CHRISTIANITY

1. During the French Revolution, somebody said to Talleyrand, bishop of Autun: "The Christian religion--what is it? It would be easy to start a religion like that."
"Oh, yes," Talleyrand replied. "One would only have to get crucified and rise again the third day."

2. Dying men have said, "I am sorry I have been an atheist, infidel, agnostic, skeptic, or sinner," but no man ever said on his deathbed, "I am sorry I have lived a Christian life."

3. Communism is the devil's imitation of Christianity.

4. If your Christianity won't work where you are, it won't work anywhere.

5. A Christian is not a person who has made a new start in life, but a person who has received a new life to start with.

6. The Christian is called upon to live a supernatural life, & he has been given the power to live that life.

7. Some people treat Christian truth like chewing gum. They will chew it over in discussion for hours, but never swallow it.

8. The believer may be known by his inward warfare as well as by his inward peace.

9. If you are a Christian, you are not a citizen of this world trying to get to Heaven; you are a citizen of Heaven making your way through this world.

10. As you look into other faiths you will find an enormous amount that is true & worthy, that is moral & good, as well as much that is not. But you will not find anything that is good & true which cannot be found in Christ.

11. We must never talk about the failure of Christianity. It is impossible for Christianity to fail. What fails is the shabby counterfeit of the real thing that we are willing to put up with.

12. True religion can be both steering wheel & brakes; it can guide you along the right road & stop you at the wrong one.

13. Christ plus Christians equals Christianity.

14. The distinction between Christianity & all other systems of religion consists largely in this, that while these other men are found seeking after God, Christianity is God seeking after men.

15. Two marks of a Christian: giving & forgiving.

16. There ought to be enough electricity in every meeting to give everybody in the congregation either a charge or a shock!

17. Your theology is what you are when the talking stops & the action starts.

18. The church's one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation
By water & the Word;
From Heaven He came & sought her
To be His Holy Bride;
With His Own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.
--Samuel J. Stone

19. Is my religion a steering wheel, or only a spare wheel?

20. Jesus has always had more fans than followers.

21. A true Christian is both a beggar & an heir.

22. Faith makes a Christian. Life proves a Christian. Trial confirms a Christian. Death crowns a Christian.

23. We believers ... are the library of Christ's doings. ... At present we are a poor edition, but the great Bookbinder has promised to bring out a new edition on indestructible paper & clear type with no errors, imprints of the Son of God, bound in His likeness for ever.

24. Believers are not hired servants, supporting themselves by their own work, but children maintained at their Father's expense.

25. The saints are God's jewels highly esteemed by & dear to Him; they are a royal diadem in His hand.

26. A Christian's life is full of mysteries: Poor, & yet rich; base, & yet exalted; shut out of the World, & yet admitted into the company of saints & angels; slighted, yet dear to God; the World's dirt, & God's jewels.

27. A Christian is the World's Bible--& some of them need revising.

28. The true Christian is in all countries a pilgrim & a stranger.--George Santayana

29. The meaning of the word "Christian" has been reduced to practically nothing. Surely, there is no word that has been so devalued unless it is the word "God" itself.

30. Christianity is not about how to escape from the difficulties of life, but about how to face them.

31. Christianity is summed up in the two facts: Christ for us & Christ in us.

32. Religion is man's search for God. Christianity is God's search for man.

33. Christianity is the land of beginning again.

34. Christianity is a rescue religion.

35. Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed, you might say landed in disguise, & is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.--C.S. Lewis

36. Christian doctrine is grace, & Christian conduct is gratitude.

37. I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun--not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

38. Christianity without Christ is a chest without a treasure, a frame without a portrait, a corpse without breath.

39. Christianity can be condensed into four words: Admit, submit, commit, transmit.

40. There are some Christians who can't be called "pilgrims" because they never make any progress.

41. An idle Christian is the raw material of which backsliders are made.

42. The Christian should learn two things about his tongue--how to hold it & how to use it.

43. It's a little difficult to reconcile the creed of some Christians with their greed.

44. It's good to be a Christian & know it, but it's better to be a Christian & show it.

45. No Christian is strong enough to carry a cross & a prejudice at the same time.

46. Beware of a Christian with an open mouth & a closed pocketbook.

47. Every Christian should have two planks in his platform: one for what he will stand for; the other for what he will not stand for.

48. No one is a Christian just because he goes to church, any more than one is a calf because he drinks milk.

49. A Christian should live so that instead of being a part of the World's problems he will be a part of the answer.

50. A Christian is not necessarily a man who is better than someone else, but one who is better than he would be if he were not a Christian.

51. Some Christians wish to be counted in, but not to be counted on.

52. God is not only a present help in time of trouble, but also a great help in keeping us out of trouble.

53. Some people seem willing to do anything to become a Christian except to give up their sins.

54. A Christian has not lost the power to sin, but the desire to sin.

55. Satan is never too busy to rock the cradle of a sleeping Christian.

56. A real Christian is as horrified by his own sins as he is by his neighbour's.

57. Definition of a Christian:
He loves the truth & stands by it;
He knows the game & he plays it;
He hears a lie & he slays it;
He loves God's Word & he reads it;
He seeks God's will & he heeds it.

58. A Christian is one who believes what Christ believes; who hates what Christ hates; & who loves what Christ loves.

59. It does not take much of a man to be a Christian, but it takes all there is.

60. A genuine Christian is the best evidence of the genuineness of Christianity.

61. If you want to defend Christianity, practice it.

62. Christianity is not a life insurance policy from which one benefits only by dying.

63. Christianity requires the participants to come down out of the grandstand & onto the playing field.

64. Christianity has been studied & practiced for ages, but it has been studied far more than it has been practiced.

65. The spirit of Christianity is not to impose some kind of a creed, but to share a Life.

66. Christianity, like a watch, needs to be wound regularly if it is to be kept running.

67. Satan is perfectly willing to have a person confess Christianity as long as he does not practice it.

68. Some people can talk Christianity by the yard, but they can't, or won't, walk it by the inch.

69. When tempers grow hot, Christianity grows cold.

70. Many Christians expect the World to respect a book they neglect.

71. The Christian who is pulling the oars doesn't have time to rock the boat.

72. A Christian shows what he is by what he does with what he has.

73. The true Christian is a person who is right-side-up in a World that is upside-down.

74. There are a lot of Christians who haven't stored up enough treasures to make a down-payment on a harp.

75. A Christian is one who makes it easier for other people to believe in God.

76. What most Christians need is fewer platitudes & better attitudes.

77. A lukewarm Christian makes a good bench-warmer but a poor heart-warmer.