William Blake, \u201cJacob\u2019s Ladder\u201d (1804);\u00a0Wikimedia Commons public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is one of my all-time favorite quotations, and it just so happens that it\u2019s from one of my all-time favorite writers:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. \u00a0All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. \u00a0It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. \u00a0There are no ordinary people. \u00a0You have never talked to a mere mortal. \u00a0Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations \u2014 these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit \u2014 immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nC. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
And, while I\u2019m thinking of C. S. Lewis, here are a couple of other favorites:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, \u2018Thy will be done,\u2019 and those to whom God says, in the end, \u2018Thy will be done.\u2019 \u00a0All that are in Hell, choose it. \u00a0Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. \u00a0No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. \u00a0Those who seek find. \u00a0To those who knock it is opened.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nC. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what he is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. \u00a0But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. \u00a0What on earth is he up to? \u00a0The explanation is that he is building quite a different house from the one you thought of \u2014 throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but he is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it himself.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nC. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no question. \u00a0Lewis is, quite simply, awesomely good and almost endlessly quotable.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
A part of the legacy that our friend John Tvedtnes leaves behind is a website titled Book of Mormon Research<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0I hope that some of you will take the time to sample what it has to offer:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Richmond, Virginia<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 This is one of my all-time favorite quotations, and it just so happens that it\u2019s from one of my all-time favorite writers: \u00a0 \u201cIt is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Blake](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2015\/12\/800px-Blake_jacobsladder.jpg\")
<\/a>