CQOD Answers to
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- What is the Christian Quotation of the Day?
The Christian Quotation of the Day (CQOD) is an Internet-based service that publishes a
challenging, inspiring, or thought-provoking quotation from a broad selection of Christian writers and thinkers each day.
- Who provides CQOD?
I do, through the good offices of our host, AgathonGroup.
I am Robert McAnally Adams, and I function as the curator of the quotation collection.
I am a long-term Dallas, Texas, resident, an engineer by trade, who is constantly
amazed at the mercy of God in my life.
For many years, Gospel Communications provided the platform and host for CQOD at no charge
to this ministry. CQOD is presently hosted with Agathon Group.
CQOD itself has no budget at all. I am committed to bringing this service to the users free of charge.
- Does CQOD really change every day?
Yes. Each day at midnight (Mountain time), automated systems at Agathon Group change the CQOD
to a new one stored according to date, 365 days per year. Quotations are prepared several weeks or years in
advance and placed online prior to use as the CQOD.
- Can I receive CQOD via e-mail?
Yes. Information about subscribing to CQOD by email is available on the List page,
or simply submit your email address in the subscription box on the sidebar to the right in order to start
your subscription. You will be sent a confirmation message. If you do not receive a confirmation message
promptly, try resubmitting your email address, being very careful about the spelling. Simply reply
to the confirmation email without making any changes to it, and the subscriptoin should begin.
If you have problems with this procedure, write to me, and I will
take care of it.
- How can I stop my e-mail subscription to CQOD?
To terminate an existing subscription, post a message to
cqod-unsubscribe@cqod.com from the email account
at which you receive CQOD. More information about unsubscribing from CQOD by email is available
on the List page.
If you have problems with this procedure, write to me, and I will
take care of it.
- I am having trouble receiving CQOD by email.
There have been many problems with spam filters, which can interrupt CQOD email service to
a particular subscriber without our ever knowing it. If you are having trouble receiving the
Christian Quotation of the Day, check with your system administrator or
write to me so that we can get the problem corrected.
- Do you ever take anyone off the CQOD mailing list?
Not in a long, long time. If you have stopped receiving CQOD, and have verified that you are
receiving email, please write to me so that we can get your account restored.
- What is the purpose of CQOD?
The purpose of CQOD is,
- the glorification of God;
- the enrichment of the Christian life, through the propagation of Christian teachings and thought; and,
- the fulfillment of a personal calling.
To His glory, God has raised up voices of wisdom and faith throughout the Christian
era, to teach, to admonish, to encourage, and to strengthen the believers. In this sense,
CQOD is a form of worship.
The Christian life is today under intense attack by the forces of evil. CQOD is
presented in support of the Christian life, through the words and ideas of great Christian
writers and thinkers of the past.
Finally, CQOD is the fruit of a spiritual journey, not yet finished, but progressing
now with a surer objective. It expresses a need of my own to serve the Kingdom in a way
that I have been prompted to do. As usual, God causes each thing to happen for the benefit
of all, and I have benefited tremendously through this project.
- For whom is CQOD intended?
CQOD is presented expressly and specifically for Christians, particularly those interested
in learning more about what the great writers of Christianity thought, how they justified their
faith, how faith justified them, what were their great spiritual struggles, what thoughts and
beliefs sustained them, and what instruction they received from the Holy Spirit in their lives.
CQOD is not specifically intended as an evangelistic tool, nor are the quotations necessarily
going to be uniformly profitable for non-believers. If you are not a Christian, CQOD is not
really for you. I refer you to the Scriptures, wherein you can find all you need. Do not hesitate.
I urge you to take the time to find out why the life of Christ is the only one worth following.
- Is CQOD associated with any particular denomination?
No. CQOD's only official association is with its former host, Gospel Communications Network,
which, for twelve years, was kind enough to grant space, support, and bandwidth to this ministry.
They have my profoundest gratitude. Both they and CQOD are non-denominational.
Even a casual reading of the quotations selected for CQOD will reveal a central
theme that governs their selection. Educated readers will identify that theme as Evangelical
in character. That is my personal persuasion. But this should not be used as a means for
classifying or pigeon-holing CQOD. Many quotations come from writers who were not even
remotely Evangelical. While most of the views expressed in CQOD are identifiably so,
CQOD is not even exclusively Protestant; many Catholic writers are also quoted in CQOD.
Of course, almost all the pre-Reformation writers are Catholic, but there are several
post-Reformation Catholic writers represented, such as Cardinal Newman.
- Where do you get all those quotations?
From three sources,
- my own reading,
- submissions from readers,
- a quotation collection prepared by my late father, Robert MacColl Adams.
Of all these, the last is far the most significant.
My father was a lifelong intellectual and a prodigious reader. Beginning in the
late 1950's, he began to assemble a notebook containing the quotations that he had
collected from his reading. At his passing into glory, in 1985, this notebook had
grown to 3200 typewritten pages, well in excess of 10,000 quotations. An accurate
count is not yet available, but its ramifications in our family became so notorious
that it was always referred to as the Notebook, which he could always be relied upon
to be laboring upon when not otherwise occupied, and selections from which could be
dragged out at a moment's notice.
While the quotation collection is eclectic, reflecting his own intellectual
tastes, many of the quotations are of a theological character. For he was a devout
Christian, with an abiding interest in Christian theology. Accordingly, about a
quarter of the quotations in the collection are Christian in nature. These were
the statements that he had encountered in his reading that had made him think and
reflect profitably on Christian truths. He also wrote, himself, and what he wrote
reflects the depth of his belief, the width of his reading, and far-ranging projection
of his intellect and knowledge. A sample of that writing
is now included in this site.
I shall write more about this subject in the future.
For several years, I have pondered the question how to present this gargantuan
labor to the world. It did no good sitting on the shelf. In 1995, I became interested
in the WWW, and it occurred to me that this might be a reasonable vehicle for the Notebook.
I was moved to create CQOD on January 8, 1996, and with very little effort, it began to
attract attention. By June of 1996, there began to be an intense demand for an email
service for distributing CQOD. It did not take long for the demands of the email list
and the daily traffic on the web page to outstrip the capacities of the private server
where it resided, and on October 6, 1996, CQOD moved to GospelCom, where its growth has
continued unimpeded. Finally, CQOD moved to its present hosts,
Agathon Group.
- How are the quotations selected?
Good question. I select quotations based on the following criteria:
- adherence to Scriptural truth,
- authenticity,
- value to the contemporary Christian life,
- compactness of expression,
- personal meaning to me.
The first one is, to me, clearly the most important. I will not voluntarily propagate error,
and conformity to the clear teachings of the Scriptures seems to me the minimum standard for
any expression that calls itself Christian. Now, I am far from inerrant on this point, and if
you believe that a quotation published by this service contradicts Scripture, I would be happy
to discuss it with you, subject to the already heavy demands on my time through the email
responses to this service. You may even be right, which is an even more important reason to
let me know.
I cannot deny that the last of these criteria is an important factor. Often, I run across
quotations that meet the first four criteria but strike me as "so what?" I am afraid that the
last criterion is utterly subjective. But, I do the best I can to apply the criteria objectively.
- Do you change the quotations?
Yes. Often it is necessary, in order to obtain a reasonable
length excerpt, to take phrases or whole sentences out. I also modernize spelling, and
occasionally untangle problematical grammar. I like to leave enough of the writer's original diction for the
reader to appreciate its beauty, as well as its sense. For old writers, this is sometimes difficult
to do, and one often ends up with a compromise. I err on the side of letting the original language
of the writer speak for itself.
- What are the notations above the quotations about?
The superscriptions are from the liturgical calendar, and it does not
necessarily have anything to do with the quotation of the day, although
I often try to match the theme of the quote with the feast or commemoration
being celebrated. The liturgical calendar being used is from the Anglican Church.
To find out more, see the web page at
http://www.oremus.org/liturgy/etc/ktf/index.html
I chose this calendar because it contained celebrations for a strikingly large number of the
writers that appear in CQOD.
- What disclaimers are offered with CQOD?
None. The authors quoted are completely responsible for what they write.
I am completely responsible for the selections.
- What caveats are offered with CQOD?
Only one—chew before you swallow. Please note: the material recorded within
CQOD is not Scripture and does not have the authority of Scripture.
- Have you ever made a mistake in selecting a quotation?
Yes.
- Why don't you make CQOD more like a traditional devotional?
The short answer to this question is that CQOD is what it is,
and that is all I am prepared to present at this time.
If another kind of devotional material is desired, the reader is referred to any of several excellent
compilations available. See More devotionals.
- What sort of quotations do not make it into CQOD?
(Jocular) On a lighter note, I do run across quotations that are amusing, that make me
think, that have that quality of knowledge of truth that is arresting and challenging, but
which nevertheless are not suitable for publicatiuon in CQOD. Here are some quotations that
did not make it, for one reason or another:
To preach more than half an hour, a man should be an angel himself, or have angels for hearers.
... George Whitefield
No. I would never want any preachers to think that their time was
limited with me (even if it is true).
The whole of theology... takes it for granted that Man is what is of most importance in
the Universe of created beings. Since all theologians are men, this postulate has met with little opposition.
... Bertrand Russell
No, I don't think I will include this one.
From the beginning, we are presented with a dilemma by the Gospels: Such a Person never could
have lived; Such a Person never could have been invented! Which horn will you choose?
... Nathaniel Micklem
Hmmm.
The profession of the truth by not a few is the greatest dishonour and disparagement
that can be cast upon it. The best service that many can do it is by forsaking it, and
declaring that the belief of it is inconsistent with their cursed, wicked lives.
... John Owen
Well said, but I think that brother Owen was angry that day.
I hate the devil and I would kill him, but I see there are several clergymen present, and they have their families to support.
... Melville D. Landon
A keen eye, that one!
The observances of the Church feasts and fasts are tolerably well kept,
upon the whole, since the rich keep the feasts and the poor keep the fasts.
... Sydney Smith
Not the right attitude, I think.
I hope the reader will forgive my levity. Choosing quotations for CQOD does have its lighter side, and
I do run across many quotations, especially from my father's Notebook, that I would love to publish,
but which would not be appropriate for CQOD. Ah, well.
Blessings and peace be upon you!
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