C.S. Lewis | Craig T. Owens

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Links & Quotes

January 30, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

John Stonestreet shares some scientific evidence for the value of traditional families.

“This very obvious fact—that each generation is taught by an earlier generation—must be kept very firmly in mind…. None can give to another what he does not possess himself. No generation can bequeath to its successor what it has not got. You may frame the syllabus as you please. But when you have planned and reported ad nauseam, if we are skeptical we shall teach only skepticism to our pupils, if fools only folly, if vulgar only vulgarity, if saints sanctity, if heroes heroism. Education is only the most fully conscious of the channels whereby each generation influences the next. It is not a closed system. Nothing which was not in the teachers can flow from them into the pupils. We shall all admit that a man who knows no Greek himself cannot teach Greek to his form; but it is equally certain that a man whose mind was formed in a period of cynicism and disillusion, cannot teach hope or fortitude. A society which is predominantly Christian will propagate Christianity through its schools: one which is not, will not. All the ministries of education in the world cannot alter this law. … [E]ven if we were permitted to force a Christian curriculum on the existing schools with the existing teachers we should only be making masters hypocrites and hardening thereby the pupil’s hearts.” ―C.S. Lewis

Did you know that only three nations in the world allow the atrocity of late-term abortions―the dismembering of innocent children? China, North Korea, and … the United States of America! Read more from the ACLJ and sign their petition to Congress to outlaw this brutal practice.

“This world is not so lovely as to tempt us away from Heaven. Here we are strangers and foreigners; here we have no abiding city; but we seek one to come. There is one wilderness, but we bless God there are not two. There is one Jordan to be crossed, but there is not another. There is one season when we must walk by faith and not by sight, and be fed with manna from Heaven; but blessed be God there is not another, for after that comes the Canaan—the rest which remaineth for the people of God.” —Charles Spurgeon

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: abortion, ACLJ, C.S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, education, family, Heaven, John Stonestreet, murder, pro-family, pro-life, quotes, teacher, teaching. Leave a Comment »

The Problem With Pride

January 19, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

As I was reading this weekend, several passages on pride came up in my reading time. Pride really is destructive!

“A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.” —C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. ―Psalm 10:4

“Ultimately, the proud must persuade themselves that there is no God. One reason for this is that God’s reality is overwhelmingly intrusive in all the details of life. Pride cannot tolerate the intimate involvement of God in running even the ordinary affairs of life.” —John Piper

God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. ―James 4:6

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, C.S. Lewis, humility, John Piper, pride. 1 Comment »

Links & Quotes

January 18, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

“You may claim to love Jesus but your life proves you are still walking in darkness—confused, befuddled and foggy! When you are truly in love with Jesus, conversing with Him, He turns up the light. There is no darkness at all in His presence. The worst possible darkness to mankind is not in the hearts of God-hating Communist leaders or Christ-hating atheists. It is, rather, the horrible darkness that blinds so-called Christians who refuse to walk in the light.” —David Wilkerson

“It is not your business to succeed (no one can be sure of that) but to do right: when you have done so, the rest lies with God.” ―C.S. Lewis

“O how quickly we are given to defending God, or sometimes the truth, from words that are only for the wind. If we had discernment, we could tell the difference between the words with roots and the words blowing in the wind. There are words with roots in deep error and deep evil. But not all grey words get their color from a black heart. Some are colored mainly by the pain, the despair. What you hear is not the deepest thing within. There is something real within where they come from. But it is temporary—like a passing infection—real, painful, but not the true person. Let us learn to discern whether the words spoken against us or against God or against the truth are merely for the wind—spoken not from the soul, but from the sore. If they are for the wind, let us wait in silence and not reprove. Restoring the soul, not reproving the sore, is the aim of our love.” —John Piper

“What must you do so that you may know that your sins are taken away by the blood of Christ, and that, when He comes, He will shield you from the wrath of God and bring me into eternal life? The answer is this: trust Christ in a way that makes you eager for Him to come.” —John Piper

John Stonestreet has a great take on worldviews in Radical Islam, Secularism & Christianity.

“O beloved, what a defense is God to His church! Ah, the devil cannot cross this broad river of God. Between me and you, O fiend of hell, is my God. Do remember this, Christian; between you and your arch-enemy is your God; satan has to stand on the other side, and how he wishes he could dry up that stream, but God is omnipotent.” —Charles Spurgeon

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: C.S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, Christian, Christianity, church, David Wilkerson, discernment, evil, God's protection, Heaven, humanism, integrity, Islam, Jesus Christ, John Piper, quotes, salvation, satan, Second Advent, Second Coming, secularism, truth, words. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

January 13, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

“We all have the sneaking idea that we are the favorites of God—‘It’s alright for me to do this, God will understand.’ If I as a child of God commit sin, I will be as sternly dealt with as if I were not His child.” ―Oswald Chambers

“I did not think that I had done anything when I hear them [his congregation] applauding, but when I saw them weeping.” —Augustine

“God uses our struggles for His glory!” Read more from Max Lucado in his post A Season Of Suffering.

“Pain is terrible, but surely you need not have fear as well? Can you not see death as the friend and deliverer? It means stripping off that body which is tormenting you: like taking off a hair-shirt or getting out of a dungeon. What is there to be afraid of?” ―C.S. Lewis

“You can blame your unhappiness on poor health, being misunderstood, or having an uncaring mate, boss or friend. In fact, you can blame it on anything you choose. But the truth is that there is no excuse for a Christian to live as a slave to the devil.” Read more from David Wilkerson in his post The Lack Of Victory.

Pastor Dave Barringer shares 7 prayers you may be the answer for.

Great question, great post: What Keeps Us From Having Deeper Friendships?

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Augustine, C.S. Lewis, cartoon, Christian, Dave Barringer, David Wilkerson, death, devil, friendship, God's glory, Max Lucado, Oswald Chambers, pain, pastoring, prayer, quotes, relationships, sermon, sin, social media, suffering, victory. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

January 10, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

“Another point is that on that view you would have to regard the accounts of the Man as being legends. Now, as a literary historian, I am perfectly convinced that whatever else the Gospels are they are not legends. I have read a great deal of legend and I am quite clear that they are not the same sort of thing. They are not artistic enough to be legends. From an imaginative point of view they are clumsy, they don’t work up to things properly. Most of the life of Jesus is totally unknown to us, as is the life of anyone else who lived at that time, and no people building up a legend would allow that to be so. Apart from bits of the Platonic dialogues, there are no conversations that I know of in ancient literature like the Fourth Gospel. There is nothing, even in modern literature, until about a hundred years ago when the realistic novel came into existence. In the story of the woman taken in adultery we are told Christ bent down and scribbled in the dust with His finger. Nothing comes of this. No one has ever based any doctrine on it. And the art of inventing little irrelevant details to make an imaginary scene more convincing is a purely modern art. Surely the only explanation of this passage is that the thing really happened? The author put it in simply because he had seen it.” ―C.S. Lewis

“It takes more than academic rigor to win the world for Christ. Correct doctrine alone isn’t enough. Proclamation and teaching aren’t enough. God must be invited to ‘confirm the Word with signs following’ (see Hebrews 2:4). In other words, the gospel must be preached with the involvement of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven.” Read more from Jim Cymbala in his post With Signs Following.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: apologetic, Bible, C.S. Lewis, Gospels, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Jim Cymbala, legend, literature, miracles, preaching, quotes. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

January 9, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

I get really tired of the arguments from people questioning the validity of the Bible. Most of the arguments have been debunked a long time ago, and are simply repeated ad nauseum. Here is a great post from a New Testament scholar taking apart these arguments.

Almost as bad as the arguments against the validity of Scripture are the arguments for socialized medicine. Here are 5 reasons why Obamacare should be completely repealed.

Parents, you should be aware of some security issues for your kids on Instagram.

“You will do more in one year if you are really filled with the Holy Ghost than you could do in 50 years apart from Him.” ―Smith Wigglesworth

“Do not even such things as are most bitter to the flesh, tend to awaken Christians to faith and prayer, to a sight of the emptiness of this world, and the fadingness of the best it yield? … How then can we be offended at things by which we reap so much good?” ―John Bunyan

“Pride, on the other hand, is the mother of all sins, and the original sin of lucifer … an instrument strung but preferring to play itself because it thinks it knows the tune better than the Musician.” ―C.S. Lewis

“The assurance that prayer is heard is the earnest that prayer will be answered. The petition is accepted, though no answer has yet been received. Well, we can leave it there. … God never is before His time; nor is He ever too late; He comes just when He is needed.” —Charles Spurgeon

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: apologetic, argument, assurance, Bible, C.S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, Chilly Chilton, Christian, faith, God's timing, Holy Spirit, Instagram, John Bunyan, lucifer, New Testament, Obamacare, parenting, prayer, pride, satan, Scripture, Smith Wigglesworth, social media, socialism, stewardship. 1 Comment »

C.S. Lewis On Prayer

January 8, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

Some great quotes from C.S. Lewis on prayer…

“We must lay before God what is in us, not what we want to be in us.” —C.S. Lewis

“It is quite useless knocking at the door of Heaven for earthly comfort. It’s not the sort of comfort they supply there.” —C.S. Lewis

“Of course you will all remain in my prayers. I think it very wrong to pray for people while they are in distress and then not to continue praying, now with thanksgiving, when they are relieved. Many people think their prayers are never answered because it is the answered ones that they forget.” —C.S. Lewis

“Well, let’s now at any rate come clean. Prayer is irksome. An excuse to omit it is never unwelcome. When it is over, this casts a feeling of relief and holiday over the rest of the day. We are reluctant to begin. We are delighted to finish. While we are at prayer, but not while we are reading a novel or solving a crossword puzzle, any trifle is enough to distract us…. Now the disquieting thing is not simply that we skimp and begrudge the duty of prayer. The really disquieting thing is it should be numbered among duties at all. For we believe that we were created ‘to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ And if the few, the very few, minutes we now spend on intercourse with God are a burden to us rather than a delight, what then?… The painful effort which prayer involves is not proof that we are doing something we were not created to do. If we were perfected, prayer would not be a duty, it would be a delight. Someday, please God, it will be.” —C.S. Lewis

“I think it wise, if possible, to move one’s main prayers from the last-thing-at-night position to some earlier time: give them a better chance to infiltrate one’s other thoughts.” —C.S. Lewis

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: C.S. Lewis, Heaven, prayer, thanksgiving, thought life, trouble. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

January 7, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

“God has done astonishing and costly things to draw us near. He has sent His Son to suffer and to die so that through Him we might draw near. It’s all so that we might draw near. And all of this is for our joy and for His glory.” —John Piper

“The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.” —C.S. Lewis

Detroit Tiger fans know that Alan Trammell should be in the MLB Hall of Fame.

Chilly Chilton has a deathwish, and you should read about it.

“Your business is to go and ‘tell to sinners round what a dear Savior you have found’, for that is God’s way of using you to complete the unity of His Church.” —Charles Spurgeon

“The most important thing a church can have going for it is strong, biblical preaching. It can do with or without an app, a Facebook page, a glitzy web site, streaming sermons, online giving, a fancy building, free wi-fi, or a clearly defined brand. But it cannot fulfill God’s purpose without power in the pulpit.” —Mark Atteberry

“Nothing fosters courage like a clear grasp of grace. And nothing fosters fear like an ignorance of mercy.” —Max Lucado

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Alan Trammell, baseball, Bible, C.S. Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, Chilly Chilton, church, courage, Detroit Tigers, discipleship, Facebook, fear, forgiveness, God's glory, grace, ignorance, Jesus Christ, John Piper, joy, Mark Atteberry, Max Lucado, mercy, pastoring, preaching, quotes, sermon, testimony, unity, witnessing. Leave a Comment »

Links & Quotes

January 1, 2015 — Craig T. Owens

I love studying my Bible, and I have loved discovering the great work at The Overview Bible Project! They have a new free email course that will send you a weekly email with a summary of every book of the Bible. Please sign up for this course by clicking here.

“If all experienced God in the same way and returned Him an identical worship, the song of the Church triumphant would have no symphony, it would be like an orchestra in which all the instruments played the same note.” —C.S. Lewis

“God’s grace was God’s acting in Paul to make Paul work hard. So when Paul says, ‘Work out your salvation,’ he adds, ‘it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure’ (Philippines 2:13). Grace is power from God to do good things in us and for us.” —John Piper

“Society will be better off if the facts about pornography use and its consequences are widely and effectively circulated so that people from all walks of life can take account of them.” Read more in this post: Is Porn To Blame For The Declining Marriage Rate?

“‘Used to be,’ is not necessarily a mark of failure or even obsolescence. It’s more often a sign of bravery and progress. If you were brave enough to leap, who would you choose to ‘used to be’?” —Seth Godin