TheosGuy

Here are a couple of quotes from C.S. Lewis on writing and the importance of clarity in our communication.

The way for a person to develop a style is (a) to know exactly what he wants to say, and (b) to be sure he is saying exactly that.

The reader, we must remember, does not start by knowing what we mean. If our words are ambiguous, our meaning will escape him.

I sometimes think that writing is like driving sheep down a road. If there is any gate open to the left or the right the reader will most certainly go into it.

(“Cross-Examination,” in C.S. Lewis: Essay Collection and Other Short Pieces, ed. Lesley Walmsley, p. 555)

1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.

2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them.

3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.”

4. In writing. Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the things you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us the thing is “terrible,” describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was “delightful”; make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers “Please, will you do my job for me.”

5. Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

(C.S. Lewis, Letters to Children, p. 64.)

Tags: C. S. Lewis, Quotes, Writing

I have been reading Pastor Chuck Smith’s biography, Chuck Smith: A Memoir of Grace. Here is a quote that I particularly liked and one that I bear witness to from my own life.

It pleases God to guide our lives by continuously giving us directions rather than giving us a map. He is with us always and wants us to be listening always.

Tags: Living, Quotes

Never let common sense obtrude and push the Son of God on one side. Common sense is a gift which God gave to human nature, but it is not the gift of His Son; never enthrone common sense. The Son detects the Father; common sense never yet detected the Father and never will. (2/20)

Everything the devil does, God over-reaches to serve His own purpose.
(5/14)

The great need is not to do things, but to believe things. The Redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is the great act of God which He has performed through Christ, and I have to build my faith on it.(5/28)

The above quotes are from Run Today’s Race, Copyright © Oswald Chambers Publications Association Ltd. The reference in the parenthesis refers to the day of the year noted in said work.

Tags: Quotes

Here are some quotes, from some Christians, that I enjoyed.

Worship is the normal employment of moral beings.—A.W. Tozer

This quote is from his book, Worship: The Missing Jewel of the Evangelical Church. In context, Tozer was noting that fallen man could no longer worship God as when he was created, That man needed Jesus Christ to restore the ability to properly worship Him.

I believe in Christianity as I believe in the rising sun; not because I see it, but by it I can see all else.—C.S. Lewis

It is the Holy Spirit that truly illuminates. The physical sun does not allow us to see the spiritual world, but the Son of God does. His gift of salvation, allows us to be regenerated, made anew!

There are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.—D.L. Moody

And so the question is are we willing do do what God calls us to do, when it only glorifies Him. I remember a friend telling me that he would answer God’s call to minister in the field of technological ministry. But he felf he would NOT answer the call if it was to go into the mission field to do His ministry. I found that very sad, and have always remembered it.

I need to make sure that I am not doing the same in an area to which I am spiritually blind.

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.—Jim Elliot

Self-explanatory. I always forget the exact wording, so I thought I would memorialize it for myself.

Consider Him. Look to Jesus. Someone has said that this is the simplicity of our faith, and I agree with that, but there is a danger of oversimplification under the evangelistic methods which are being used today. I have a little book which I have entitled Faith Plus Nothing Equals Salvation because I believe this is true. Faith alone can save. However, today we have an epidemic of easy believism. Many folk have made salvation a simple mathematical equation: If you can say yes to this, yes to that, and yes to a half-dozen questions, then you are a Christian. This type of approach leaves no room for the work of the Holy Spirit and for the conviction of sin. It just means a nodding assent, a passing acquaintance with Jesus. It does not mean that you are born again.

There is a word that is being overworked today: commit your life to Christ. What kind of life do you have to commit to Christ? If you are coming to Christ as a sinner, you don’t have any life—you are dead in trespasses and sins. The Lord Jesus is the one who said, “I have come that you might have life.” You do not commit a life, but He committed His life for you and He died for you. You are dead in trespasses and sins, and He has life to offer to you: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

We also hear people say, “Give your heart to Jesus.” Well, my friend, what do you think He wants with that dirty, old heart? Read the list of things He said come out of the heart (see Matt. 15:19). They are the dirtiest things that I know. He didn’t ask you to give your heart to Him. He says, “I want to give you a new heart and a new life.” We need today the conviction of sin, to know that we are sinners. We have made salvation a very jolly affair. An evangelistic crusade today is just too ducky; it’s so sweet, and it’s so lovely. I don’t see people come weeping under conviction of sin.—J. Vernon McGee (Commentary on Hebrews 12)

A good quote on the easy believism we so often see.

Churches are so good at devouring people if they’ve stumbled. We should be quick to say – ‘Let me help you stand – I’m here for you – what do you need?’—Bill Foote, Pastor, Saving Grace Community Church, Lake Forest, CA

How true this statement is. Lord, change me so that I am more like you and minster grace to the Body of Christ.

Tags: Quotes

What wonders it has wrought! Intercessory prayer has stayed plagues (Exodus 7-11). Intercessory prayer has healed diseases. We know it did in the early church. It has restored withered limbs. Intercessory prayer has raised the dead 1 Kings 17. As to how many souls intercessory prayer has instrumentally saved, recording angel, you can tell! Eternity, you shall reveal! There is nothing which intercessory prayer cannot do.—7.453

God will bless Elijah and send rain on Israel, but Elijah must pray for it. If the chosen nation is to prosper, Samuel must plead for it. If the Jews are to be delivered, Daniel must intercede. God shall bless Paul, and the nations shall be converted through him, but Paul must pray. Pray he did without ceasing, his epistles show that he expected nothing except by asking for it.—28:548

Tags: Prayer, Quotes

From the Word of God I gather that damnation is all of man, from top to bottom, and salvation is all of grace, from first to last. He that perishes chooses to perish, but he that is saved is saved because God has chosen to save him.—34.538

Your damnation is your own election, not God’s—5.119

I am quite certain that God has an elect people, for he tells me so in his word. And I am equally certain that everyone who comes to Christ shall be saved, for that also is his own declaration in the Scriptures. When people ask me how I reconcile these two truths, I usually say that there is no need to reconcile them, for they have never yet quarelled with one another.—56.631

Tags: Quotes