The fault of the social gospel of modernism is not that it would remedy social ills, but that it would accomplish this in a way which stands diametrically opposed to Christianity. Brushing aside the obvious truth that society can never be better than are the individuals which constitutes it, it would improve the individual by improving society. It would rescue men from sin's consequences such as... poverty and disease, rather than have them redeemed from sin itself by the blood of Christ. It would save the individual by what is termed the regeneration of society, not by the new birth supernaturally wrought by the Holy Spirit. It would by human effort get men out of the slums instead of getting the slums out of men by the grace of God. It neglects the profound truth so well expressed by that great evangelistic preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 'Take a thief to heaven, and the first thing he will do is pick the pockets of the angels.'- R. B. Kuiper

Mountaintops inspire leaders but valleys mature them. ~ Winston Churchill

He who breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.-.- J. R. R. Tolkien, 1892 - 1973

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world..- J. R. R. Tolkien, 1892 - 1973

Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?.- J. R. R. Tolkien, 1892 - 1973

The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.- J. R. R. Tolkien, 1892 - 1973

There are few things better than a good Havana.
When I was young and very poor and smoked a cigar
only when somebody gave me one, I determined that
if ever I had money I would smoke a cigar every
day after luncheon and after dinner. This is the only resolution of my youth that I have
kept. It is the only ambition I have achieved
that has never been embittered by disillusion. W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) _Six Stories Written In The First Person Singular_ [1931], "Virtue"