To be spiritually dead is to be diabolically alive
R. C. SproulRead
Why would the disciples invent a God whose holiness was more terrifying than the forces of nature that provoked them to invent a god in the first place?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote questions the rationale behind creating a fearsome deity when natural phenomena already inspire fear.
R. C. Sproul's quote challenges the notion of why early believers would conceive of a God whose attributes are even more daunting than the natural elements that initially drove them to create a divine figure. It suggests a paradox in religious belief, where the invention of a deity intended to provide assurance and explanation actually embodies greater dread than the very forces of nature that beg for understanding.
Themes
GodFearNatureFaithPhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a theological debate about the nature of God.
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All quotes βIβve 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.
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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?
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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.
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Without God man has no reference point to define himself.
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I do not want to drive across a bridge designed by an engineer who believed the numbers in structural stress models are relative truths.
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