photo by GAC "From our earliest days as a country, we adopted the practice of slavery and demonized the slave as inferior, subhuman, and deserving of exploitation. For this wicked system of slavery to survive, there had to be distinctions made between normal folks and this new breed of people that would be treated like … Continue reading Quote of Note #143: The Nature of “Race”
Quote of Note #142: The Poison of Hate
Photo by GAC "Hate is just as injurious to the person who hates. Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the … Continue reading Quote of Note #142: The Poison of Hate
Quote of Note #141: The Power of Love
Western Pennsylvania Woodland Scene; photo by GAC "[L]ove is the only force that can transform an enemy into a friend. We never get rid of an enemy by meeting hate with hate; we get rid of an enemy by getting rid of enmity. By its very nature, hate destroys and tears down; by its very … Continue reading Quote of Note #141: The Power of Love
Quote of Note #140: My Resurrection
Lilac buds; photo by GAC "Thou wilt come to raise my body from the dust, and re-unite it to my soul, by a wonderful work of infinite power and love, greater than that which bounds the ocean's waters, ebbs and flows the tides, keeps the stars in their courses, and gives life to all creatures." … Continue reading Quote of Note #140: My Resurrection
Quote of Note #139: Christ’s Last Words for Us
Photo by GAC "Alas! it was also for me that Thou didst pray, 'Forgive them!' Forgive my soul whatever it has done against Thee! For me Thou didst cry: 'My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?' in order that I might never be forsaken, not in the hour of death, not in my … Continue reading Quote of Note #139: Christ’s Last Words for Us
Quote of Note #138: Hope and Help in Christ
photo by GAC "In [Christ] the enslaved find redemption, the guilty pardon, the unholy renovation; in him are everlasting strength for the weak, unsearchable riches for the needy, treasures of wisdom and knowledge for the ignorant, fullness for the empty." Arthur Bennett, The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. Carlisle, PA: … Continue reading Quote of Note #138: Hope and Help in Christ
Quote of Note #137: Bearing the Cross
photo by GAC "Honesty impels me to admit that transformed nonconformity, which is always costly and never altogether comfortable, may mean walking through the valley of the shadow of suffering, losing a job, or having a six-year-old daughter ask, 'Daddy, why do you have to go to jail so much?' But we are gravely mistaken … Continue reading Quote of Note #137: Bearing the Cross
Bible Note #52: James 2:5-7 & the Problem of Wealth
Photo by GAC I think I can safely say that James has a very low opinion of money and the accumulation of wealth. Along with Paul, James gets his ideas about money and wealth from Jesus. Jesus and all the New Testament writers are concerned about money and the accumulation of wealth because they believed … Continue reading Bible Note #52: James 2:5-7 & the Problem of Wealth
Quote of Note #136: The Real Nature of True Freedom
photo by GAC "However, I think it is important to note that another trajectory in the Christian tradition argues that we should not understand freedom in libertarian terms. Augustine, for instance, emphasized a 'positive' understanding of freedom as empowerment: I am free insofar as I am able to achieve the good. On this score, freedom … Continue reading Quote of Note #136: The Real Nature of True Freedom
Quote of Note #135: The Redemptive Impulse of Jesus
Teasel against a Gray Sky; photo by GAC "And if the actions of Jesus are reflective of who he most deeply is, we cannot avoid the conclusion that it is the very fallenness which he came to undo that is most irresistibly attractive to him. "This is deeper than saying Jesus is loving or merciful … Continue reading Quote of Note #135: The Redemptive Impulse of Jesus
Gary Chorpenning's Notebooks 