge in only when I'm alone.

Tonight, I turned on KUER, the radio station for the University of Utah, and it was an interview of an author who wrote a book about the biblical Job. Now, in all fairness, I didn't catch the whole interview, or even hear who wrote it or what the book was called, but it was obvious that the interviewer was atheistic, while the author was not, though he was very professional and patient with the interviewer, who apparently was trying their best to be profressional. (mispelled on poipose).

One comment kinda got me agitated. It was from the interviewer who commented how the book of Job in the Bible doesn't really make a lot of sense taken in the context of the biblical story, how if you just wait long enough ("the patience of Job" as expressed by James), things get better, while the rest of the biblical story shows that things really, very often, just DON'T get better. Job endured the trials, and got all his riches, wealth, and family back. The author kindly agreed that it doesn't fit very well with all the other biblical stories and continued that thought that the story really doesn't make sense, but it is so comforting to so many people that it will be a story that lives on (the interviewer added, "In our scientific world, perhaps Job's story will live longer than the god the book describes.")

"Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it?"

Sadly, it seems they both missed the boat on the story of Job. Yes, Job was a tremendous example of Faith in God and His Wisdom. Yes, Job was patient, and even from the author's view, proactive in getting through the trial and getting all of his riches and wealth back. Yes, Job's friends and wife were kinda clueless about some things, and Job's confidence in his own righteousness, helped him survive and endure the trial.

Those are all great and wonderful, but I couldn't help but shout at them (in my head. I don't shout to strangers who can't hear me, unless they cut me off or are driving stupidly: another closet habit I indulge in by myself, at times) the point of the Job's trial wasn't just to test him (although it certainly was at that), nor are any of our trials.

A friend once asked, late at night, while contemplating and discussing the universe and the gospel, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" He asked in the context of his younger brother dying in a car accident. My first thought then, and my response to him in that moment, probably deserved a punch to the face, but  I stand by it. "They don't," I said. "Just good things we can't understand yet."

From the ashes of disaster grow the Roses of Success!

God already knows what decisions we'll make, because he knows us. I know if my kids are gonna choose ice cream over oatmeal for breakfast because I know them, not that I've fore-ordained them to any such decision, or am forcing them through an eternally coercive fate, but because I know their tendencies, their thoughts, and pasts, and their interests (actually, my kids would probably choose the oatmeal, especially if it had brown sugar and milk and berries). He's planned accordingly and we will end up where we want to go because of what we ourselves, individually, want.

It's not a tough choice, really

He doesn't NEED to test us for his sake. He tests us for two reasons.

1. So we can see for ourselves what WE really want.
2. Because the test will make us more like Him if we let it.

When we get to the judgement bar of God as resurrected children of a Heavenly Father, we will discuss with him, with our Savior, and with ourselves, what is best for our eternal fate. And we will know for certain where we should go. We will remember everything we've done and if our choices have been consistently selfish, we will wish the rocks could hide us in shame. If our choices have been full of effort and attempts at being "good" (for lack of a better word), we will be able to look the Savior in the face and ask for forgiveness. And he will grant it. This forgiveness will wash us clean and purify us and we will then be able to look our Father in the face and claim that we are ready to return home with him, and He has promised to allow it.

The second item I mentioned reminds me of a time when Jeremiah was commanded to go watch a potter shape his clay and God used it as a metaphor for his children. God wants more than anything to train us, teach us, and prepare us to become Godlike and perfect as he is. It is his work and glory, his focus, his passion. If we don't cooperate, he will keep trying anyway (and as long as we're alive we have a chance, and even after this life, we MAY get some more chances). If the clay isn't forming what it should, the Potter of Potters will lump us back into clay and start again.

I couldn't help but think that Job's trials weren't JUST to test his faith, but that in the trial, something awakened in him, deeper than the anger, grief, depression, despair, and pain he felt. Something Godlike awoke in him that wasn't already there. Even as upright and "perfect" as he'd been before, there was room to grow, and it grew. The fruits of it were evident in his later life as he didn't give up and gained all he'd had AND MORE!! But his spiritual strength he gained by such incredible resistance was commended by the Savior and his Apostles.

If Life hasn't been hard to you in a way that's unique to you, you're doing it wrong. And you're failing because of it. My two bits. There is Joy to be found, but only through struggle, pain, and heartache. He has promised us there will be rest from all of this after this life is over, if we have chosen it. But for now, we must keep exercising our faith, the way a salmon exercises by swimming upstream, or the way a CrossFit fanatic exercises, or the way God chooses our exercises for us.

Christmas time is a good time to reflect

Three years is not very long but a lot happens. Separation and divorce, dating, graduation, moving, unemployment (a few times), moving (a few more times), remarriage (!!!!), a new baby, and a whole lotta being broke, worried, scared, and lots of dead ends.

Every now and then I think about writing on here again but just never felt the need or desire. This is a test post and comes from thoughts I had during church services today. Perhaps a private journal is the better way to go and where I've been keeping some thoughts and goings on, but here you go.

I read scriptures every morning (well, every weekday morning) as part of my routine. The Book of Mormon, New Testament, Doctrine and Covenants, etc. A little while ago I started up the Old Testament. To supplement it, during my breaks when I'm not playing piano for the primary-aged kids during church on Sundays, I read a college-course study manual for the O.T. I'm in Numbers (which really doesn't have a whole lotta numbers in it).

The Israelites had escaped Egypt after the plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, the burning and shaking of Mt. Sinai, eating miraculous Manna and quail, seeing the glory of God cover the tabernacle and lead the camp as a pillar of fire and cloud, and more. Yet, when commanded to go into Canaan and conquer the wicked nations (who'd had chances to repent and turn to God and rejected him still), the people get scared. So God condemns them to 40 years wandering so a braver, newer generation can move into the land of Canaan, and the Isreaelites say, "Oh wait, we want a second chance, we'll go in and fight them after all." But God says "No" and they say, "We're gonna try anyway" and get stomped. A few miraculously failed attempts at mutiny later (earth opening and swallowing rebels, fire from heaven, etc) and the Israelites are finally ready to eat humble pie.

A thought question in the study manual was, "How does this difficulty maintaining faith in God translate to your life?"

It translates way too easily.

I'd condemned myself to a long life of single-tude after the divorce. Not intending on dating, I still made friends, and made some great ones. She was brave and took several HUGE chances on me. Now we're married and have our own new family.

I was certain that my personal difficulties were gonna prevent me from graduating on time. There were a couple weeks of school I didn't even show up or showed up several hours late. It was the best I could do, I was crushed. I passed all the major exams, met all the requirements, and with the help of great friends, got out on time. Wow.

I did struggle getting long-term stable jobs. And yet, every financial deadline was met, handled, or squeezed through with unexpected gifts, employment, opportunities, or simple little unforseeable miracles that would occur just in the nic of time. And though we're not living the high-life, we're comfortable, and safe, and happy, most of the time. (It's a good thing there are LOTS of free cool-things to do around here, like hikes, and mountains, and hot springs, and half-price days at the local pool, and great friends and family members around.)

I had family that stood by me and supported and encouraged me the whole way.

And yet, when something doesn't go the way I want it to, I still throw internal fits and temper tantrums wondering why aren't things easier?? I pray for hours, why aren't my burdens lighter??

Cuz life is life and it's meant to help us grow. My 6-month-old daughter will spend a good 10 minutes struggling across the room to get at the power cords in the corner, only to have me take her away from them and set her right back where she started. She throws a fit and I think, "OK, God. I get it." Or when she pulls herself up on the side of her bassinet, looking over her room, pleased-as-can-be, and in response we lower the level of sleeping down to crib status for her safety, and I think, "Ok, I get it."

A year ago at Christmas time we were buying dollar-store toys for my kids, asking church leaders for financial help (only to somehow not actually need it when the time arrived), getting anonymous gifts of money and food from neighbors, huge debts looming on the horizon, not knowing just about anybody around except a few extended family members, and wondering what was going to become of us.

Now we have at least some sort of budget for Christmas time, lots of friends, full-time employment, making payments on those debts, and relative peace. We even had the chance to go see a fantastic movie yesterday that was smart, funny, uplifting and encouraging, and very entertaining (yes, it's Frozen, you should go see it), in a movie theater! No mooching off of borrowed Netflix accounts, or bootlegged Youtube videos, or dollar rentals after the rest of the world has stopped talking about the movie. It was a matinee, but still! A real movie in a real movie theater! And we have cell phones that we're paying for! High life! Easy Street! Rolling in the big bucks! No not really, but we're way better off than we were a year ago, at least emotionally.

Hopefully there won't be anymore large set backs for us to overcome for a while, but if there are, we'll take 'em. We're still quite a ways down the hole, but we're climbing. And we attribute all of our hope and progress to God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas!

The Unseen Sea

This video captures best one of my two favorite things about living here. (The second is big and painted "International Orange" and I can see it from my window, as long as the stuff in the video below doesn't get in the way)

And this really, really, is worth waiting and watching in HD.

The Unseen Sea from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

This one's also from the same guy and pretty cool too.

Steaming City from Simon Christen on Vimeo.

Lust for Power

Men, as a gender, generally have an obsession with anything that gives us a disproportionate amount of power to the effort we put in. I wiggle my foot a bit and the car goes 0-60 in a few seconds. Woosh. I retract my finger just a bit and BOOM! A gun/bigger gun/or explosive device is launching 50 lb vegetables into the air for everyone's enjoyment. Summary: I invest a few sugar molecules to contract a few muscle cells and I get gobs of power suddenly released at my disposal.

Like that

Leif is currently fascinated with planes, trains, and cars, but especially trains. If he hears the slightest background roar of an airliner overhead he stops whatever he's doing, points up and says something like "Erpane!" He watches Thomas the Train constantly (it drives me crazy, the endless yammering of the narrator and his voices is some of the most obnoxious droning I've ever heard). And he shouts "Caw!" anytime he sees a toy with wheels. At least he doesn't know about guns yet.

Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do ya?

The sad thing is that we don't use this disproportionate effort-to-power ration to much productive use. We blow stuff up just purely to see it blow up. We drive fast, just because we can and it's exhilerating. We threaten, lie, steal, cheat, bully, cajole, and belittle, because it increases our perception of the "power" we've gained by it. It gives us something for nothing... or for very little.

Even subtle things: I have music playing a lot and spend lots of time on the computer. It gives me a very large return of entertainment and education for very little effort.

Chicks for free (I can get this on MP3Panda.com for a dollar. Eat that iTunes!)

Sugar and high calorie foods are the same. Kids don't eat Cookie Crisp for breakfast because its part of a complete breakfast. They eat it because it tastes good because the tongue, brain, and body know that it's a disproportionate amount of calories to effort and in a body that was made to deal with scarcity, it will ALWAYS want extra calories when it can easily get them. And extra calories come in two flavors: carbs and oils. Sugars and fat. Especially fructose and saturated fat. Throw some free amino acids and salt in there to trick you into thinking you're eating lots of protein and minerals and you're done for (read: glutamate, MSG, hydrolyzed soy/yeast protein/isolate/whatev) Just a little bit of chewing to buy a lot more time surviving the hostile wilderness of....today's supermarket-fast food-hostess laden society. Disproportionate food to effort.

Men aren't the only ones like this either. Women, generally (of course generally, no one get your feelings hurt now, ok?) shop and shop and shop. Discounts and hyped-up sales to feel like you're taking advantage of the seller. Or talk and talk and talk to gain an edge over social rivals. Novels to stimulate the mind without having to contribute back. Whining, flirting, manipulating to achieve sympathy or gifts.

Now we're just negotiating a price...

Whether or not we exercise our power over others, we like to have the power, just in case we need to. Just in case. I could argue it's for security. Or emergency. If that were the case, noone would ever know our abilities except in emergencies or when called upon. But we're not that kind of a society, so mostly it's to intimidate others so they won't even THINK about trying to take advantage of us or seek power over us. Sometimes it works positively in inspiring others to competition and improvement.

Don't think so? Prove it

Oddly, even giving up all power and strength is a form of power exertion. For some religiously devoted it is a sign of heavenly strength to give everything up and prove our personal righteousness to the world. Like meekness is spiritual wealth we flaunt. We think to ourselves that because we're poor or suffering we are focusing on what's REALLY important, not like those rich people who obviously are not.

Or we convince ourselves that because we gave it up we could have the power at any time but we chose to get rid of it. I'm powerful enough to be submissive. This isn't true. Giving up such ability, strength, wealth, or power only removes our power, thus taking away our choice to be submissive. It's just as foolish to think that giving up our agency gives us more freedom. It's reminiscent of the Orwellian idea: slavery is freedom.

I'm not sure why students are for this sort of thing, but I do recognize this isn't a shirt. It's a rectangle.

The trick is to remain "submissive" (humble, penitent, open-minded, soft-hearted, etc) while hanging onto every bit of strength we have. Christ wasn't giving up a single shred of power to those who crucified him. He had that power at every second they nailed him to the cross. It could have ended at any moment by his desire. He's kinda a unique case. If I were in his place, I would actually be losing all power and freedom and that might not be a wise use of the abilities God gave me.

So, what do we do? What level of strength do we display or flaunt? I have no clue. That's for you to decide, and I'm only gonna complain or get in your way if it's bothering me.

or if you take up 5 parking spots

Inarticulate

Tonight, a worker from Family Builders came to our apartment for a few hours just to meet and visit with us. She asked us a few questions about ourselves and adopting a child through them. I let Emily do most of the talking. Whenever I tried to answer questions I didn't have much to say. I have a habit of being to the point and it often doesn't leave a ton of room for discussion (I blame my Danish heritage entirely). I'll tell my stellar question-answer in a minute, but for now I feel like pontificating, so allow me a few moments.

if you've read many of my posts, be prepared. If you're like most of my readers, keep going, I know you just skim over everything else i write

With most people, conversation dies if I do much talking. Most of the time the other person or people just nod in agreement and give mmm-hmms and say, "yeah, that's right/so true/I never thought of that." It's pretty boring. When I teach Sunday School, I hate talking. I like axing questions and having other people do all of it and steering it by appropriate questions. When I feel like interjecting my thoughts into the lesson, the class stares at me with the look like I just killed an interesting debate and the show is now over, leaving me floundering over something to get them talking again.

I think if I ever wrote a book, it would take me a few decades to write. It'd start out concise enough to fit onto a few pages and I'd have to BS and fill out the rest just to make it interesting.

this would be most of my story

If you know me, personally, you'll know I enjoy a good discussion. Either the mutual working together to solve a problem through conversation, the sharing of new ideas and information that enlightens the participants and/or listeners, the fair and open-minded sharing of opposing ideas to reach a middle ground, or to present an accurate picture of everything that is in play in a sticky situation. I will love you if you disagree with me on the condition that you can back up your disagreement. If I disagree with you, it means I really like you. I never debate with strangers. You could be telling me the earth is flat, but if I don't care about you, I'll keep my mouth shut. If I'm trying to get you to like me, I'll ask questions that make you back up your position and prove your point or make a joke out of the tense situation. If I really like you, I'll share my thoughts as nicely as possible, but bring out the big guns if the situation desperately needs it.

it's sort of complicated, really

I'm not one to get emotional during a debate, but it happens. It's natural. Some have a lower threshold for emotional control than others, that's fine, but I will encourage you to slow down and discuss the topic rationally. I appreciate passion and emotion. It means there's something the brain has worked out that's important to our identity/survival/safety/self-interest even if we can't consciously articulate it. I like helping people figure that out and pull that jumbled massive cloud of firing neurons into an organized, step-wise sentence coming out of the mouth. That's essentially what an emotion is: a brain-wide response to a stimulus of some kind. A smell of a rose can trigger a bajillion memories in the cortex, sending off huge waves of visual, tactile, verbal, auditory sensations linked by other neurons and portions of the brain to huge chunks of life that have promoted our well-being (or injury and hinderment to some) and create an emotional response that result in our hearts fluttering, our skin flushing, and pull grandiose words out of the language center of our brain.

this is what happens when i'm on my bike and a driver doesn't use their blinker to cut me off suddenly

If you asked me why I like my favorite smell, I might just say, "It smells good." But there would be so much going on that formed that opinion. As Emily and I read these adoption books, they strongly emphasize the power of associations and warn of possible negative associations abused and hurt children may have with even simple things. The smell of cookie dough might trigger memories of anger and pain if associated with something traumatic that happened while freshly-baked cookies were in the house and once the reaction is discovered, it would be wise to act appropriately in the future to help resolve or avoid (if necessary) the situation.

cookie dough seems innocent, but it has a dark side no one wants to talk about

I find that these adoption books really contain amazing advice for dealing with everyone, not just hurt-children, and push me into being a better parent to my biological children. I also see a lot of it in the people I talk with at school, my patients, classmates, etc.

yes, i am judging you, don't be surprised. and don't deny you're doing it, too

It's impossible to fight emotion with emotion. Even well-articulated truth gets lost in the angry sea of anothers temper or sadness. Progress is made (ie, people are brought closer together) when both sides act rationally to some degree, and made closer the more rational they become. When emotions can be focused and organized, then the engine of our life can be useful, not just exploding vapors of combustible fuel. If our emotions are the engine, the steering wheel is our rationality. Both are required to move forward in consciously-decided directions.

'nuff said

So, as we get ready for the in-depth and very personal questions that'll be put to us by this worker over the next few homestudy appointments I'll have to prepare myself to answer well and not emotionally. The other day, I responded to someone's comment about a topic by talking about some triggered memory that probably seemed random to them at the time and cause them to think about me "What is WITH this guy?"

Tonight, when she asked us why we want to adopt a foster child, I said, "Because I think it's a great thing to do for someone." A few cricket chirps later, I tried to fill out that answer with some reason that didn't come out coherently, abandoned it, and restated, "It just seems like it's something great we can do for someone else," and deflected the question over to Emily with a panicked look on my face.

After thinking about it some more, I still can't come up with a better reason or answer, but it's not very exciting, is it?

the teacher finished 15 minutes ago. the girl at bottom right just has nothing else to do

Sorry if you came by earlier and the interwebs warned you my opining might be bad for your computer. Not sure what that was about, but I borrowed a picture off of Google Images and it got all jumpity on me.

More quotes

I just spent way too long writing a comment that probably doesn't make sense to the author of an "activist atheist" blog I stumbled upon while looking up C.S. Lewis quotes.

Here's some favorite quotes from "Mere Christianity":

“We must, therefore, not be surprised if we find among Christians some people who are still nasty. There is even, when you come to think it over, a reason why nasty people might be expected to turn to Christ in greater numbers than nice ones. That was what people objected to about Christ during His life on earth: He seemed to attract ‘such awful people’. That is what people still object to and always will.”

"What can you ever really know of other people’s souls - of their temptations, their opportunities, their struggles?"

“Because God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher level: putting him into situations where he will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than he ever dreamed of being before. It seems to us all unnecessary: but that is because we have not yet had the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us.”

“Each time you fall He will pick you up again. And He knows perfectly well that your own efforts are never going to bring you anywhere near perfection.”

“The natural life in each of us is something self-centred, something that wants to be petted and admired, to take advantage of other lives, to exploit the whole universe. And especially it wants to be left to itself: to keep well away from anything better or stronger or higher than it, anything that might make it feel small. It is afraid of the light and air of the spiritual world, just as people who have been brought up to be dirty are afraid of a bath. And in a sense it is quite right. It knows that if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all of its self-centredness and self-will are going to be killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that.”

“He shows much more of Himself to some people than to others - not because He has favorites, but because it is impossible for Him to show Himself to a man whose whole mind and character are in the wrong condition. Just as sunlight, though it has no favorites, cannot be reflected in a dusty mirror as clearly as in a clean one.”

“But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.”

“If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.” (Does this mean that if I think I am conceited, then I'm not?? LOL)

“Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling. Now no feeling can be relied on to last in its full intensity, or even to last at all. Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last; but feelings come and go.”

“If people do not believe in permanent marriage, it is perhaps better that they should live together unmarried than that they should make vows they do not mean to keep. It is true that by living together without marriage they will be guilty (in Christian eyes) of fornication. But one fault is not mended by adding another: unchastity is not improved by adding perjury.”

“If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronizing and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither.”

“In the passage where the New Testament says that every one must work, it gives as a reason ’in order that he may have something to give to those in need.’”

“An individual Christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons - marriage, or meat, or beer, or the cinema; but the moment he starts saying the things are bad in themselves, or looking down his nose at other people who do use them, he has taken the wrong turning.”

“That is why the Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or- if they think there is not- at least they hope to deserve approval from good men. But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it.”

“Of course God knew what would happen if they used their freedom the wrong way: apparently He thought it worth the risk. Perhaps we are inclined to disagree with Him. But there is a difficulty about disagreeing with God. He is the source from which all your reasoning power comes: you could not be right and He wrong any more than a stream can rise higher than its own source. When you are arguing against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on.”