“Preaching that is boring is preaching that talks first about us and then only tangentially about God. Preaching that is faithful is preaching that talks first about God and then only secondarily and derivatively talks about us. The God of Scripture is so much more interestingly than we are.” FirstsReligionChristianityBoringScriptureFaithfulPreaching Author:William Henry Willimon
“It is your organized religions that have made it clear through their most sacred scriptures that cruelty and killing is an acceptable response to human frailty and human differences. This goes against every human instinct, but organized religion has reorganized human thoughts. Some humans have even been turned against their own instinct for survival. And so people go around maiming and killing each other, because they've been told quite directly that this is what God does to them--and what God wants them to do to each other.” PeopleWantHumansDoeMadeReligionDifferencesClearSurvivalSacredInstinctResponseKillingScriptureCrueltyMade ItOrganizedAcceptableFrailtyOrganized ReligionHuman ThoughtKilling Each OtherHuman FrailtiesSacred Scripture Author:Neale Donald Walsch
“If religion, instead of being the manifestation of a spiritual ideal, gives prominence to scriptures and external rites, then does it disturb the peace more than anything else.” IfsGivingDoeSpiritualReligionIdealsScriptureManifestationRiteProminence Author:Rabindranath Tagore
“The mysteries of the faith are not to [be] explained rashly to anyone. Usually in fact, they cannot be understood by everyone but only by those who are qualified to understand them with informed intelligence. The depth of the divine Scriptures is such that not only the illiterate and uninitiated have difficulty understanding them, but also the educated and the gifted.” FactsReligionUnderstandingMysteryAtheismDivineUnderstoodDifficultyDepthScriptureEducatedGiftedQualifiedIlliterate Author:Pope Innocent III
“The doctrine of the double motion of the earth about its axis and about the sun is false, and entirely contrary to Holy Scripture.” EarthReligionSunAtheismHolyContraryScriptureDoctrineHoly ScripturesAxes Author:Pope Paul V
“Contemporary Christianity, diverse and complex as we find it, actually may show more unanimity than the Christian churches of the first and second centuries. For nearly all Christians since that time, Catholics, Protestants, or Orthodox, have shared three basic premises. First, they accept the canon of the New Testament; second, they confess the apostolic creed; and third, they affirm specific forms of church institution. But every one of these - the canon of Scripture, the creed, and the institutional structure - emerged in its present form only toward the end of the second century.” FirstsMayEndsShowsChristianFormReligionThreeChurchAcceptingChristianityCenturyThirdsCatholicInstitutionsStructureComplexesScriptureContemporaryOrthodoxCreedsDiverseTestamentPremisesNew TestamentProtestantsChristian ChurchCanonApostolicUnanimity Author:Elaine Pagels
“Most assuredly Zen is a religion, but it is a religion without scripture, without doctrine or dogma and without sin.” ReligionSinScriptureDoctrineDogma Book:The Art of Zen Meditation Source: The Art of Zen Meditation
“The Scripture was written to shew unto men the kingdom of God; and to prepare their minds to become his obedient subjects; leavingthe world, and the Philosophy thereof, to the disputation of men, for the exercising of their natural Reason.” MenWorldMindReasonPhilosophyReligionNaturalWrittenSubjectsExerciseBiblePhilosophicalScriptureKingdomsKingdom Of GodObedient Book:Leviathan Source: Leviathan
“The Fanaticism which discards the Scripture, under the pretense of resorting to immediate revelations is subversive of every principle of Christianity. For when they boast extravagantly of the Spirit, the tendency is always to bury the Word of God so they may make room for their own falsehoods.” MaySpiritLyingReligionRoomsChristianityPrinciplesScriptureTendenciesRevelationsWord Of GodFalsehoodBoastFanaticismPretenseSubversive Author:John Calvin
“Religion is not what you will get after reading all the scriptures of the world. It is not really what is grasped by the grain. It is a heart grasp.” WorldHeartArtReligionReadingScriptureGrain Author:Mahatma Gandhi
“The word 'God' is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, and religious scripture a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change this.” InspirationalHumansStillsMatterSpiritualReligionReligiousAtheismExpressionProductsWeaknessAtheistScriptureCollectionsSubtleInterpretationLegendsWord Of GodPrimitiveNeverthelessThere Is No GodAtheisticTheistThere Being No GodGod And ScienceScience GodSubtle Atheist Author:Albert Einstein
“Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand.” PeopleBookReligionAtheismDrinkScriptureBeerBotherPassagesFavouriteBiblicalBotheredReligion ChristianNot Bothered Author:Mark Twain
“My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures have become clearer and stronger with advancing years, and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them.” ThinkingYearsHumansReasonChristianReligionViewsAtheismStrongerSalvationScripturePresidentialNo ReasonSchemesChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateAdvancingFounding Fathers ChristianFounding Fathers ReligionSeparation Between Church And StateUnsoundness Author:Abraham Lincoln
“Scriptures - The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based.” WritingBookReligionHolySacredScriptureDistinguishedProfaneHoly Scriptures Book:Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated) Source: Delphi Complete Works of Ambrose Bierce (Illustrated)