To be spiritually dead is to be diabolically alive
R. C. SproulRead
Without God man has no reference point to define himself.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that without a higher power, individuals struggle to understand their true identity.
R. C. Sproul emphasizes the idea that humans need a reference point beyond themselves, such as God, to have a clear understanding of their identity and purpose. In a secular context, it implies that without a spiritual or moral anchor, individuals may find themselves lost or lacking direction in life, leading to existential questions about who they are and why they exist.
In practice
A speaker at a conference discussing the importance of faith in personal development might use this quote.
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.
I do not want to drive across a bridge designed by an engineer who believed the numbers in structural stress models are relative truths.
Prayer does change things, all kinds of things. But the most important thing it changes is us. As we engage in this communion with God more deeply and come to know the One with whom we are speaking more intimately, that growing knowledge of God reveals to us all the more brilliantly who we are and our need to change in conformity to Him. Prayer changes us profoundly.
Mysticism is the mistake of an accidental and individual symbol for an universal one.
when she thought it over afterwards it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural
I would only believe in a god who could dance. And when I saw my devil I found him serious, thorough, profound, and solemn: it was the spirit of gravity—through him all things fall. Not by wrath does one kill but by laughter. Come, let us kill the spirit of gravity!
I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality and fraternity.
All the papers that matter live off their advertisements, and the advertisers exercise an indirect censorship over news.
I distrust the incommunicable; it is the source of all violence
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