POINTS TO PONDER

“The human race got off on a seriously wrong foot when Eve yielded to Satan’s lie that more satisfaction was available if she took matters into her own hands. When Adam joined her in looking for life outside of God’s revealed will, he infected all his descendants with the disease of self-management.” [Law-rence J. Crabb, Inside Out, (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1988), p. 54]
 

“In his The Confession of Saint Augustine, he writes: ‘Sin comes when we take a perfectly natural desire or longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God. Not only is it sin, it is a perverse distortion of the image of the Creator in us. All these good things, and all our security are rightly found only and completely in Him.” [Joseph M. Stowell, Perilous Pursuits, (Chica-go: Moody Press, 1994), p. 47]
 

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” [Plato in 1001 Quotes, Illustrations & Humorous Stories for Preachers, Teachers & Writers edited by Edward K. Rowell, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1997), p. 47]
 

"At the heart of the homosexual condition is a deep loneliness, the natural human hunger for mutual love, a search for identity, and a longing for completeness. If homo-sexual people cannot find these things in the local 'church family', we have no business to go on using that expression. The alternative is not between the warm physical relationship of homosexual intercourse and the pain of isolation in the cold. There is a third option, namely a Christian environment of love, understanding, acceptance and support.... By 'accepting' I do not mean 'acquiescing'; similarly, by a rejection of 'homo-phobia' I do not mean a rejection of a proper Christian disapproval of homosexual behavior. No, true love is not incompatible with the maintenance of moral standards.” [John R. Stott, Decisive Issues Facing Christians Today, (Grand Rapids: Fleming H. Revell, 1984), p. 360-361]