To be spiritually dead is to be diabolically alive
R. C. SproulRead
When there’s something in the Word of God that I don’t like, the problem is not with the Word of God, it’s with me.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that one's disagreements with scripture reflect personal shortcomings rather than flaws in the scripture itself.
R. C. Sproul emphasizes the importance of humility and introspection when it comes to interpreting spiritual or religious texts. The essence of the quote conveys that when individuals find themselves at odds with the teachings of the Word of God, it is essential to examine their own beliefs and attitudes rather than blaming the scripture. This promotes a mindset of self-reflection and growth.
In practice
During a sermon about the challenges of faith, this quote can remind congregants to consider their own views.
To be spiritually dead is to be diabolically alive
I’ve often wondered where Jesus would apply His hastily made whip if He were to visit our culture. My guess is that it would not be money-changing tables in the temple that would feel His wrath, but the display racks in Christian bookstores.
The real crisis of worship today is not that the preaching is paltry or that it's too drafty in church. It is that people have no sense of the presence of God, and if they have no sense of His presence, how can they be moved to express the deepest feelings of their souls to honor, revere, worship, and glorify God?
We talk about predestination because the Bible talks about predestination. If we desire to build our theology on the Bible, we run head on into this concept. We soon discover that John Calvin did not invent it.
Without God man has no reference point to define himself.
I do not want to drive across a bridge designed by an engineer who believed the numbers in structural stress models are relative truths.
It may have been a comedy, or it may have been a tragedy. It cost one man his reason, it cost me a blood-letting, and it cost yet another man the penalties of the law. Yet there was certainly an element of comedy. Well, you shall judge for yourselves.
Human rights will be a powerful force for the transformation of reality when they are not simply understood as externally defined norms of behavior but are lived as the spontaneous manifestation of internalized values.
Ye shall only have foes to be hated; but not foes to be despised: ye must be proud of your foes.
He who dictates and formulates the words and phrases we use, he who is master of the press and radio, is master of the mind. Repeat mechanically your assumptions and suggestions, diminish the opportunity for communicating dissent and opposition. This is the formula for political conditioning of the masses.
Terrorism and the whole drug scene are vivid examples of the fact that what persons abhor most of all in life is the possibility that they will not matter.
As a result of my philosophy, I wasn't even upset about Hitler. I was willing to go to war to knock him off, but I didn't hate him. I hated what he was doing.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.