"Why do people choose the substitute over God himself? Probably the most important reason is that it obviates accountability to God. We can meet idols on our own terms because they are our own creations. They are safe, predictable, and controllable; they are, in Jeremiah's colorful language, the 'scarecrows in a cornfield' (10:5). They are portable and completely under the user's control. They offer nothing like the threat of a God who thunders from Sinai and whose providence in this world so often appears to us to be incomprehensible and dangerous . . . [People] need face only themselves. That is the appeal of idolatry."
- David F. Wells
Monday, January 3, 2011
[Bill lifts a frosty glass of diet coke]
The Professor!
[Swigs]
Happy Birthday, Professor Tolkien. Thanks for the tales.
[Inspired by the Tolkien Society, H/T Phil]
Trackbacks:
Trackback URL: http://thinklings.org/bloo.trackback.php/6323.
Comments on "The Professor":
2. Karl
- 01/04/2011 3:05 pm CST
Here, here. Some quotes about Lord of the Rings:
“I think it was during one of several readings to our children that I came to the conclusion that J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings was, in many particulars, the most impressive book I'd ever read.”
- Mark Noll.
"If someone dislikes it, I shall never trust their literary judgment about anything again."
-W.H. Auden
"A wise, moving, and thrilling story of the hidden workings of Providence, and therefore the necessity of acting honorably, courageously, and charitably, even when these seem impractical or even suicidal. It should be read to every Christian child annually from the age of seven or eight, and by every Christian adult at least every three years."
-David Mills, Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry and Touchstone Magazine
"Here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron; here is a book that will break your heart."
-C.S. Lewis
3. Bill
- 01/04/2011 5:04 pm CST
I love that Auden quote!
And, of course, the Lewis quote has been a favorite for quite some time. When I first read LOTR, as a kid of 10 or 11, that quote was in the blurbs on the back cover of my edition. I didn't even know who Lewis was at the time, but I always loved that quote.
Leave a Comment:
i would raise my pipe if i had one...
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him."