by Ronald R Johnson (www.ronaldrjohnson.com)
Quotable Quotes from Lloyd C. Douglas
From These Sayings of Mine (1926), pp. 34-35. Douglas raises the question: What would be left of Western culture if we eliminated every trace of Jesus from our daily lives?
If it is suspected that the poets and prophets have sentimentally overrated the Master’s importance to civilization, let the critic put this overestimated teacher where he belongs by dropping his name and all allusions to his career from [the critic’s] own speech. Let him resolve that he will consistently refuse to enter any building in which there is an ascription of honor to this teacher; that he will not again look upon any statue or painting which has to do with this man or his message; that he will avoid hearing any music which involves this theme; that he will not read any more history in which the cause of Christianity is at issue. Let him proceed further and discontinue the use of any benefits, inventions, or energies produced as a direct result of education fostered by Christianity.
He will discover that long before he has finished deleting Jesus from his life, he has jeopardized everything he holds in esteem. Pontius Pilate, in an uncomfortable moment of perplexity, inquired of the crowd that sought Jesus’ life: ‘What, then, will ye do with Jesus?’ This query seems to echo through the centuries. Of course, any individual who stolidly refuses to recognize the question can contrive to live his whole life without giving it his attention; but only as a pensioner upon the people who do recognize it as worthy of a reply. No social group, however, can evade this query and continue to advance. Their answer to it will determine whether they propose to live in the fog of ignorance and enslavement to fear, or in the light of increasing knowledge and the liberty which knowledge confers; for Jesus is the light of the world!
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