The Bible According to Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain, is, to me, an interesting character in our recent history.  His quips and quotes are known world-wide and many can make you think while even making you smile. 

Last evening, some of us in Douglasville met together to get into God's Word.  I attempted to make it interesting, although I may have failed in some cases.  I used a set of riddles to do two things---get a smile from folks, and get the ol' brain cells a'clickin', as one might say.  I believe those two things, a good attitude (shown when your Irish (or whatever nationality) Eyes are smiling), and the ability to learn, are critical to helping us grow in our relationship with, and knowledge of, God.  If you wake up in the morning, and can't even begin to smile, probably your quiet time with God will not produce as much as it should.  If you wake up and forego the opportunity to learn (even though you have the ability), your relationship with God probably won't improve as much as it should, either.  To quote Mr. Mark Twain, "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."  And one 'good book' that we CAN read, of course, is our Bible.  If you are not reading it first thing in the morning, you, according to Mark (Twain, not the Gospel writer) anyway, you are no better off than folks who can't (because they don't believe in Christianity) read it.  To quote Mark (the Gospel writer, not Twain), who quotes Jesus, "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."  I say, "If anyone has a Bible, let him read."  How many of you read your Bible this morning?  The title of this email, The Bible According To Mark Twain, is also the title of a book I intend to read.  I do not believe Mark Twain actually wrote it, but I do know from research that Mr. Twain was interested in biblical events.  He wrote a book called "Adam's Diary", and referenced the Bible in other writings.  I am interested in what he has gleaned and passed on to us in his witty and sometime whimsical manner.

Once you read, however, you need to put into practice what is being taught. We talked about that last night after we randomly selected a Scripture each from 'somewhere within the Bible'.  God looks at us and wants to see us putting into practice what Jesus came and died for.  Mark Twain put it very succinctly when he said, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."  I say, "It is not the amount of knowledge you get from your efforts, its the amount of effort you exhert because of your knowledge."  Our other Mark, not one of the original twelve disciples but still someone worthy of quoting, said, "Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."  Don't let God take away your knowledge because you don't use it for Him.

"It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt", says Mark Twain.  And this applies to us in our evangelism as well.  If you don't know what it takes to be saved, for example, don't start a spiritual argument with one who thinks he does.  You will appear a fool, even if he is wrong. HOWEVER, if you DO know what it takes to be saved, then, by all means, open your mouth and argue intelligently for God and peoples' salvation.  Our Bible Mark tells us to "....hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop--thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."  The words, 'accept it', does not mean to believe it blindly, but to truly understand it so you can believe it completely.  So, our mission, as Jesus gave to each of us in Matthew 28:18-20, still stands....I say, "open your mouth with wisdom and knowledge and remove all doubt about how people are to be saved" 

This short email was intended to do two basic things this morning.....bring to you a smile or two, and to get your brain cells in gear.  I apologize for it not being longer, with more insightful quotes from that great American, or more interesting quotes from the Bible, but I have to close and head off to work.  But I would like to leave you with one thought.  If our evangelism does not increase, that is, we reach out to more of our friends, family, neighbors and even strangers, then Mark Twain may have it the nail right on the head with this unique quip: "Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company."

Mac