an absence of real Christian fellowship

We pant for a bonded spirit with others, for shared hearts, for togetherness. Often our idolatrous pursuits through sexual immorality, overindulgence in alcohol, or social media platform-building are all simply misplaced longings for human fellowship. If we traced those heart-eroding pursuits down to their source, we would find, among other things, simply an absence of real Christian fellowship.  

Dane C. Ortlund

Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners by Dane C. Ortlund. Crossway. 2021. p.119

I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains

"I hope you don't think I am going to keep you in whiskey."

"I don't have to buy that, I confiscate it. You might try a little touch of it for your cold."

"No, thank you."

"This is the real article. It is double-rectified bust- head from Madison County, aged in the keg. A little spoonful would do you a power of good."

"I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains."


True Grit by Charles Portis, 1969.

A Word of Wisdom' - you know wisdom is almost the greatest thing in the world, second only to health, and this is wisdom from God, not from man. The wisdom of man is 'beer, beer, beer.'


Heber J. Grant. Conference Report Oct. 1935 p.8. D&C 89:1

"And now you are drunk," Pilar said.

"Yes," Pablo said. "With your permission."

"I liked you better when you were barbarous," the woman said. "Of all men the drunkard is the foulest. The thief does not practise in teh home. The murderer when he is at home can wash his hands. But the drunkard stinks and vomits in his own bed and dissolves his organs in alcohol."


Ernest Hemingway. For Whom the Bell Tolls. New York. Scribner. 1940.