Wit and Wisdom from John Hannah (2)

I don’t know how long I’ll do this, but here are some more loose quotes from my Winterim class on Jonathan Edwards taught by John Hannah (context is in bold).  Part 1 is here (Monday’s quotes).  The following quotes are from Tuesday.  Each is worth repeating for different reasons.

Reading the Bible:  The first book you need is a Bible.  I recommend reading it.  Many don’t.  They study it.  I’ve been at seminary for 38 years, and the guys who read their Bibles are the guys who are going somewhere.  They’re the ones I want to hire and the ones I want to place in churches.  I didn’t read my Bible when I was in seminary because I was too busy exegeting it.

Memorization:  If you only do what you’re good at, you won’t do much in life.

Human depravity:  I get a lesson on my depravity every time I go to the bathroom.  Things go in smelling good but they never leave that way.  Why?  What is God trying to tell me?

Mark of a saint:  The mark of the saint is not how well we’re doing but what we do when we’re not doing well.

True virtue:  True virtue is a love for God not for what He provides but for who He is.  Anyone loves someone who meets his needs.  That’s not biblical love.  Love for God is not love for a cosmic Santa Claus.  It is a love for Him.

Loving God:  Most people love Him because He’s a giver, and that’s selfish.

Going beyond the Bible:  I like Calvin because he says what Calvinists never say: “I don’t know.”  When the Bible stops speaking, you stop.  But I find preachers who keep on talking.  Get your education for one simple reason: to know when God has stopped speaking.

Education:  If you don’t develop character and tenacity, you’re done for.  The real you is what you do when no one’s looking.

Falling away from God:  What happened to these people?  Nothing.  Just a slow leak over time.

Puritan prayer:  “Lord, lead me not into error because You know how hard it is to change my mind.”

Revival:  Enthusiasm and excitement are not interpretive; only time.

Anticipation and disappointment:  Anticipation and reality are two different things.  Anticipation has no objective basis, and reality does.  This is why the discontinuity exists.

Being biblical:  Being biblical is not about having verses.  Heretics have verses.  Being biblical is taking what often seems to be a cacophony of revelation and harmonizing it without distorting any of it.

Charles Finney’s destructive theology:  I believe that he loved the Lord deeply and destroyed the faith through distortions.  And I think that when he got to heaven, God took him behind the woodshed and he got a big whoopin’.  And then God said to him, “Enter into the joy of your Master, you idiot.”  Don’t get me wrong — we’re all going to get a whoopin’ when we get there.  But I hope not that bad.

Persecuted church:  Those who have been persecuted for their faith might know more about your subject than you do, and without your technology.