Quotations Worth Contemplating

  • “God’s love is covenantal.  It creates a special relationship between God and his creatures—a marriage, in effect.  So when people reject him, he is filled with holy jealousy, and the result is wrath.  When we see God’s love, not as a mere sentimental affection, but as a covenant committment, we see it as a jealous love that leads to wrath when it is abused.” John Frame, The Doctrine of God, 467
  • “A man and a woman choose to live together instead of wedding because each person loves his or her autonomy more than the other person.  Love by definition entails sacrifice.  True love requires, then, the death of your would-be autonomy.  Autonomous persons cannot truly love.” Tony Hepp 
  • “Let this point therefore stand:  that those whom the Holy Spirit has inwardly taught truly rest upon Scripture, and that Scripture itself is self-authenticated. . . .  Therefore, illumined by his power, we believe netiher by our own nor by any one else’s judgment that Scripture is from God; but above human judgment we affirm with utter certainty (just as if we were gazing upon the majesty of God himself) that it has flowed to us from the very mouth of God by the ministery of men.” John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, I.vii.4, p.78.
  • “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream.  He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.” Robert Jastrow, God and the Astronomer, 107
  • “The peace of God is first and foremost peace with God; it is the state of affairs in which God, instead of being against us, is for us.  No account of God’s peace which does not start here can do other than mislead.” J. I. Packer, Knowing God, 219
  • “Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.” J. I. Packer, Knowing God, 96
  • “Living becomes an awesome business when you realise that you spend every moment of your life in the sight and company of an omniscient Creator.” J. I. Packer, Knowing God, 91
  • “If there is no God, everything is permitted.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  • “Credo ut intelligam.”  (I believe in order that I may understand.) Saint Augustine, On the Freedom of the Will
  • “To be human is to be scientific, yes, and practical, and rational, and moral, and social, and artistic, but to be human further is to be religious also.  And this religious in man is not just another facet of himself, just another side to his nature, just another part of the whole.  It is the condition of all the rest and the justification of all the rest.  This is inevitably and inescapably so for all men.  No man is religiously neutral in his knowledge of and his appropriation of reality.” Henry Zylstra, Testament of Vision, 145
  • “A teacher or a politician who pretends to be religiously netural is not thinking very deeply.  Secular humanism is a religious worldview as certainly as are Christianity and Judaism.  It expreses the ultimate commitments and concerns of its proponents.”  Ron Nash, Life’s Ultimate Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy, 19
  • “For I did not know that the soul needs to be enlightened by light from outside itself, so that it can participate in truth, because it is not itself the nature of truth.” Saint Augustine, Confessions
  • “Modern theologians are like a pack of dogs who spend most of their time sniffing each other’s behinds.” David Chilton
  • “This year will go down in history.  For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration.  Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future.” Adolf Hitler (1935)
  • “It has been said that no great work in literature or in science was ever wrought by a man who did not love solitude.  We may lay it down as an elemental principle of religion, that no large growth in holiness was ever gained by one who did not take time to be often long alone with God.” Austin Phelps, The Still Hour or Communion with God, 64
  • “The end of learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love Him and to imitate Him.” John Milton
  • “All the prayer in the world cannot substitute for a Bible dictionary, if we do not know the meaning of a biblical word.  For understanding the biblical text, meditation is no replacement for looking up how the author uses such terms elsewhere in his writings.  The goal of acquiring a correct mental grasp of the author’s meaning is not achieved by personal piety.  To pray that the Spirit would help us understand the meaning of a text because we do not want to spend time studying the text or using the tools that have been made available to us (such as commentaries, concordances, dictionaries, etc.) may border on blasphemy, for it seeks to ‘use’ the Spirit for our own ends.  The Holy Spirit brings to the believer a blessed assurance of the truthfulness of the biblical teachings, but he cannot be manipulated to cover for laziness in the study of the Word of God.” Robert Stein, A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible: Playing by the Rules, 70
  • “It is better to keep silence and to be, than to talk and not to be.” Ignatius of Antioch
  • “This is what an excellent teacher does; he does not follow his disciples’ fancy everywhere, but leads them to his own mind, and pulls up the thorns, and then puts the seed in, and does not answer at once in all cases to the questions put to him.” John Chrysostom, The Epistle to the Romans
  • “Deep theology is the best fuel of devotion; it readily catches fire, and once kindled it burns long.” F. W. Faber
  • “It is true that infidelity cannot withstand the force of reason and argument; but true godly example can come nearer the lifespot of religion. It knocks at the door of the heart. If the truths of Christianity were seconded by the devoted and pious lives of all her professed disciples, the unbelief of the world would soon cease. Private example of godliness is what the world most needs.” Ichabod Spencer, A Pastor’s Sketches
  • “Men more often require to be reminded than informed.” Samuel Johnson