Spurgeon quotes

The first part of Charles Spurgeon's autobiography is pretty hard work to get through but there are some great quotes. Here are a few of my favourites...

I have found, in my own spiritual life, that the more rules I lay down for myself, the more sins I commit.

I thought everyone a fool for doing anything except preparing to die.

I confess that I frequently sit hour after hour praying and waiting for a subject, and this is the main part of my study… after meditating on [the chosen Bible passage] for my soul’s own comfort – not the professional style of a regular sermon-maker, but feasting upon it for myself. Such simple food has done the people far more good than if I had been a week in manufacturing a sermon, for it has come warm from the heart just after it has been received in my own soul; and therefore it has been well spoken, because well known, well tasted, and well felt.

The saved man is not a perfect man, but his heart’s desire is to become perfect.

Let every man, called of God to preach the Word, be as his Maker has fashioned him.

When I came to New Park Street Chapel, it was but a mere handful of people to whom I first preached, yet I can never forget how earnestly they prayed. Sometimes they seemed to plead as though they could really see the Angel of the covenant present with them, and as if they must have a blessing from Him. More than once, we were all so awe-struck with the solemnity of the meeting that we sat silent for some moments while the Lord’s power appeared to overshadow us; and all I could do on such occasions was to pronounce the Benediction, and say, “Dear friends, we have had the Spirit of God here very manifestly tonight; let us go home, and take care not to lose His gracious influences.” Then came the blessing; the house with filled with hearers, and many souls were saved.

There is a confidence in one’s own powers which must ever be of service to those who are called to eminent positions, provided the confidence is well-grounded, seasoned with humility, and attended with that holy gratitude which refers all honour and glory to the Giver of every good and perfect gift. But, at the same time, there is nothing more true than the fact that the self-confident are near a fall, that those who lean on themselves must be overthrown, and that carnal security has but a baseless fabric in which to dwell.

Review: The Vicar of Baghdad

Anyone whose initial career choice of anaesthetics proves to be the easiest job they do is likely to have quite a story to tell and Andrew White’s account of how he came to be involved in the Middle East is an amazing tale of bravery.

At great personal risk, and frequently in the midst of tragedy, he has been involved in attempting to wring declarations of peace from warring factions in Israel and Palestine and, above all, Iraq. He also took on the leading of a church in Baghdad whose congregation grew from just him and those ‘secretly’ spying on him to around 2,000. It would seem fair to describe him as a divine diplomat.

His view of the war is familiar – it was right to get rid of Saddam but disastrous to have no follow-up plan – but his perspective is different to anything you’re likely to read elsewhere. He shares a horrific anecdote from a friend of his about life in Iraq under Saddam, and says that he has been told that there were WMDs which were smuggled out of Iraq to discredit the invaders.

Most interesting to me is how he has attempted to bring peace in such a violent place with people of different faiths. Gospel peace as I have simplistically thought of it means everyone becoming Christians and finding reconciliation at the cross, in Christ. (History shows this has not always worked but the Bible asserts it). White is more nuanced, his attitude seeming to be that we can’t change everything all at once so what can we change today? This has led to him doing more than most. It’s a complicated but important story, and especially inspiring for Christians who want to make a difference against seemingly-impossible odds.

For more on White’s work, visit his Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East’s website.

Checking for signs of fundamentalism

Often when I read the gospels I find myself wondering who in the stories I am: one of those who flocked to Jesus, one of those who followed Him, or one of those who fought with Him*.

The ones who fought with Jesus were the religious professionals, they were so caught up in themselves that they didn't recognise God when He came to be among them. As someone who for the last seven years has had to tick the religious jobs option in the employment section of insurance application forms I'm aware that I could be at risk of making the mistakes those guys did.

So I found the video below from Mark Driscoll pretty helpful and if you think this could be an issue for you then check it out. As he says, fundamentalism isn't fun but it is mental.

* Three 'f's, sorry; the first two were unintentional.

Advice for writers

I've recently come across a couple of articles giving advice to writers, especially of fiction. Here are the links:

• Ten rules for writing fiction from a number of successful writers.
• Jeffrey Tayler on the writer's life (courtesy of Justin Taylor).

If you want a summary, they essentially tell us to read a lot and be real, and that writing is hard work.

When Christians get mad

We're really good at this and sometimes rightly so but perhaps we should try to hone some other skills too. Russell Moore has something smart (and brief) to say about this, here's his conclusion:

Why are we so desperate to see “God” affirmed by the outside culture…? Could it be that the problem is we really want the reassurance that we're “normal”? We'd like a shout-out in our pop culture and our political speeches to signify that we're acceptable, that Christianity isn't really all that freakish. But, if that happens, apart from submission to the Cross, is it really Christianity anymore (James 4:4)?

What if, instead, we loved the world the way God does (John 3:16), and not the way the satanic powers ask us to? What if we loved the world through verbal proclamation and self-sacrificial giving, not by seeking product placement for the Trinity? Rather than expecting our politicians and musicians and actors to placate us with platitudes to some generic god, let's work with them where we can on “doing good to all people” (Galatians 6:10). Let's proclaim the God of a crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus...

That project is more difficult than signing Facebook petitions. But it's more Christian than pouting...

Brilliant free album

Regardless of cheese-slice takeovers, Cadbury plus Fairtrade is still an equation I’m very happy about. Add free music and I’m ecstatic. The Big Swap Songs promotion is part of Fairtrade Fortnight and in exchange for promising to use Fairtrade products you can download an eight-track album for free. If the cause wasn’t decent enough (whatever Cadbury’s motives), the music itself should persuade you: a collection of cover versions by The Big Ghana Band.

The stand-out is the transformation of Girls Aloud’s Sound of the underground, from pop standard to infectious international treasure but it’s followed by a dizzying calypso take on 80’s classic You spin me round and blow me if they haven’t done it again – is there nothing Ghanaian rhythms can’t turn to gold? Early-90’s indie (EMF’s Unbelievable*) gets the treatment too, and if Elbow’s One day like this lacks something of the original’s magnificence, slightly altered lines “It’s gonna be a beautiful day-o” and (seemingly) “Tro-tro those curtains wide” make up for this. These covers are book-ended with Paulo Nutini’s Pencil full of lead (I’m still not convinced) and Tinny’s swirling, dance hall-shuddering Zingolo. I’m not sure when an album last made me smile so much.

* Once used in an advert for Kraft Crumbles, conspiracy theorists.

A little bit of politics

This article by Anatole Kaletsky mentions the effect of rapid and accurate polling data on democratic governance: they leak/announce a potential policy, we say what we think about it in an opinion poll (or through lobby groups), they change the policy accordingly, etc. This situation seems to have been influenced also by commerce which tells us that we have the right not only to choose what we want but to demand it.

This is actually at odds with how we are governed, which is by representative democracy: we choose who will make the decisions for us. That shouldn’t be the end of our contact with government but ultimately we don’t make the decisions, they do. When you think about all the decisions that need to be made this is surely a good thing. But when unpopular wars are fought, banks keep paying bonuses, and MPs fiddle their expenses, the idea seems less sound. As Churchill said, “Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”

We complain about the lack of conviction politicians but the complaints are even louder if someone expresses an opinion that we disagree with. It feels as if both main party’s answer to the question, ‘What do you believe in?’ is, ‘What would you like me to believe?’ And though that may have been what we asked for, we don’t like it now we’ve got it.