Jeff Ragan > Recent Status Updates

"The real creators of Greek culture were not the Greeks of what we now call Greece, but those who fled before the conquering Dorians, fought desperately for a foothold on foreign shores, & there, out of their Mycenaean memories & their amazing energy, made the art & science, the philosophy & poetry that, long before Marathon, placed them in the forefront of the Western World" (127).

"...the materialist...is in...the prison of one thought. These people seemed to think it singularly inspiring to keep on saying that the prison was very large...It was like telling a prisoner in Reading goal that the goal now covered half the country. The warder would have noting to show the man except more...long corridors of stone lit by ghastly lights & empty of all that is human" (60).

"They mined it at night, they stored it in hidden culverts, they were paid in cash, with no questions asked or answered. Guilty of a fierce desire to remain alive, they and Rearden traded like savages, without rights, titles, contracts or protection, with nothing but mutual understanding and a ruthlessly absolute observance of one's given word. Rearden did not even know the name of the young leader" (463).

"Precisely because our lives are determined by God's call...we need to learn to continue there as those who are 'before God.' Paul's concern is not with change as such...but with 'living out one's calling' in whatever situation one is found...let one serve the Lord, & let the call of God sanctify...the situation, whether it be mixed marriages, singleness, blue-or white-collar work, or socioeconomic condition" (356).

"The theory of natural selection is grounded on the belief that each new variety and ultimately each new species, is produced and maintained by having some advantage over those with which it comes into competition; and the consequent extinction of the less-favoured forms almost inevitably follows. It is the same with our domestic productions..." (170).

"...Carroll saw the millennium as imminent. 'The world was four thousand years old when Christ came, and it is nearly two thousand years since he came...the devil's time is nearly out; events are moving rapidly, ocean and air are navigated, telegraph wires long rusted with commercial and political lies shall shine with the transmission of messages of mercy and salvation'" (694).

"'The artillery fire you called must have scared them away,' Piper said...'That was a damn good move...I always wanted a lieutenant who could call for fire.' 'Thanks,,,but Sergeant Mark deserves the credit.' 'Yeah, well, I'll bet you a month's pay that what we fired at last night was an enemy reconnaissance patrol, aiming to check us out. I doubt that they saw any of the positions we'll occupy tomorrow'" (95).

"Moi, je suis le premier et je suis le dernier, et en dehors de moi, il n'y a pas de dieu. Qui est semblable a moi? Qu'il le declare donc Qu'il fasse donc savoir et qu'il expose les evenements qui se sont produit depuis que j'ai fonde ce peuple pour toujours. Qu'il annonce d'avance ce qui doit arriver. Ne vous effrayez pas et n'ayez pas de crainte!" - Esaie 44:6-8

"When the greatest empire of the age decided to destroy these scattered cities called Greece, or to lay them under tribute to the Great King, it forgot that in Attica it would be opposed by men who owned the soil that they tilled, and who ruled the state that governed them. It was fortunate for Greece, and for Europe, that Cleisthenes completed his work, and Solon's, twelve years before Marathon" (126).

"It is no argument for unalterable law (as Huxley fancied) that we count on the ordinary course of things. We do not count on it; we bet on it. We risk the remote possibility of a miracle as we do that of a poisoned pancake or a world-destroying comet. We leave it out of account, not because it is a miracle, and therefore an impossibility, but because it is a miracle, and therefore an exception" (49-50).

"And honestly you owe it to Johnny. I mean it. You owe him the professional courtesy of confronting him with his underperformance. You owe him the opportunity to right the ship. And I truly believe that you owe him your very best help to make it happen" (124).

"Paul's intent is not to lay down a rule that one may not change; rather, by thus hallowing one's situation in life, he is trying to help the Corinthian believers see that their social status is ultimately irrelevant as such...they can live out their Christian life in any of the various options; therefore their desire to change is equally irrelevant - because it has nothing to do with genuine spirituality" (344).

"With reason, mariners regard the Admiralty Pilots much as one would Holy Writ. Nevertheless, although attempts to bring the Bible up-to-date are to be deplored this should not apply to them" (862).

"Covenant theology saw redemptive history in terms of one...covenant of grace - with the various biblical covenants as administrations of the one covenant, 'I will be their God, & they will be my people'...The church 'replaces'...Israel, inheriting her promises of land & rest from enemies as the spiritual blessings of peace, forgiveness of sins, & the indwelling Holy Spirit,









7 eternity in heaven" (689).

"He was seeing the enormity of the smallness of the enemy who was destroying the world. He felt as if, after a journey of years through a landscape of devastation, past the ruins of great factories...he had come upon the despoiler, expecting to find a giant - and had found a rat eager to scurry for cover at the first sound of a human step. If this is what has beaten us...the guilt is ours" (447).

"Les jeunes gens se lassent et ils s'epuisent, et meme de robustes gaillards tombent, mais ceux qui comptent sur l'eternel renouvellent leur force: ils prennent leur envol comme de jeunes aigles; sans se lasser, ils courent, ils marchent en avant, et ne s'epuisent pas." - Esaie 40:30-31

"In offensive & defensive tactical actions, commanders fight the enemy throughout the depth of his disposition with fires & with attacks on his flanks & rear. They attack committed & uncommitted forces & synchronize the attack of enemy artillery in depth with close operations. Such in-depth operations degrade the enemy's freedom of action, reduce his flexibility & endurance, & upset his plans & coordination" (82).

"First, Paul does not speak to the question of remarriage at all. If that is one's concern, then it must be wrestled with in the much larger context of Scripture; and the answer is not clear-cut. In many cases such marriages are clearly redemptive. Even if it is not the ideal situation, God still redeems our fallenness, whether it be individuals or broken marriages" (338).

"The barrenness of the soil, the nearness of the coast, the abundance of harbors lured the people of Attica into trade; their courage and inventiveness won for them the markets of the Aegean; and out of that commercial empire came the wealth, the power, and the culture of Athens in the Periclean age" (109).

"The Gospels apply the covenant fuliflments to Jesus directly, equating him with Israel itself. Indeed Jesus recapitulates the life of Israel. Like Israel under pagan rule, he escapes from a baby-murdering tyrant and is brought out of Egypt...The nations, represented by eastern magi, stream to Jesus and give him gifts of frankincense and myrrh...exactly as Isaiah had promised..." (676).

"...I do not pretend that I should ever have suspected how poor was the record in the best preserved geological sections, had not the absence of innumerable transitional links between the species which lived at the commencement and close of each formation, pressed so hardly on my theory" (161-2).

"Fortifiez les mains defaillantes, affermissez les genoux chancelants. A ceux qui sont troubles dite: 'Prenez courage, n'ayez aucune crainte, votre Dieu va venir pour la retribution at pour regler ses comptes. Il viendra lui-meme et vous sauvera.;" - Esaie 35:3-4

"My uniform experience has convinced me that there is no other God than Truth. And if every page of these chapters does not proclaim to the reader that the only means for the realization of Truth is non-violence, I shall deem all my labor in writing to have been in vain. And, even though my efforts in this behalf may prove fruitless, let the readers know that the vehicle, not the great principle, is at fault" (233).

"As mementoes of Svalbard, for they had started collecting them at Bear Island, bones were highly prized by all the crew, bones of whales, seals, bears, and, of course, reindeer horns. Later on, at more than one anchorage, where there were the graves of old-time whaling men and trappers, I admired their restraint in not digging up a skeleton or two for their collection" (851).

"What is not allowed by Paul is remarriage, both because for him that presupposes the teaching of Jesus that such is adultery and because in the Christian community reconciliation is the norm. If the Christian husband and wife cannot be reconciled to one another, then how can they expect to become models of reconciliation before a fractured and broken world?" (328).

"The point of our defense is to maximize surprise & offensive action to stop the enemy in the trails. We'll place most of our obstacles in the south to help drive him north into the narrowest trails. Once the enemy arrives at the tank ditch, he'll either try to cross it or go north... As he enters the trails, I expect you to destroy the lead vehicle in each trail" (64).

"Our churches are the proof of the gospel. In the gatherings of the church, the Christian Scriptures are read. In the ordinances of the church, the work of Christ is depicted. In the life of the church, the character of God himself should be evident. A church seriously compromised in character would seem to make the gospel itself irrelevant" (668).

"Homer was a poet, & knew that one touch of beauty redeems a multitude of sins; Hesiod was a peasant who grudged the cost of a wife, & grumbled at the impudence of women who dared to sit at the same table with their husbands. Hesiod...shows us the ugly basement of early Greek society - the hard poverty of serfs & small farmers upon whose toil rested all the splendor & war sport of the aristocracy & the kings" (103).

"...l'Esprit soit repandu sur nous d'en haut, et alors le desert deviendra un verger, et le verger sera semblable a la foret. Le droit habitera dans le desert, et la justice dans le verger. Le fruit de la justice sera la paix. L'effet de la justice, ce sera la tranquillite et la securite a tout jamias. Mon peuple habitera un domaine de paix dans des demeures sures, dans des maisons tranquilles." - Esaie 32:15-18

"She wanted to force upon him the suffering of dishonor - but his own sense of honor was her only weapon of enforcement. She wanted to wrest from him an acknowledgement of his moral depravity - but only his own moral rectitude could attach significance to such a verdict. She wanted to injure him by her contempt - but he could not be injured, unless he respected her judgment" (430).