Book Lovers

I'm often asked when people see the bookshelves lining my office if I've read every one of them.  I hate that question because it begs an answer that is often misstated and then misunderstood.

No, I have not read every book.  I have not even read half of them.  Some of them have only been briefly scanned.  Many are theological reference books.  There's nothing more exciting than sitting down and reading the 8 volume set of Lewis Sperry Chafer's Systematic Theology.  Some books are written to be read in one sitting.  Others are written to be refered to.  That's why they're called reference books.

I was pleased to read Winston Churchill's comments regarding books.  The former British Prime Minister wrote:

"If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle, or as it were, fondle them - peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are.  Let them be your friends; let them at any rate be your acquaintances."

Finally...someone else who feels the way I do about books.  He said it better than I ever could.  Now I'm going to "fondle" an F. F. Bruce book.  Just kidding.

But...I DO LOVE BOOKS!