You discarded most of the lies along the way but held on to the one that said life mattered.
Stephen KingRead
The church is like manure. Pile it up, and it stinks up the neighborhood. Spread it out, and it enriches the world.
Interpretation
The quote uses a metaphor to express how the church's influence can be harmful when concentrated but beneficial when shared broadly.
Luis Palau's quote compares the church to manure, suggesting that when its teachings and values are hoarded or centralized, it results in negativity and conflict, much like a foul smell in a neighborhood. However, when the church's messages and actions are disseminated widely and thoughtfully, they have the potential to nourish and improve society, just as spread manure can enhance the fertility of soil.
In practice
During a sermon, a pastor might use this quote to illustrate the importance of outreach.
You discarded most of the lies along the way but held on to the one that said life mattered.
All thought of something is at the same time self-consciousness [...] At the root of all our experiences and all our reflections, we find [...] a being which immediately recognises itself, [...] and which knows its own existence, not by observation and as a given fact, nor by inference from any idea of itself, but through direct contact with that existence. Self-consciousness is the very being of mind in action.
The only true and effective "operator's manual for spaceship earth" is not a book that any human will ever write; it is hundreds of thousands of local cultures.
Taught to regard a part of our own Species in the most abject and contemptible Degree below us, we lose that Idea of the dignity of Man which the Hand of Nature had implanted in us, for great and useful purposes.
the first quality of an honest man is contempt for religion, which would have us afraid of the most natural thing in the world, which is death; and would have us hate the one beautiful thing destiny has given us, which is life.
My purpose is to help people look at themselves and begin to shift their concepts. Remember, we are not our country, our race, or religion. We are eternal spirits. Seeing ourselves as spiritual beings without label is a way to transform the world and reach a sacred place for all of humanity.
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