“To church in the morning, and there saw a wedding in the church, which I have not seen many a day; and the young people so merry one with another, and strange to see what delight we married people have to see these poor fools decoyed into our condition, every man and woman gazing and smiling at them.” PeopleMenYoungChurchPoorMorningSawsConditionsStrangeFoolMarriedMen And WomenDelightEvery ManMerryGazing Author:Samuel Pepys
“It took time for the church to come to terms with the ignominy of the cross. Church fathers forbade its depiction in art until the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine.... Now, though, the symbol is everywhere: artists beat gold into the shape of the Roman execution device, baseball players cross themselves before batting, and cancy confectioners even make chocolate crosses for the faithful to eat during Holy Week. Strange as it may seem, Christianity has become a religion of the cross--the gallows, the electric chair, the gas chamber, in modern terms.” MayArtSeemsArtistFatherTermChurchChristianityPlayerWeekModernStrangeHolyShapesBeatsCrossesGoldBaseballSymbolsFaithfulGasChairsDevicesChocolateExecutionElectricReignChamberEmperorBaseball PlayerBattingDepictionGallowsConstantineGas ChambersElectric ChairChurch FathersIgnominyRoman EmperorHoly WeekEmperor Constantine Author:Philip Yancey
“Avan was as religious as the next young dragon with his way to make in the world-which is to say that he held many traditional beliefs which he had never paused to examine, attended church because it would have seemed strange not to, rarely paid much attention when he was there, and found piety out of the pulpit thoroughly misplaced.” WorldWayYoungNextFoundBeliefChurchReligiousAttentionStrangePaidTraditionalDragonsPietyPulpitMisplaced Book:Tooth and Claw Source: Tooth and Claw
“These self-appointed deacons in the Church of Latter-Day American Literature seem to regard generosity (of words) with suspicion, texture with dislike, and any broad literary stroke with outright hate. The result is a strange and arid literary climate where a meaningless little fingernail paring like Nicholson Baker's Vox becomes an object of fascinated debate and dissection, and a truly ambitious American novel like Matthew's Heart of the Country is all but ignored.” HeartLittlesSelfCountrySeemsHateLiteratureChurchResultsNovelObjectsStrangeRegardClimateDebateGenerosityLatterBroadsMeaninglessDislikeFascinatedAmbitiousSuspicionIgnoredStrokesTextureMatthewBakersAmerican LiteratureLatter DaysFingernailsNicholsonDissectionDeacons Author:Stephen King
“What if I say that it is not unjust but according to law that when a woman gets into debt her husband should bear it? And with the church of God sinning, it was but right that her Husband, who had espoused her unto Himself, should become the debtor on her behalf. The Lord Jesus stood in the relationship of a married Husband unto His church, and it was not, therefore, a strange thing that He should bear her burdens.” IfsShouldLawJesusChurchLordStrangeBearsHusbandMarriedBurdenDebtWhat IfUnjustBehalfStrange ThingsSinningDebtors Book:The Doctrines of Grace Source: The Doctrines of Grace
“I could scarcely reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields, of which Whitfield set me an example on Sunday; having been all my life (till very lately) so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order, that I should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin, if it had not been done in a church.” IfsWayLifeShouldFirstsSoulDoneOrderChurchSinExampleFieldsStrangeShould HaveSavingSundayPreachingDecencyReconcileTenacious Author:John Wesley