Christianity Opens the Enlightened Mind
Compendium Quotes #1
When I finished up the “Finding Home” post I realized I had so much more material I wanted to share with you that didn’t make the final cut. So, I decided to put that material together for you in Thursday-posts. These three quotes compose the first post of this kind. Watch for key passages from books that have helped me move forward in my spiritual journey, book recommendations, and more intriguing quotes in future posts. I know you will find ideas that will help you MakeGoodHappen. Read them over and look for more details and links further below. Then, let me know which ones stand out to you in the comment section below. -Randy
Quotes:
1-"The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that." -Harper Lee. American, 1926-2016.
2-“In becoming a Christian…at the University of Bordeaux I discovered that I was becoming African again.” -Kwame Bediako, Ghanaian, 1945-2008.
3- “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” -C.S. Lewis , British, 1898-1963.
Which quote(s) stood out to you on first reading? What caught your attention? See below for more information about each of them.
Detail:
1-"The book to read is not the one which thinks for you, but the one which makes you think. No book in the world equals the Bible for that." -Harper Lee. American, 1926-2016.
Born in Monroeville, Alabama, Lee wrote the Pulitzer prize-winning book, To Kill A Mockingbird in 1960. While studying for a law degree she decided writing was her calling. From 1957-1959 she worked with editor Tay Hohoff to develop her manuscript. One winter night she threw it out of her window into the snow only retrieving it all after a tearful call to her editor/mentor. The published work received immediate acclaim and continues to be required reading in many schools.
Lee’s book brought out the struggle between faith and the conscience of the community. For example, when Atticus sees that an innocent black man is being accused of raping a poor white woman he says, “I couldn’t go to church and worship God,” he explains, “if I didn’t try to help that man.”
2-“In becoming a Christian…at the University of Bordeaux I discovered that I was becoming African again.” -Kwame Bediako, Ghanaian, 1945-2008.
Born in in Akropong, Ghana, Bediako did well in school and went on to study French anglophone Literature at the University of Bordeaux in France. While there he was a student activist influenced by French existentialists. As he later put it in an interview: “…my exposure to Europe made me an atheist.” But in the early 1970s, he had “…a sudden realization that constructing my life without any reference to the transcendent was a flawed outlook…it occurred to me I had come to a dead end.” He turned to God. “In becoming Christian in France…at the University of Bordeaux, I discovered I was becoming African again. I was recovering my sense of the spirituality of life…of the nearness of the living God…of the wholeness of life. I find in becoming Christian I was becoming more African than I think I was. I was being more who I am.” In 1995 he saw that Christianity’s center of gravity had shifted from the Northern continents to the Southern. Africa was playing a dominant role in the resurgence of faith. In his intriguingly titled book: “Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of a Non-Western Religion” Bediako explores this change from an African perspective and looks at the new role of African Christianity.
3-“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.” -C.S. Lewis , British, 1898-1963.
Lewis, an Atheist in his 20s, became a Christian in 1931. He was strongly influenced by both George MacDonald’s writings, beginning with “Phantastes” and his friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien, author of “Lord of the Rings.” Our quote is from a series of BBC radio discussions between 1941 and 1944 which were published together as “Mere Christianity” in 1957.
“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at heaven and you will get earth “thrown in”: aim at earth and you will get neither.” -C.S. Lewis, British, Mere Christianity, p. 134
In the comments below, share which quote you found the most intriguing. Also, tell us why it caught your attention. How does it connect with you?
Good morning Randy ~ it’s morning here in France and you have provided much food for thought with the three quotes you featured in your blog! They all have spiritual value and in many ways, I feel like I can connect with all of them. But the one that I would have to pick would be C.S. Lewis’s quote regarding our work for this world while we are here.
Years ago I attended Palm Sunday mass at Notre Dame in Paris. As I knelt there I heard a quiet voice in my heart tell me that my life was not my own. The simplicity and the truth of it startled me and I never forgot it, carrying the meaning that we are here to serve the Lord by serving others and bringing them into His kingdom. Ever since then I try to always remember that our life’s purpose is to use the time we have been given, be it long or short, to be an instrument of His love and grace to others.
Thank you for this, Randy, and God bless!