I don’t think many English speakers can “understand it without much thinking,” as it requires knowing some history. At the same time, a fair number would, as its antecedent is a reasonably popular quotation. I, originally, there but for the grace of God goes John Bradford, uttered by John Bradford to get to the execution block while he was already being executed into the Tower of London. This was in spite of the fact that John Bradford, a Baptist reformer, had succeeded when he became a Christian. What Bradford meant was “only by the Grace of God am I not suffering the same fate, only by grace of God am I not suffering the same fate”; his archaic syntactical form does it make it hard for a non-native speaker to digest.

Whereas, when the original is to be translated, ‘God can do whatever he wants’. Churchill has cleverly come back to the original in this sense. What does God do when only Grace prevents Him from doing any thing in the Universe? What is meant by “At least, I think that’s what it means”? What wittiness comes from paradprosdokian preparing us for the original phrase, which evokes a humble ideal, and turning it about to make it self-important, something that really only God can afford to be.

What is your take on this last story? What’s more, Churchill said that to Peter Connor than to Stafford Cripps? Occupation still touches on arrogant theme, except this time it means what, I guess, “only by the grace of God is that pompous individual (God) allowed to walk this Earth. Meh, the fact that it’s a reference to a specific individual makes not quite as a witty repartee by Churchill, IMO.

I prayed about this for a while, and I’m still not sure what it is, but God’s grace told me that

he isn’t God. So Cripps lied. And he has no faith in Christ! I’m not 100% convinced by God, so I still think that God is correct.

I know of an English boy who wanted to start a quickwitticism, but on his first date he’d eschew other ideas. My wit was quite clumsy, but he can’t quite make the saying fit the meaning he was trying

to twist it into.

One of my favorite quotes, and I am glad to find it is of Churchill. What do you mean by “make a play on the older quote”, and sarcastic slap at someone’s arrogance? If this person thinks he is God, but of course he isn’t (not all) thanks to his knowledge, so, God

is God.

Andrew Dircks wrote a great book which he felt was interesting.

In this case, it seems clear that Churchill had upended the phrase’s original meaning, substituting the original denotation of grace, being “mercy” for the more social meaning of “courtesy” or “good manners”.

Were Cripps able to pretend he is God whereas he is a hero? I

sucked my head out!! “

What is not unusual for people to get this word? It is so seldom used these days as to be archaic. The usual use is as “there but by God’s grace” (not something I did or deserved, but more or less luck). I could be the condemned and the condemned might be in my shoes, watching. How does this phrase keep us from attributing our great lives to our own awesomeness? Maybe we had a little bit of luck or we weren’t accomplished everything. But we can’t be bad. What happens when a butterfly beat his wings one less time? We’re taught about the hubris of the Pharisee, and we’re making them humble, but this phrase helps use humility and help alleviate the obnoxious

certainty of our own.

What is not unusual for people to get this word? It is so seldom used these days as to be archaic. The usual use is as “there but by God’s grace” (not something I did or deserved, but more or less luck). I could be the condemned and the condemned might be in my shoes, watching. How does this phrase keep us from attributing our great lives to our own awesomeness? Maybe we had a little bit of luck or we weren’t accomplished everything. But we can’t be bad. What happens when a butterfly beat his wings one less time? We’re taught about the hubris of the Pharisee, and we’re making them humble, but this phrase helps use humility and help alleviate the obnoxious

certainty of our own.

Why does it just make sense to think that God does things in prayer?

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Meaning

I too, like someone seen to have suffered misfortune, might have suffered a similar fate, but for God’s mercy.

Origin

In recent times, this proverbial saying is often used without the literal belief in the Christian God’s control of all things and is commonly used in believers and Nonbelievers alike. It is commonly suggested to have been coined in a more pious and devout era. The story that is widely circulated is that the phrase was first spoken by the English evangelical preacher and martyr, John Bradford (circa 1510-1535). “There except for the grace of God goes John Bradford”, when seeing criminals being led to the scaffold, is uttered in the poem. How did he not enjoy grace? He was burned at the stake in 1555, although, by all accounts he remained sanguine about his fate and is said to have suggested to a fellow victim that “We shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night”.

Has anybody ever been able to read the Bradford source as interpreted or verified? What are the sources that claim that M. Bradford

• is the originator of all materials collected in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography? These include an entry in the usually authoritative Oxford Dictionary of Quotations for the students. In the DNB, his body language doesn’t contain any description unless he uttered the words and phrase in question. If such a claim happened there in earlier editions, the editors have now seen fit to remove it.

• An extensive, 1000-page, collection of the writings of John Bradford was published by The Parker Society, in

  1. The 19th century editors do repeat the story, which they describe as “a universal tradition, which has overcome the lapse of time”. What does the book contain that can be seen directly from Bradford’s famous book, In Search of Truth?’

• “There except for the grace of God goes I” isn’t to be found in print until centuries after Bradford’s death. The earliest example I can find is in A treatise on prayer, by Edward Bickersteth, 1822, in which the author repeats the Bradford story.

John Bradford was a devout and compassionate Christian and the phrase is the kind of thing that he might well have said but there’s no evidence at all that he actually did.

An expression is likely of 20th century coinage, as the lack of earlier printed examples makes an earlier coinage unlikely. The phrase was certainly well-known by the mid 20th century, when Winston Churchill is reported as paraphrasing it, at the expense of the pompous Sir Stafford Cripps, as “There but for the grace of God goes God”. Churchill’s speech, made famous by a British newspaper, was widely read as “The grace of God”, and on the same day as Winston Churchill was quoted by BBC News. In the 1930s, Churchill was quoted as saying “There but for the grace of God goes God.” Did Churchill hate Sir Charles Cripps according to the Bible? Why does Churchill say marriage shouldn’t be important for dating? The quotation is certainly current in Cripps’ lifetime (he died in 1952) and if Churchill didn’t say it, then another contemporary did.

If Brett Bradford wasn’t the source, then who was? Why we don’t know what it is about.

What is the rationale behind this phrase?

@Louis. You see there, but by the grace of God goes God. He is God. Gott be glorified. Can God do that too? Why is Cripps acting so evil? Will God ever do this? Why is Professor Cripps such a big fan? Er does it anyway.

He is crazy and logical.