Why no footnotes?

Sometimes reviewers complain that my books contain no footnotes. Footnotes are a convention adopted by the academic community for purposes of research. I am not writing for academics but for ordinary folk looking for help from God's Word.
There really should be no difficulty tracking down a quotation anyway.
Take two random examples
What the Bible says about being born again p 40
"... The puritan Stephen Charnock called regeneration 'a universal change of the whole man ...' ...  it is according to Swinnock, a plaster big enough to cover the sore ... Luther described it as 'being changed and sweetly breathed on by the Spirit of God' ..."
The bibliography reveals that George Swinnock Volume 5 has been used. If you put "Swinnock, a plaster big enough to cover the sore" into Google, choose the first item offered then search using the word plaster you will easily find where he says "The plaster must be as broad as the sore".
Similarly, although Charnock on regeneration is not listed in the bibliography, put in "Charnock called regeneration "a universal change of the whole man"" choose the link to his works, then search using the phrase whole man and you will find the  exact location.
With Luther simply put in the quotation and you will find it is from Bondage of the will.
Candle in the wind p155
There are two quotations there, one at the head of the page and attributed to Ted Tripp, one in the opening paragraph, referred to as "An American writer".
"This God-given conscience is your ally ..." will be found in Google books to be on Page 119 of Shepherding a child's heart and putting in "Jimmy, if you are a good boy" into Google will give you several options including sermon.index.net where a search using the word Jimmy will reveal that the story is told by Timothy Lin.
This is a little cumbersome perhaps but please remember why the books were written in the first place.
 
 

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