MacDonald: in praise of doubt

Wednesday, September 18, 2024
    Commemoration of George MacDonald, Spiritual Writer, 1905
Meditation:
    [Jesus] said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
    —Luke 24:38-39 (NIV)
Quotation:
    I cannot say I never doubt, nor until I hold the very heart of good as my very own in Him, can I wish not to doubt. For doubt is the hammer that breaks the windows clouded with human fancies, and lets in the pure light. But I do say that all my hope, all my joy, all my strength are in the Lord Christ and his Father; that all my theories of life and growth are rooted in him.
    ... George MacDonald (1824-1905), in George MacDonald and His Wife, Greville MacDonald, G. Allen & Unwin, 1924, p. 374 (see the book)
    See also Luke 24:38-39; Ps. 42:5-6; 73:13-17; Matt. 4:16; 8:26; 14:31; 17:17; Mark 4:40; 9:19; Luke 8:25
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, may all my doubts lead me back to You. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Lewis: the 'historical Jesus'

Tuesday, September 17, 2024
    Feast of St. Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen, Visionary, 1179
Meditation:
    The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
    —2 Thessalonians 2:9-10 (NIV)
Quotation:
    In the first place, [fashionable theories about the ‘historical Jesus’] all tend to direct men’s devotion to something which does not exist, for each ‘historical Jesus’ is unhistorical. The documents say what they say and cannot be added to; each new ‘historical Jesus’ therefore has to be got out of them by suppression at one point and exaggeration at another, and by that sort of guessing (brilliant is the adjective we ... apply to it) on which no one would risk ten shillings in ordinary life.
    ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Screwtape Letters, Macmillan, 1944, p. 138 (see the book)
    See also 2 Thess. 2:9-10; 1 Cor. 1:22-24; 2 Cor. 2:17; 4:2; Eph. 4:14; 1 Tim. 1:3-7; 4:7; Tit. 1:13-14; 2 Pet. 1:16
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, Your sheep know Your voice. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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Cyprian: tares

Monday, September 16, 2024
    Feast of Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Martyr, 258
    Commemoration of Ninian, Bishop of Galloway, Apostle to the Picts, c. 430
    Commemoration of Edward Bouverie Pusey, Priest, tractarian, 1882
Meditation:
    Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
    “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
    “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
    “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
    “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
    —Matthew 13:24-30 (KJV)
Quotation:
    Although tares, or impure vessels, are found in the Church, yet this is not a reason why we should withdraw from it. It only behoves us to labour that we may be ... vessels of gold or of silver. But to break in pieces the vessels of earth belongs to the Lord alone, to whom a rod of iron is also given. Nor let any one arrogate to himself what is exclusively the province of the Son of God, by pretending to fan the floor, clear away the chaff, and separate all the tares by the judgment of man. This is proud obstinacy and sacrilegious presumption, originating in a corrupt frenzy.
    ... St. Cyprian (Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus) (?-258), Lib. 3, Ep. 5, to Maximus, quoted in The Institutes of the Christian Religion, v. II, John Calvin & tr. John Allen, Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work, 1921, IV.i.19, p. 240 (see the book)
    See also Matt. 13:24-30; Ps. 2:9; Rom. 9:22-25; 2 Cor. 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:20-21; 1 Pet. 1:7; Rev. 2:27; 3:18
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, You alone save all those You call. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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