"Some persons have lived manly or womanly lives, and they lack but one thing - open confession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some men think that they must come to him in a certain way - that they must be stirred by emotion or something like that"
About this Quote
Billy Sunday is selling salvation like a straight-talking coach, and the pitch is shrewd: he flatters the respectable listener, then exposes the one “missing” component that makes all their decency worthless without public allegiance. “Manly or womanly lives” isn’t just moral praise; it’s cultural bait. Sunday borrows the era’s gender codes - self-control, duty, breadwinning, purity - to assure church-adjacent Americans that he’s not here to insult their character. Then he tightens the noose: character isn’t the metric. Confession is.
The subtext is anti-private faith. Sunday isn’t content with inward belief or vague spirituality; he demands an “open confession,” a visible, communal act that proves you’ve crossed the line from good citizen to declared Christian. That word “open” matters. It’s a challenge to social timidity, a rebuke to respectable silence, and a tool for building momentum in revival culture, where walking forward, testifying, and being counted are part of the machinery.
His second move undercuts a common excuse: waiting for the right feeling. “Stirred by emotion” sounds sympathetic, but it’s a demolition of sentimental religion and procrastination. Sunday, a revivalist in an age of mass meetings and muscular Christianity, reframes conversion as decision, not mood. You don’t need a special atmosphere, a trembling heart, or a mystical sequence. You need to pick a side, say it out loud, and stop hiding behind the myth that real change must arrive like weather.
The subtext is anti-private faith. Sunday isn’t content with inward belief or vague spirituality; he demands an “open confession,” a visible, communal act that proves you’ve crossed the line from good citizen to declared Christian. That word “open” matters. It’s a challenge to social timidity, a rebuke to respectable silence, and a tool for building momentum in revival culture, where walking forward, testifying, and being counted are part of the machinery.
His second move undercuts a common excuse: waiting for the right feeling. “Stirred by emotion” sounds sympathetic, but it’s a demolition of sentimental religion and procrastination. Sunday, a revivalist in an age of mass meetings and muscular Christianity, reframes conversion as decision, not mood. You don’t need a special atmosphere, a trembling heart, or a mystical sequence. You need to pick a side, say it out loud, and stop hiding behind the myth that real change must arrive like weather.
Quote Details
| Topic | Faith |
|---|
More Quotes by Billy
Add to List
