What is culture?

"Culture is the work of men's minds and hands. The world so far as it is man made and man intended is the world of culture. Culture, is human achievement. We distinguish it from nature by noting the evidences of purposiveness and effort. A river is nature, a canal cultural. These human achievements... are all designed for an end or ends; the world of culture is a world of values. We judge science and philosophy, technology and education, whether in past or present, always with reference to the values that were intended by them and to the values that attract us.

i.e. utility or aesthetic - value and relation are inescapable"

The above is by H.Richard Niebuhr

The Religious Left?

"A God without wrath brought people without sin, into a kingdom without judgment, through the ministry of a Christ without a cross." H.R. Nieburhr

What is holiness?

"As we seek to find out why,with such millions of Christians,the real army of God that is fighting the hosts of darkness is so small, the only answer is lack of heart. The enthusiasm of the Kingdom is missing. And that is because there is so little enthusiasm for the King." Andrew Murray

"The opposite of righteousness is to value and enjoy what is not truly valuable or rewarding. This is why people are called unrighteous in Romans 1:18. They suppress the truth of God's value and exchange God for created things. So they belittle God and discredit his worth. Righteousness is the opposite. It means recognizing true value for what it is and esteeming it and enjoying it in proportion to its true worth. The unrighteous perish because they refuse to love the Truth." see 2Thessalonians 2:10 (quote is from the book 'Let the Nations be Glad')

"Holiness is in right action."

"he who thinks he lives without sin puts aside not sin, but pardon."

"by grace a stranger below, and by grace a citizen above."

The above quotes are from Augustine


"Triumphs against the natural order of living exact unforeseen payments."
Richard Weaver

More from ancient Greece

Questions asked Thales:

Being asked, what was very difficult? "To know thyself."

What was very easy? "To give advise."

What is God? "That which has neither beginning nor end."

Asked how men might live most virtuously and justly: "If we never do ourselves what we blame in others."

More observations from Durant:

"The growth of wealth and luxury made epicureanism (hedonism) fashionable, while stocism and patriotism seemed antiquated and absurd. Competition for the goods of the earth became keener as the old faith lost its power to mitigate class strife; by giving scruples to the strong, and consolations to the weak."

"the most unfortunate of men is he who has not learned to bear misfortune." (Bias)

21st Century Schizoid Man?

"In the end the two conceptions of life - the mysticism of the East and the rationalism of the West - would fight for the body and soul of Greece. Rationalism would win under Pericles, as under Caesar, Leo X, and Frederick; but mysticism would always return. The alternate victories of these complementary philosophies in the vast pendulum of history constitute the essential biography of Western Civilization."
Durant

"Institutions may with impunity be altered or destroyed from above if their names are left unchanged." Durant

"Hence the road to power in Greek commercial cities was simple: to attack the aristocracy, defend the poor, and come to an understanding with the middle classes."
Durant


The above quotes all refer to life in the ancient Greek city states. They they seem more like quotes from a contemporary news magazine. This only demonstrates the truth of the old saying:"those who don't learn from history, will repeat it."