Deep thoughts...

Dr. John Hannah is a professor of church history at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is a self-proclaimedly quirky man, but also a man of great wisdom and deep spiritual insight. He also has the keen ability to create great sound-bytes of Christian wisdom.

For many, church history is not a subject that gets their motor running. In fact, when I was attending Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland, OR, and had to take Church History 204, I mostly paid attention because (a) I realized that understanding the past can give you insight into the future, and (b) my grade depended on it.

The students in Dr. Hannah’s class are probably no different, although they may have a third reason to pay attention: they never know what he’ll day next. Some of Dr. Hannah’s students take two sets of notes: their class notes with diagrams, charts, dates, etc., as well as a set of notes for “Hannah-isms.” Sometimes they are funny. Sometimes they are serious. But they always make you think.

Here are a few examples:

• Seek more than excitement. It is a shadow of eternity, but that is all.
• A friend is a person who never believes the best things you say because he knows you're a liar, but never believes the worst things you say because he thinks better of you than that.
• There has never been a time in our history when there were so many of us who have had so little influence.
• If you're a Christian and willingly disobey God, He will judge your sin and break every bone in your body. In that day, thank Him for His grace.
• A man is simply not equipped to meet the needs of a woman.
• People preach toleration when they don't have power. Once they get power they stop preaching it.
• Committees are places where minutes are kept and hours are lost.
• You can get away with sin, but not forever. You can also blindfold yourself and walk across the interstate safely a time or two...
• If God has called you to be a janitor, you should not stoop so low as to be a clergyman.

And my favorite…

• Don't think too highly of yourself. The best this world will do for you is to build a statue of you so the birds can come defecate on your face.

(HT: Chris Freeland)