There are five Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the Christian. Most people will never read the first four.
Interpretation
Christianity is exemplified more through actions than scripture for many people.
This quote emphasizes that the lives of Christians serve as a vital testament to their faith, often more impactful than the biblical Gospels themselves. It suggests that personal conduct and the way individuals embody their beliefs can influence others far beyond mere written words.
In practice
In a sermon about living one's faith, I could use this quote to highlight the importance of actions.
When asked, "How do you write?" I invariably answer, "One word at a time," and the answer is invariably dismissed. But that is all it is. It sounds too simple to be true, but consider the Great Wall of China, if you will: one stone at a time, man. That's all. One stone at a time. But I've read you can see that motherfucker from space without a telescope.
Whatever landscape a child is exposed to early on, that will be the sort of gauze through which he or she will see all the world afterwards.
One's life is more formed, I sometimes think, by books than by human beings: it is out of books one learns about love and pain at second hand. Even if we have the happy chance to fall in love, it is because we have been conditioned by what we have read, and if I had never known love at all, perhaps it was because my father's library had not contained the right books.
A person cannot teach another person directly; a person can only facilitate another's learning
I know because I read...Your mind is not a cage. It's a garden. And it requires cultivating.
Extemporaneous speaking should be practised and cultivated. It is the lawyer's avenue to the public.
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