Ahh the Profound Minds

I've been reading Philip Yancey's "Reaching for the Invisible God" and I came across some noteworthy quotes:

C.S. Lewis setting out the clear way to promote God's absence- "Avoid silence, avoid solitude, avoid any train of thought that leads off the beaten track. Concentrate on money, sex, status, health and (above all) on your own grievances. Keep the radio on. Live in a crowd. Use plenty of sedation. If you must read books, select them very carefully. But you'd be safer to stick to the papers. You'll find the advertisements helpful; especially those with a sexy or a snobbish appeal."

Augustine expressing the paradox of the omnipotent God and Jesus – "Man's maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother's breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life may die."

Yancey recalls how his Japanese Christian friends negate the American Missionaries familiar approach to God- “We know how to come to God as humble servants with boldness. You don’t have to tell Japanese people about hierarchy. When they learn that God is the Lord they immediately know all the implications of that. They know who’s boss and that is never questioned. When they pray they use language that combines the highest forms of speech and the most intimate phrases of love and devotion. When they ask for something they ask with true humility, knowing they have no right to what they’re asking except that God gives them the very right to ask and promises to answer.”

Yancey – “I cannot learn from Jesus why bad things occur – why an avalanche or flood decimates one town and not its neighbor, why leukemia strikes one child and not another – but I can surely learn how God feels about such tragedies. I simply look at how Jesus responds to the sisters of his good friend Lazarus, to a widow who has just lost her son, or a leprosy victim banned outside the town gates. Jesus gives God a face, and that face is streaked with tears… if we doubt God, or find him incomprehensible, unknowable, the very best cure is to gaze steadily at Jesus, the Rosetta stone of faith.”

Actually the whole book is noteworthy (so far). I'll let you know if that changes...