“People who have time on their hands will inevitably waste the time of people who have work to do.” — Thomas Sowell
“The very familiarity of blessings sometimes makes us insensible to their value."— J. C. Ryle
“Heaven is eternity in the presence of God through a Mediator. Hell is eternity in the presence of God with no Mediator.” — Tony Reinke
“If you don’t fear God, you’ll fear everything.” — Dan Horn
“The measure of a great teacher isn’t what he or she knows; it’s what the students know.” — John C. Maxwell
“Television is an invention that permits you to be entertained in your own living room by people you wouldn’t have in your house.” — David Frost
“Question everything but Scripture.” — Geoff Botkin
“[T]he ministry of Satan is employed to instigate the reprobate, whenever the Lord, in the course of his providence, has any purpose to accomplish in them...” — John Calvin (Institutes 2.4.5)
“The cold water of persecution is often thrown on the church’s face to fetch her to herself when she is in a swoon of indolence or pride.” — C. H. Spurgeon
“[N]ot one particle remains to man as a ground of boasting. The whole is of God.” — John Calvin (Institutes 2.3.6)
“I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something.” — Jackie Mason
“People fall in private, long before they fall in public. The tree falls with a great crash, but the secret decay which accounts for it, is often not discovered until it is down on the ground.” — J. C. Ryle
“Self-righteousness is being more aware of and irritated by the sins of others than you are conscious of and grieved by your own.” — Paul Tripp
“I began my education at a very early age—in fact, right after I left college.” — Winston Churchill
“Every post is honorable in which a man can serve his country.” — George Washington
“I’m not lost.” — Frank Churchill
“Music is a discipline, and a mistress of order and good manners, she makes the people milder and gentler, more moral and more reasonable.” — Martin Luther
“The happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they simply make the best of everything they have.” — Unknown
“Thanks, modest girls. Appreciated by a male whose time studying the ground is proportional to each degree of rising temperature.” — Unknown
“Paul’s life was a prophetic book for Jews to read and see how to be saved, so our lives should be an easy to read book for the lost on how they can easily be saved.” — Ken Ham
“The glory of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it.” — La Rochefoucauld
“True education is not giving in the answer, it’s in showing them how to find it.” — Kelly Crawford
“One proud, surly, lordly word, one needless contention, one covetous action, may cut the throat of many a sermon. Take heed to yourselves, lest your example contradict your doctrine.” — Richard Baxter
“When she married you, she gave you her life to spend. Are you spending your life wisely?” — Dan Horn
“Luther once said, ‘The devil hates goose quills,’ and, doubtless, he has good reason, for ready writers, by the Holy Spirit’s blessing, have done his kingdom much damage.” — C. H. Spurgeon
“I will keep the ground that God has given me and perhaps in his grace, he will ignite me again. But ignite me or not, in his grace, in his power, I will hold the ground.” — John Knox
“Be as careful of the books you read as of the company you keep, for your habits and character will be as much influenced by the former as by the latter.” — Paxton Hood
“What is the best safeguard against false doctrine? The Bible regularly read, regularly prayed over, regularly studied.” — J. C. Ryle
“Even if you are on the right track, but just sit there, you will still get run over.” — Will Rogers
“I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” — Martin Luther
“Man does not need to know exhaustively in order to know truly and certainly.” — Cornelius Van Til
“Good government generally begins in the family, and if the moral character of a people once degenerate, their political character must soon follow.” — Elias Boudinot
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel, read only a page.” — St. Augustine
“I find television very educational. Every time someone turns it on, I go in the other room and read a book.” — Groucho Marx
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” — Sir Richard Steele
“My dear friend, when grief presses you to the dust, worship there.” — C. H. Spurgeon
“TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they’ll have with twenty-six. Open your child’s imagination. Open a book.” — Unknown
“A ship in the harbor is safe—but that is not what ships are built for.” — John Shedd
"When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy." — Corrie ten Boom
“A lot of men have a wishbone where they ought to have a backbone.” — Unknown
“Non-Christian investigators of nature are as successful as they are because they work with stolen capital.” — Cornelius Van Til
“Some people get an education without going to college; the rest get it after they get out.” — Mark Twain
“People will not look forward to posterity who will not look backward to their ancestors.” — Edmund Burke
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." — Edmund Burke
“Drag and Drop for Windows users: DRAG your peecee off your desk, and DROP it in the trash.” — some forum member’s tagline
“You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” — C. S. Lewis
“We should never do what we cannot pray God to bless.” — James Smith
“Dreams don’t work unless you do.” — John C. Maxwell
— September 15th, 2012 —
What Then Shall I Read?
Several months ago, I approached Mr. Doug Phillips, Mr. Kevin Swanson, and Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr, three men I very highly esteem, all leaders in the biblical home education movement. I asked them a rather straightforward question: “I’m nineteen, I’ve graduated from high school, I have no job, no wife, and no children. Since I don’t have time to read everything, could you help me prioritize and provide me with the names of the most important books I should be reading in this season of my life?” They all kindly took the time to answer, and I’d like to pass on their answers to you, with the hopes that they’ll help guide your reading.
DR. R.C. SPROUL, JR.
Bondage of the Will, by Martin Luther
Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton
Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman
Postmodern Times, by Gene Edward Veith
Christ of the Covenants, by O. Palmer Robertson (I’ve read this one and it is the book on Covenant Theology)
The Conservative Mind, by Russell Kirk
DOUG PHILLIPS
He said to read Theologies, Histories, and Biographies
He said to read the writings of the Puritans and Reformers: John Calvin, Jeremiah Burroughs, John Owen, Richard Baxter, Thomas Watson, John Bunyan
Authentic Christianity by Dr. Joe Morecraft—a hefty, five-volume commentary on the Westminster Catechism
On histories, he gave me three sub-categories: Church History, American History, and Ancient World History
Listen to 2,000 Years of Christian Theology, audio lectures by Dr. Joe Morecraft
For biographies, he said to read not only those of aforementioned church fathers and Reformers, but also ones of great historical leaders, political leaders, and significant missionaries (John G. Paton, as one example)
KEVIN SWANSON
The Bible
The Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin
He said to read church history
He said to read the apostolic and church fathers (Justin Martyr, Clement, etc.)
Confessions and The City of God, by St. Augustine
Revolt Against Maturity, by R.J. Rushdoony
Foundations of Social Order, by R.J. Rushoony
When I explained my personal vision for reforming an aspect of our culture, he said I ought to continue reading books on culture, and recommended All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes by Kenneth A. Myers
DR. JOE MORECRAFT (I approached the other three men as a result of a conversation I had with Dr. Morecraft)
Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof
An Eschatology of Victory, by J. Marcellus Kik (click here to read my review of this excellent book)
Knowing God, by J.I. Packer
Pushing the Antithesis, by Dr. Greg Bahnsen
Always Ready, by Dr. Greg Bahnsen
The Sovereignty of God, by Arthur Pink
The Puritan Hope, by Iain Murray
He Shall Have Dominion, by Dr. Ken Gentry
Thus their thoughts—and I’m very thankful that they took the time to answer my question. I’m afraid I’ve got my reading cut out for the next ten years!
© 2012 Kyle Shepherd | All Rights Reserved | All images property of their respective owners
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