But I doubt that we spend nearly the same amount of time confronting our students who are not concerned about the poor, who do not weep over the evening news. Cutting edge running shoes now resemble socks or sheaths that fit over the foot, eliminating all trace of their functionality. Cars are built not for speed but for lovability. . . . Smoothness signals comfort, ease, respite from the hard or the challenging. . . . Harper s Magazine, July 2000.
Sin is the best news there is. . . .
Because with sin there s a way out. . . . But you can repent of sin. Sin and repentance are the only grounds for hope and joy, the grounds for reconciled, joyful relationships. John Alexander in The Other Side, quoted in Context , March 1, 2000. It does no good to protect ourselves with inflatable bits of comfort and advice, says writer Barbara Brown Taylor in The Other Side .