Paved with Good Intentions by C.S. Lewis

7/10

So let me explain. This is a short collection of quotes from various letters from C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters." For you dedicated readers, you may recall that I made a post about The Screwtape Letters back in the first year of this book blog's existence. What is great is that I was not able to provide all the quotes that I wanted to because there are just too many. Now I can provide some more that I was not able to then. And I'll still have to leave some out because there will still be a lot for this post.

Anyway, I got this little book (just under 100 pages) in my stocking Christmas morning one year. You're the best, Santa. So I read it over the course of a few trips back and forth on the bus while I commuted to school from Draper to Orem.

Let us get to the quotes already. Reminder: The book was written from the perspective of a senior devil giving advice to a junior devil of how to tempt us and lead us astray. If there is a reference to "the Enemy," it is a reference to God (who is the enemy of the devils, duh).

Quotes:

"It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick."

"If the thing he prays for doesn't happen, then that is one more proof that petitionary prayers don't work; if it does happen, he will, of course, be able to see some of the physical causes which led up to it, and 'therefore it would have happened anyway', and thus a granted prayer becomes just as good a proof as a denied one that prayers are ineffective."

"The fact that 'devils' are predominantly comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that (it is an old textbook method of confusing them) he therefore cannot believe in you."

"One must face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth. He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself....We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons."

"All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden."

"Obviously you are making excellent progress. My only fear is lest in attempting to hurry the patient you awaken him to a sense of his real position. For you and I, who see that position as it really is, must never forget how totally different it ought to appear to him. We know that we have introduced a change of direction in his course which is already carrying him out of his orbit around the Enemy; but he must be made to imagine that all the choices which have effected this change of course are trivial and revocable. He must not be allowed to suspect that he is now, however slowly, heading right away from the sun on a line which will carry him into the cold and dark of utmost space.
For this reason I am almost glad to hear that he is still a churchgoer and a communicant. I know there are dangers in this; but anything is better than that he should realise the break he has made with the first months of his Christian life. As long as he retains externally the habits of a Christian he can still be made to think of himself as one who has adopted a few new friends and amusements but whose spiritual state is much the same as it was six weeks ago. And while he thinks that, we do not have to contend with the explicit repentance of a definite, fully recognised, sin, but only with his vague, though uneasy, feeling that he hasn't been doing very well lately."

"All virtues are less formidable to us once the man is aware that he has them."

"Thousands of humans have been brought to think that humility means pretty women trying to believe they are ugly and clever men trying to believe they are fools....They cannot succeed in believing it and we have the chance of keeping their minds endlessly revolving on themselves in an effort to achieve the impossible."

Amazing stuff.

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader by the Bathroom Readers' Institute

8/10

It's true, I am doing a blog post about this Bathroom reader book. Because it is awesome. I read most of it in the bathroom (Dad style) but would sometimes not be able to put it down and so took it out of the confines of the bathroom and perused it in other rooms. It was given to me as a birthday present on my mission by my MTC companion. What a thoughtful guy.

It covers all sorts of fun, useless info including, but not limited to: American myths, TV facts, toy origins, names that became words, where superstitions come from, food origins, and funny quotes from dudes like Will Rogers, Woody Allen, and Mark Twain. It is also from this book that I learned where tips at restaurants came from (it stands for "to insure prompt service" and allowed those who chose to pay a tip to skip others in line). Each page is a whole new adventure. I recommend that you read this book and learn pointless information. And as the back cover of the book says: When this book is strategically placed in your home, there will be "no more frantic searches at the last minute for that perfect magazine article. No agonizing choices between light reading and the serious stuff. This little volume has it all."

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

8/10

For some reason it feels like I made a post about this book before, but after looking through the annals, turns out I have not. This, by the way, is my 100th post. Some said it couldn't be done.

So when I was a youngster, one of my older brothers told me this story. I remember really liking it and remembering certain details pretty well. When I finally read it shortly after high school (yes, I was never assigned this book in high school like hoards of others were), I still remembered certain parts and was constantly anticipating them. It was fun reading and re-remembering the story that I was told many a year before.

I really like this book and enjoy pretty much everything about it. First of all, any story about people stranded on a desert island has my immediate attention (e.g. Robinson Crusoe, The Tempest, Swiss Family Robinson, Castaway, Sheep in the Island (one of Mallory's favorite videos on youtube), etc.). Second, it is kids stranded on the island. So I instantly picture my scout troop stranded and we would probably go full meltdown much quicker than these kids. Sorry Troop 788, but it's true. Third, two opposing groups quickly form, so now I get to enjoy reading about this competition of sorts and invest my rooting interests (go team Ralph, elected government with structure and order is the way to go). Fourth, Ralph and his group quickly become the underdogs and I always like an underdog.

This is a must read book. It's got plenty of symbolism or allegorical connections that can be made for the deep thinker and it has lots of adventure for the kid at heart.

Come Unto the Father in the Name of Jesus

7/10

So this is some way old Priesthood manual from like the early 90's. I acquired it on the mish and read it at that point in time. It is your basic, run of the mill priesthood manual a la Gospel Principles, etc. I don't really remember it, but looking through it for some quotage, it appears to be pretty chock full of good quotes and such. So, to the quotes:

From David O. McKay: "The poorest shack in which love prevails over a united family is of greater value to God and future humanity than any other riches. In such a home God can work miracles and will work miracles."

From Neal A. Maxwell: "Young Joseph was told that his name would be both 'good and evil spoken of' throughout the world. Except from a divine source, how audacious a statement! Yet his contemporary religious leaders, then much better known than Joseph, have faded into the footnotes of history, while the work of Joseph Smith grows constantly and globally."

From Gene R. Cook: "My challenge is to learn how to bring about a home here on earth similar to the celestial one I left."

From Orson F. Whitney: "The time will come when no man nor woman will be able to endure on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within himself. If you do not have it, how can you stand?"

From Harold B. Lee: "Thank God for one more day! For what? For the opportunity to take care of some unfinished business. To repent; to right some wrongs; to influence for good some wayward child; to reach out to someone who cries for help - in short, to thank God for one more day to prepare to meet God."

From Marion G. Romney: "If the members of the Church would double their fast-offering contributions, the spirituality in the Church would double."

From Joseph Fielding Smith: "No member of this Church can stand approved in the presence of God who has not seriously and carefully read the Book of Mormon."

The First 2,000 Years by W. Cleon Skousen

7/10

I read this about ten years ago. It's pretty solid. It is a very in depth commentary to the first part of the Old Testament from Adam to Abraham. It brings some pretty good insight and Skousen has some pretty creative interpretations. Most of the time I was thinking that the connections he made were pretty sweet but at the same time remaining guarded about some of the conclusions realizing that he is just presenting his interpretations as a scholar and not as a church authority. He references the scriptures and uses them as the starting point for his arguments. Sometimes he would even present a few alternatives of what he thinks could have happened and openly states that he does not know the answer to a particular question but presents the alternatives in order to provoke the student to ponder more about the scenario being discussed. I enjoyed the book and it helped me get more into the Old Testament and to understand it much better. I'd recommend reading it while at the same time probably not recommend citing it too often as part of a Sunday School lesson or anything just to be safe.

Quotes:

"History confirms the wisdom of God in refusing to excite the human imagination concerning matters which have no immediate bearing on life here, and would only distract the human race from the business of making life more profitable on our own planet."

"Everything that existed in the Garden of Eden was endowed with the capacity to live forever."

"Just as soon as a man looks upon his office in the Priesthood as a token of his superiority over his fellow men then priestcraft replaces Priesthood."

"When Satan was ultimately cast out it was Michael and his angels who did it. It even describes how they did it: 'by the word of their testimony.'"

"Peace is the parent of prosperity."

"Sarah...is the only woman in the Bible whose age, death and burial are distinctly noted."

"[Christ's] suffering was His proof that He had to have us with Him in order to be happy."

The Holy Temple by Boyd K. Packer

7/10

So, those in the know will be able to tell by the image to the left that I have actually only read the 40 page booklet adapted from Packer's book of the same name. So I should probably put an * in the title of this post. Or just mention it here.

I read this forever ago, I don't remember when. Maybe on my mission, maybe before. So I don't have much recall. But as I thumbed through it looking for a quote or two I couldn't help but notice that even this small booklet contains tons of info about the temple that would improve my temple worship. Lots of good advice about approaching temple worship and cool stuff about symbolism, the sealing power, ancient temples, et cetera. Plus, I remembered that I have this booklet only after teaching not one but two gospel doctrine classes about the temple. Would have helped to go through this during lesson prep. Now I just need to go read the full length book to get more of some of the secret juicy details.

Quotes:

"A careful reading of the scriptures reveals that the Lord did not tell all things to all people."

"The Lord has every right and authority to direct that matters relating to the temple be kept sacred and confidential."

"Surely the Lord is pleased when we are worthy of the title: A keeper of the covenants."

Life Before Life by Richard Eyre

8/10

Second post in one week, I am rolling. I read this little book back in 2005. I remember the year because I read it while living with the Powell's in Provo. I actually read the whole thing on the toilet a la my Dad. It's true.

It is a pretty quick read and full of solid quotes and thoughts about the pre-existence. If I remember correctly, the book wasn't so much about what life was like before we came to earth but more about what it means and how it helps us knowing that we did in fact live before we came to earth. It's a good uplifter type of book, kind of in the mold of Stephen Covey's stuff. It's worth the time to read and could actually be taken care of in just a few days. So there you have it.

I leave you with some quotes:

The book opens with an awesome William Wordsworth poem:
"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home."

"Because we are spiritual beings we have spiritual memories, memories that are dim but not gone, veiled but not blocked. Thus spiritual truths resonate; they feel right. They ring true. They have about them a spiritual logic and light."

"God's commitment to our agency does not lessen His interest in us."

"Belief in life after life gives us hope. Belief in life before life gives us worth."

"Knowing about living before can change everything about living now."

"In the purity of little children, we see God."

"True faith comes when we trust that God's methods are beyond us but that His motives are for us."

"Believing and living are integrated parts of a two-way street. Believing something helps us to live it because we want to, and living something helps us to believe it because it works."