c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
But surely the commute that defines the era was Noah's voyage aboard his eponymous ark, and to this day it remains the most epic commuting story ever told. As most people know, God felt that Earth had essentially "jumped the shark" (or "raped the angel" as they used to say back then), so rather than try to fix it, He instead decided to simply wash everyone away in a great flood and start over from scratch--just as you might do to your computer's hard drive if it has a really bad virus. So God spoke to Noah and commanded him to build an ark, aboard which he'd carry two of every animal in the world....Thus was born humankind's lust for gigantic vehicles, for God's instructions to Noah were basically the world's first car commercial, and the sales pitch was this: Large vehicles are your salvation.
— BikeSnobNYC
Layer upon layer it comes, dense and rich within the texts, echo upon echo, allusion and resonance tumbling over one another, so that for those with ears to hear it becomes un-missable, a crescendo of questions to which in the end there can be only one answer. Why are you speaking like this? Are you the one who is to come? Can anything good come out of Nazareth? What sign can you show us? Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners? Where did this man get all this wisdom? How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Who are you? Why do you not follow the traditions? Do the authorities think he’s the Messiah? Can the Messiah come from Galilee? Why are you behaving unlawfully? Who then is this? Aren’t we right to say that you’re a Samaritan and have a demon? What do you say about him? By what right are you doing these things? Who is this Son of Man? Should we pay tribute to Caesar? And climactically: Are you the king of the Jews? What is truth? Where are you from? Are you the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One? Then finally, too late for answers, but not too late for irony: Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us! If you’re the Messiah, why don’t you come down from that cross?…And Jesus had his own questions. Who do you say I am? Do you believe in the Son of Man? Can you drink the cup I’m going to drink? How do the scribes say that the Messiah is David’s son? Couldn’t you keep watch with me for a single hour? And finally and horribly: My God, my God, why did you abandon me? …The reason there were so many questions, in both directions, was that–as historians have concluded for many years now–Jesus fitted no ready-made categories
— N.T. Wright, Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters
(The monks) approach was far less narcissistic and our tends to be. Their goal when reading Scripture was to see Christ in every verse, and not a mirror image of themselves.
— Donald Miller, Searching for God Knows What
Because it is so scatterbrained and has absolutely no charts and graphs, I'm actually quite surprised the Bible sells.
— Donald Miller, Searching for God Knows What
If we are to use the Bible effectively, then we must use it the way God wrote it – in narrative form. Our team rejects the notion that the Bible is simply an encyclopedia of disconnected Bible verses. God's Word is less like a cookbook and more like a novel.
— James MacDonald, Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling: Changing Lives with God's Changeless Truth
All the stories and poems and letters and oracles and wisdom verses of God's Word, like individual instruments in a great orchestra, serve THE WHOLE story.
— James MacDonald
God's Word is especially suited to directing those who want to focus primarily on the nature and direction of their own hearts.
— James MacDonald, Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling: Changing Lives with God's Changeless Truth
If your attitude is one of gratefully searching for God’s truth & goodness in any situation, it will change your life.
— Stormie Omartian, Lead Me, Holy Spirit: Longing to Hear the Voice of God
Probably one of the most surprising discoveries I've made while studying the Bible is that God does not condone religion. It's a consistent theme throughout scripture. Religion is man's external effort to please God. But God doesn't care about all my efforts to get it right. He wants more, something far greater.
— Chris Hodges, Fresh Air: Trading Stale Spiritual Obligation for a Life-Altering, Energizing, Experience-It-Everyday Relationship with God
After leaving Egypt, Moses and his people endured a forty-year commute, starting with a truly epic crossing of the Red Sea (which made getting through the Lincoln Tunnel at rush hour seem like traipsing across a country bridge in a sundress on a spring afternoon).
— BikeSnobNYC
Christmas cut history in two ages, the Age of Promise, and the Age of Fulfillment.
— John Piper
I am much afraid that the universities will prove to be the great gates of hell, unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures, and engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not unceasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt.
— Martin Luther
He had the tool to break down the walls that imprisoned his people. He had the tool to rip away the veil to the Holy of Holies so that his flock could come before the Lord and be cleansed, made whole, transformed, and have a personal, loving relationship with their creator. That very tool san on Hannah's bookshelf right now, gathering dust until Sunday morning. Her Savior was there, waiting to speak to her and show her the way home again, the way back to love. YOUR WORD IS LIFE! Why didn't more people understand that?
— Francine Rivers, The Atonement Child
the bible gives me a deep comforting sense that (things seen are temporal,and things unseen are eternal.
— Helen Keller, The Story of My Life
Humanity should be our Religion and every Human should be our God, This world should be our Temple and doing good to fellow Humans should be our Prayer.Quran Bible and Bhagwad Geeta all have this message if not just read but also understood properly.Share it, even if one misguided person reads and understands it and gets back to humanity you will for sure be blessed!
— honeya
Growing up loving the Bible made me apt to love other books. I don't love them in the same way I love the Bible, but a lesser love came easily. The splendor of sunlight does not take away
— John Mark Reynolds, The Great Books Reader: Excerpts and Essays on the Most Influential Books in Western Civilization
The Bible explains that Satan is real, nurses a serious grudge and has impressive power. But having been created, he has limitations. He can never be equal to God in anything."--Kristine McGuire, An Insider's Guide to Spiritual Warfare, Chapter 3, "Know Your Enemy.
— Kristine McGuire, An Insider's Guide to Spiritual Warfare: 20 Battle Tested Strategies from Behind Enemy Lines
The fact that our traditional method of extracting doctrine from Scripture does not work well on narrative does not mean that Bible stories do not send clear messages. Instead, it suggests that the way we apply our traditional method of interpretation is inadequate because we are ignoring too much of God’s Word.
— Craig S. Keener, Gift & Giver: The Holy Spirit for Today
Obedience to God’s Word begins by being determined to make no compromise with His ways. It requires a clear understanding that God’s rules and laws are for your benefit, and for you to do all you can to live by them.
— Stormie Omartian, 30 Days to Becoming a Woman of Prayer
Using only nonnarrative portions of the Bible to interpret narrative is not only disrespectful to the narrative portions but also suggests a misguided approach to nonnarrative parts of the Bible.
— Craig S. Keener, Gift & Giver: The Holy Spirit for Today
Faith is believing beyond the power of reason, when they're all against you. To one who has faith, no explanation is possible. To one without faith, evidence is necessary.
— Esteban Urayoán
Study the bible thoroughly before a pseudo-holy criminal mislead you!
— Michael Bassey Johnson, Classic Quotations From The Otherworlds
You cannot call yourself a Christian and only accept the less harsher parts of the bible, being a Christian in Christ is accepting it all.
— Pauline Seaport
Therefore from one man (Abraham) ... were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude -- innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
— Hebrews 11 12
People think the Bible is too complicated for the average person to understand. People tend to be wrong. It's too complicated for the unsaved person, yes, it's foolishness to him. But for those who are in Christ, it's a magnificent journey of simplicity. Depth, richness, but simplicity. It's the fact that the natural man can't believe that life with Christ is so simple that cause the great "complexity" argument. Stop, take a breath, and believe that it's as simple as it appears.
— Alan de Jager
The Bible is an ocean of instruction and wisdom. Dip daily into the vast pool to discover its truths.
— Elizabeth George
I don’t know449that much about the Bible, other than it waswritten thousands of years ago, which dilutesits relevance. However, I know its faithfulfollowers tend to cherry-pick verses to suittheir needs, the same way they cherry-pickwords or scenes from other books to labelobscene.
— Ellen Hopkins, Rumble
The more time you spend with God, the more you will resemble Him.
— Elizabeth George
True biblical love is sacrificing, purifying, nurturing, and enduring.
— Elizabeth George
You'd think God would come right out and tell us what to do in the Bible, but He doesn't. He mostly tells stories, and He rarely stops the story to say what the point is. He just lets the characters and conflict hang in the air like smoke.
— Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life
Their Bibles had become an idol before God. That the cross, as a symbol, was an idol, even their own self-image was an idol before God.
— Trevor D. Richardson, Dystopia Boy: The Unauthorized Files
Religion is the most powerful entity on earth. A phenomenon that has conscripted millions to give or sacrifice their lives without so much as a minuscule query about their chosen beliefs or particular ideology. And today thousands of years on despite the huge advent, discovery and the advance of science forensic or otherwise, millions are still prepared and equipped to fall or kill in the name of their God, their Holy Scriptures, their messengers, their prophets and their faith’.
— Cal Sarwar
Every time we mention God we become theologians, and the only question is whether we are going to be good ones or bad ones.
— J.I. Packer
Opposition should never keep you from the work God has called you to do.
— Jim George
Scattered across the Roman Empire, it was only natural for the gospel writers to distance themselves from the Jewish independence movement by erasing, as much as possible, any hint of radicalism or violence, revolution or zealotry, from the story of Jesus, and to adapt Jesus's words and actions to the new political situation in which they found themselves.
— Reza Aslan, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
Everyone needs to calm down! Okay, you got a weird cookie. So what? I don’t mean to swat your ego here, buddy, but this smacks a little narcissistic for me. God is not trying to communicate to you through a cookie. It doesn’t work that way. God’s not all Jack-and-the-magic-beans and tooth-beneath-the pillow voodoo. You don’t just close your eyes, flap open your Bible, and slam a steak knife into a verse. It’s that sort of thinking that leads to witch trials and Senate probes.
— Geoffrey Wood, The God Cookie
The Bible is the one book we’ve most succeeded in having them never read as a book. Keep it that way.
— Geoffrey Wood
With the current technology, I now agree with non-believers. We should no longer say the Bible is life's road-map, the Bible is life's GPS!
— Ibrahim Emile
This is an extremely difficult matter for modern readers of the gospels to grasp, but Luke never meant for his story about Jesus's birth at Bethlehem to be understood as historical fact. Luke would have had no idea what we in the modern world even mean when we say the word "history." The notion of history as a critical analysis of observable and verifiable events in the past is a product of the modern age; it would have been an altogether foreign concept to the gospel writers for whom history was not a matter of uncovering facts, but of revealing truths.
— Reza Aslan, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
— Isaiah 54 17 KJV
No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment, you shall condemn.
— Anonymous, Holy Bible: King James Version
God’s various blessings are not always obvious.
— Jim George
The heart must be renewed by divine grace, or it will be in vain to seek for purity of life. He who attempts to build up a noble, virtuous character independent of the grace of Christ is building his house upon the shifting sand.
— Ellen G. White, Patriarchs And Prophets
Using a combination of history, common sense, the Word of God and the Spirit of God, every leader can generally predict the way things will go.
— Dag Heward-Mills, The Art of Leadership
I am most interested in encouraging Christians to think and read well. Christians, of all people, should reflect the mind of their Maker. Learning to read well is a step toward loving God with your mind. It is a leap toward thinking God’s thoughts after Him.
— James W. Sire, How to Read Slowly
The Bible is the best motivational book.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
Faith is not a one-time act. It’s a way of life.
— Jim George
We are sheep surrounded by green pastures, but we will not eat. We seem to have no appetite for the Word of God.
— James M. Rasbeary, Thou Art With Me: Strength, Guidance and Encouragement from the 23rd Psalm
Your willingness to serve God is as important as your service to God.
— Jim George
Ultimately, if the Lord doesn’t build the house (or the Sunday school class, or the church, or the family, or the business, or the relationship, or ), we are laboring in vain anyway (Psalm 127:1). We release the burden of stress when we release the responsibilities for the outcome to the Lord.
— Paul Chappell, The Burden Bearer: Who’s Carrying Your Load?
Without God's Word as a lens, the world warps.
— Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
So, at the turn of the third millennium, you have chosen to base your principles on a collection of contradictory texts – written by various men years after the death of your man Jesus – that have been edited and selected out of hundreds of other documents, and bound together into one hotchpotch volume, under the orders of a political primate, Pope Damasus. And, you’re still content to condemn the living love I feel here and now, because of that dusty accident of bad editing? Why?
— Cliff James, Of Bodies Changed
A powerful truth is that if we love the Lord, love His Word, love His people, and love one another, we won’t want to gossip.
— Elizabeth George, One-Minute Inspirations for Women
So many commands in the Bible require obedience without us experiencing any conviction to obey them. That is when our faith is truly tested.
— Alan de Jager
When you study God’s Word and incorporate His wisdom and principles into your daily life, your whole perspective will change.
— Elizabeth George, Moments of Grace for a Woman's Heart
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this system of things? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish?  For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not get to know God through its wisdom, God was pleased through the foolishness of what is preached to save those believing. ~ 1Corinthians 1:20,21
— Anonymous
And it's the 'Word of God' that turns the rocks in the mouth to loaves on the tongue. That fills our emptiness with the true and real good, 'that makes the eyes see', the body full of light.
— Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
I wear the lens of the Word and all the world transfigures into the Beauty of Christ and 'everything is eucharisteo'.
— Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
The Church no more gave us the New Testament canon than Isaac Newton gave us the force of gravity.
— J.I. Packer
You can always find hope in the truth that our God reigns & He will take care of His own.
— Jim George
One thing the Bible does not do: it does not denigrate the mind. The Bible is not anti-intellectual. Rather it gives the reason why all of us know what we know, why we can think with some degree of accuracy, and why we fail to think with complete accuracy.
— James W. Sire, How to Read Slowly
Archaeology digs the Bible’s grave.
— Steve Dustcircle
The Order of the Divine mind, embodied in the Divine Law, is beautiful. What should a man do but try to reproduce it, so far as possible, in his daily life?
— C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms
God has written His divine guidelines for your life right in the Bible.
— Elizabeth George
Her total intellectual association was the Bible, except the talk of Samuel and her children, and to them she did not listen. In that one book she had her history and her poetry, her knowledge of peoples and things, her ethics, her morals, and her salvation. She never studied the Bible or inspected it; she just read it. The many places where it seems to refute itself did not confuse her in the least. And finally she came to a point where she knew it so well that she went right on reading it without listening.
— John Steinbeck, East of Eden
God is in control of all events and is able to protect and provide for you His child.
— Jim George
The question concerning Jesus: do you want to know the real story, or just the allegory?
— Eli Of Kittim, The Little Book of Revelation: The First Coming of Jesus at the End of Days
God cares about those in need, and so should His people.
— Jim George
Mine is the only view that appropriately combines the end-time messianic expectations of the Jews with Christian scripture.
— Eli Of Kittim, The Little Book of Revelation: The First Coming of Jesus at the End of Days
It is always wrong to enrich yourself at the expense of others.
— Jim George
In the Bible we find everything we need to guide and energize our lives, to keep us on track so that we live out God’s plan.
— Elizabeth George, Life Management for Busy Women: Living Out God's Plan with Passion & Purpose
The modern teachings of Christianity often preach of a peaceful, merciful, and loving God/Creator. Culturally, this concept of a God of peace is well liked and accepted amongst clergymen and the Christian community alike; however, some scriptural evidence gives us a contradictory and seemingly destructive version of our Creator.
— David G. McAfee, Disproving Christianity and Other Secular Writings
Complacency happens almost without notice. Check and renew your heart daily.
— Jim George
With what dread and apprehension we entrust important jobs into the hands of others. Imagine the love of a needless God who is willing to want our work.
— Calvin Miller, The Words of Christ: An Every Day Journey with Jesus
The highest view of the Scriptures is not the one that seeks to make an idol of the Bible (biblicism), but the one that allows the biblical text to exalt Christ as the living Word over all creation. The Word became flesh, not ink.
— David D. Flowers
Instead of becoming a woman of the world, become a woman of the Word.
— Elizabeth George
There are good theological reasons to reject making authorial intention the goal of the interpretation of Scripture. First, we must recognize that what has traditionally been considered authoritative for the church is Scripture, not the intentions, real or imagined, of the original authors. Yes, Christian interpreters throughout history have talked about what Paul or some other biblical writer may have meant to say, but that has traditionally not been taken to limit the meaning of the text to that intention. Thus, even if the psalmist intended to speak of David or some other king of ancient Israel, the church has always considered it legitimate to interpret the psalm as referring also—or even only or supremely—to Christ. Even if the human authors did not intend to affirm the Trinity in the first century, the church may legitimately interpret Scripture in Trinitarian terms. The church has traditionally not located the site of inspiration to be in the mind of the human author but in the text of Scripture itself. The shift to concentrating on the intentions of the human author is something that only happened in the modern era, with the rise of historical criticism.
— Dale B. Martin, Sex and the Single Savior: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation
God's Word makes it very clear that the state of our hearts determines the quality of our "listening ears.
— Wendy Blight, Living So That: Making Faith-Filled Choices in the Midst of a Messy Life
In my view, the gospels are true, not historically, but theologically, or, as I would argue, prophetically! What we have is, the Messiah’s history written in advance in story form.
— Eli Of Kittim, The Little Book of Revelation: The First Coming of Jesus at the End of Days
Then Joshua warned the people, "You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy and jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.
— Anonymous
you may always find good books to read but the best and the ultimate book to read is the Holy Bible
— Ernest Agyemang Yeboah, Distinctive Footprints of Life: Where Are You Heading Towards?
The modern belief that highly advanced civilizations from other planets are visiting the Earth via spacecraft is a ruse. If real, they are beings created apart from the procreative processes established for life on Earth (Gen. 1). And since they are not direct creations of God Himself, their origins must be sought from other sources.
— Jeffrey W. Mardis, What Dwells Beyond: The Bible Believer's Handbook to Understanding Life in the Universe - Second Edition
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
— Anonymous, Holy Bible: NIV - Student Bible
President Josiah Bartlet: Good. I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination.Dr. Jenna Jacobs: I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does.President Josiah Bartlet: Yes, it does. Leviticus.Dr. Jenna Jacobs: 18:22.President Josiah Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I had you here. I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important 'cause we've got a lot of sports fans in this town: Touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing: While you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits.
— Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing Script Book
Faithfulness to God requires your obedience, even when it’s difficult.
— Jim George
God’s Word is the ultimate beauty treatment for every woman.
— Elizabeth George
God honors you when you take a stand for what is right.
— Jim George
The sacred exists only at the expense of the truth.
— Mark   Russell
Those who devote themselves to the study of Sacred Scripture should always remember that the various hermeneutical approaches have their own philosophical underpinnings, which need to be carefully evaluated before they are applied to the sacred texts.
— John Paul II, Fides et Ratio: On the Relationship Between Faith and Reason
You didn't learn the Bible as a Fundamentalist. You learned fragments of Old Testament legalism mixed with Behaviorism & Nietzschean ethics
— Jeri Massi
If you read the bible from cover to cover you will want to start it all over again. You find something new each time.
— Amanda Penland
The only wrong way to read the Bible is to not read it at all.
— Elizabeth George, A Woman's Guide to Making Right Choices
If we have a relationship with Jesus Christ and believe the Bible to be the Word of God, then we have no room for wallowing in the swamp of self-pity.
— Lois Mowday Rabey, Snare: Understanding Emotional and Sexual Entanglements
I love to read books. I love to read anything really, even the back of the cereal box.But there is nothing that will ignite your soul like reading God’s Word.
— Rachel Wojnarowski
So these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the best one of these is love." I Corinthians 13:13
— Anonymous
You must realize...that the men of the Valley have built their houses and brought up their families without help from others, without a word from the Government. Their lives have been ordered from birth by the Bible. From it they took their instructions. They had no other guidance, and no other law. If it has produced hypocrites and pharisees, the fault is in the human race. We are not all angels. Our fathers upheld good conduct and rightful dealing by strictness, but it is in Man Adam to be slippery, and many are as slimy as the adder. The wonder is to me that the men of the Valley are as they are, and not barbarians at all.I was sorry for Meillyn Lewis, too. But that session of the deacons was helpful as a preventative. It was cruel, but it is more cruel to allow misconduct to flourish without check.
— Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley
The bible is an instruction book you don't want to skip reading.
— Amanda Penland
Make sure you know the Bible well enough to figure out if what someone says is fact or their own opinions. If you don't it could lead you in the wrong direction.
— Amanda Penland
When he found a very valuable pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it
— Holy Bible Matthew 13 46
Ever notice how the abbreviation for Testament is Test? I noticed this when I woke up and saw the tabs on my bible. You know that's true in lots of ways. The Old Test. tells about people like Moses, Job and more being tested. In the New Test You have people like Paul, and even Jesus. We as Christians are to study for our Tests in our lives. Most of all we need to study for our final Exam.
— Amanda Penland
A light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never overcome it.
— John the Evangelist
If you believe the Bible is true, you ought to know that demons are real. The Bible is filled with references of evil and demons, and Christ repeatedly cast out demons, so I believe the universe is much more complex and mysterious than it may appear to our senses.
— D.L. Koontz, Crossing Into The Mystic
Sola scriptura means at least this: that the church's proclamation is always subject to potential correction from the canon. It is for this reason that we resist simply collapsing the text into the tradition of its interpretation and performance.
— Kevin J. Vanhoozer, The Drama of Doctrine
Everything bad in the Old Testament (and there's a lot) is there to point out our sin, while everything good in the Old Testament is there to point us to our Savior.
— Martin Luther
The biblical account of Noah's Ark and the Flood is perhaps the most implausible story for fundamentalists to defend. Where, for example, while loading his ark, did Noah find penguins and polar bears in Palestine?
— Judith Hayes
Just as at sea those who are carried away from the direction of the harbor bring themselves back on course by a clear sign, on seeing a tall beacon light or some mountain peak coming into view, so Scripture may guide those adrift on the sea of the life back into the harbor of the divine will.
— Gregory of Nyssa
Even a poor translator couldn't kill a style that moves with such narrative clarity.
— William Zinsser
Scripture offers the unique access to the story of redemption and then, in turn, funds tradition, reason and experience, as God's Word is remembered, experienced, and thought about.
— Clark H. Pinnock, Tracking The Maze: Finding Our Way Through Modern Theology From An Evangelical Perspective
As the Epic Film, Noah, debuts this weekend, those of you who have read Samrajni of Pemako know about the Noah subplot in the novel.Yes, Safiya, the protagonist is distantly related to Noah...
— Roy C. Marien
As the epic film, Noah, debuts this weekend, those of you who have read Samrajni of Pemako know about the Noah subplot in the novel.Yes, Safiya the protagonist is distantly related to Noah...
— Roy C. Marien, Samrajni of Pemako
I'm a believer and I believe there is a more knowledgeable supreme being who created earth. I'm not surprise when I read the bible Psalm 14:1 which said ~ the fool says in his heart there is no God.
— Uzoma Nnadi
Any serious reading of the Bible means personal involvement in it, not symbol mental agreement with abstract propositions. And involvement is dangerous, because it leaves one open to unforeseen conclusions.
— Megan McKenna, The New Stations of the Cross: The Way of the Cross According to Scripture
In the Bible, one often confronts real antinomies (equal but opposing truths). But in life one never does and always has options in difficult situations ...however uncomfortable may be their consequences. Satisfice in the circumstances and get on with your life! ~ © gfp '42™
— Gary Patton
Once again the Scriptures are a lodestar, a benchmark, the plumb line steadies us and steers us clear of what is happening in the world and gives us a glimpse of history and politics, economics and daily experiences from God's point of view. Going back to this mother lode of wisdom and knowledge, inspired by God, brings grace and further insight not found in other devotional materials.
— Megan McKenna, The New Stations of the Cross: The Way of the Cross According to Scripture
If you need a handbook for praise and worship, read Psalms.
— Jim George
For who could better describe the eye than God, Who made it? But as it is clearer than the day that God has left a good deal to our own efforts ... we should really follow in these things the thread of nature, by which first principles, reason and daily experience lead us. Therefore, He prompts the minds of great men to inquire into the nature which He created, and He furthers and conducts their studies. These things must be enough to us, and from Holy Scripture we should seek in the first place only those things which are necessary to salvation.
— Georg Joachim Rheticus
There is a difference between criticizing people and criticizing a people's uninformed ideals. That is, unless one defines himself or others by their ideals, then he is offended, and usually offended secretly. Because oddly enough, this person is the same person quickest to resort to dismissive name-calling, such as 'bigot' or 'zealot'. And oddly enough, he is always the one, the 'open-minded' one, who adamantly protests for, not only himself, but others not to listen to any type of scholarly theological truth inherently for the sake of his own personal, moral beliefs.
— Criss Jami, Killosophy
What is it the Bible teaches us? — repine, cruelty, and murder. What is it the Testament teaches us? — to believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married; and the belief of this debauchery is called faith.
— Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
The Bible is a whole series of highways, all leading toward God. And when the text has been illuminated and the believer of the text knows that God is the end toward which he is moving, then that man has real faith.
— A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God: A Journey Into the Father's Heart
Religion is a subject which, if the believers used the same "reasoning" to address problems at work as they use to defend their beliefs, they'd soon find themselves unemployed. And if they found their child applying that kind of "reasoning" on a homework assignment they'd wonder what the hell was the wrong with their child.
— Dave Champion
I have furnished myself with a Bible and Testament; and I can say also that I have found them to be much worse books than I had conceived. If I have erred in any thing, in the former part of the Age of Reason, it has been by speaking better of some parts than they deserved.
— Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
Voltaire expected that within fifty years of his lifetime there would not be one Bible in the world. His house is now a distribution centre for Bibles in many languages.
— Corrie ten Boom
The notion that writings created at a time when men huddled in superstitious terror from an eclipse can possibly be a credible representation of the Creator (whatever that word means to each person) is so absurd as to border on delusional.
— Dave Champion
In your country and mine we should have the privilege of making fun of this kind of morality, but it would be unkind to do it here.Many of these people have the reasoning faculty, but no one uses it in religious matters.
— Mark Twain
The ruach blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but cannot tell from where it comes or where it goes. God is He, He is Ruach (Spirit) and Ruach is speaking to our ruach (spirit) revealing great mysteries, knowledge, wisdom, understanding and joy.
— Sipporah Joseph, Spirit Tales Spirit Tale One: The Wheelwork: Don't You Know You're Not Alone!
Once upon a time, a king came to earth to tell stories, and the stories contained the mystery of eternal life.
— Jared C. Wilson, The Storytelling God: Seeing the Glory of Jesus in His Parables
There are matters in that book, said to be done by the express command of God, that are as shocking to humanity, and to every idea we have of moral justice, as any thing done by Robespierre, by Carrier, by Joseph le Bon, in France, by the English government in the East Indies, or by any other assassin in modern times. When we read in the books ascribed to Moses, Joshua, etc., that they (the Israelites) came by stealth upon whole nations of people, who, as the history itself shews, had given them no offence; that they put all those nations to the sword; that they spared neither age nor infancy; that they utterly destroyed men, women and children; that they left not a soul to breathe; expressions that are repeated over and over again in those books, and that too with exulting ferocity; are we sure these things are facts? are we sure that the Creator of man commissioned those things to be done? Are we sure that the books that tell us so were written by his authority?
— Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
To me God’s voice and inspiration is stronger, of greater importance and authority than that of any fairy or any other spirit like creature from above or below earth. My Spirit Tales are stories based on truth and inspired by His writings.Stories about YHWH and His great wonderful acts are definitely not fairytales but Spirit Tales.
— Sipporah Joseph, Spirit Tales Spirit Tale One: The Wheelwork: Don't You Know You're Not Alone!
Only God can write a story that resonates not just in the power of the imagination or the heart or the mind, but in the very soul; only God can write a story that brings dead things to life.
— Jared C. Wilson, The Storytelling God: Seeing the Glory of Jesus in His Parables
I will praise thee
—  for I am fearfully and wonderfully made -Psalm 139:14
Claiming that a person who views the Bible as nothing but a compendium of myths is thus denying the existence of a Creator is like claiming a person who rejects the junk science behind ‘man-made global warming’ is denying the existence of atmosphere.
— Dave Champion
If you feel that without a certain person, or position, or achievement, your life would be not worth living, you may be deeper into idolatry than you think.
— Colin S. Smith, Jonah: Navigating a God-Centered Life
Life to me is a beautiful gift from from AdoShem that should not be wasted but shared with others. Including amazing revelations that are meant to be seen and meant to be told for such a time as this!
— Sipporah Joseph
Messianic Judaism is not Christianity.
— Sipporah Joseph
Jewish Learning Is Living!
— Sipporah Joseph
The greatest proof that the Bible is inspired is that it has withstood so much bad preaching!
— A.T. Robertson
In serving as a pastor for over thirty years, I have seen some remarkable transformations and I’ve seen some big disappointments. I have two observations. First, where there has been lasting change, the common factor, in every case, is that the Word of God has had a significant entrance into the person’s life. Second, where godly change has failed to get started, or has slowly unraveled, the common factor, in every case, is that change has been attempted without significant engagement in the Scriptures.
— Colin S. Smith, Jonah: Navigating a God-Centered Life
The Bible is the Word of God: supernatural in origin, eternal in duration, inexpressible in valor, infinite in scope, regenerative in power, infallible in authority, universal in interest, personal in application, inspired in totality. Read it through, write it down, pray it in, work it out, and then pass it on. Truly it is the Word of God. It brings into man the personality of God; it changes the man until he becomes the epistle of God. It transforms his mind, changes his character, takes him on from grace to grace, and gives him an inheritance in the Spirit. God comes in, dwells in, walks in, talks through, and sups with him.
— Smith Wigglesworth
There is talk of a new astrologer [Nicolaus Copernicus] who wants to prove that the earth moves and goes around instead of the sky, the sun, the moon, just as if somebody were moving in a carriage or ship might hold that he was sitting still and at rest while the earth and the trees walked and moved. But that is how things are nowadays: when a man wishes to be clever he must . . . invent something special, and the way he does it must needs be the best! The fool wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside-down. However, as Holy Scripture tells us, so did Joshua bid the sun to stand still and not the earth.[Martin Luther stating his objection to heliocentrism due to his Scripture's geocentrism]
— Martin Luther
Who will venture to place the authority of Copernicus above that of the Holy Spirit?[Lutheran theologian Abraham Calovius illustrating his objection to heliocentrism due to the Bible's support of geocentrism]
— Abraham Calovius
Your tragedy is God’s opportunity to show Himself faithful.
— Jim George
[They] pervert the course of nature [by saying] the sun does not move and that it is the earth that revolves and that it turns.[John Calvin illustrating his opposition to heliocentrism in a sermon due to the Bible's support of geocentrism]
— John Calvin
ON GETTING DRUNK:"Those who are Christians are to see to it that they are grateful for grace and redemption and conduct themselves modestly, moderately, and soberly, so that one does not go on living the swinish life that goes on in the filthy world...."  "...In my time it was considered a great shame among the nobility [drunkenness]. Now they are worse than the citizens and peasants;...We preach, but who stops it? Those who should stop it do it themselves; the princes even more. Therefore Germany is a land of hogs and a filthy people which debauches its body and its life. If you were going to paint it, you would have to paint a pig. "This gluttony is inundating us like an ocean....We are the laughingstock of all the other countries, who look upon us as filthy pigs;...It is possible to tolerate a little elevation, when a man takes a drink or two too much after working hard and when he is feeling low. This must be called a frolic. But to sit day and night, pouring it in and pouring it out again, is piggish. This is not a human way of living. not to say Christian, but rather a pig's life." - Martin Luther
— Martin Luther
It is through our communion with the Holy Spirit that we are able to apprehend the things that God has given us, through our union with Jesus Christ. If you haven’t taken the time to invite Him in, I advise you to do so now . Begin by seeking God specifically concerning marriage. Ask Him to prepare and position you, so that when it is time, you will be found in the right place, doing the work of God. Believe in His willingness to guide you. Trust in His wisdom and power in bringing His promises to pass. Ask Him to 'speak on' concerning your mate and your future. You may be surprised at how eager He is to answer.
— L.E. Green
Adversity gives you the opportunity to exhibit godly character.
— Jim George
I don't know why, but the Bible always seems to come to me in my time of need, even with the exact words.
— Rochunga Pudaite, The Dime That Lasted Forever
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
— Anonymous
Take all of this Book upon reason that you can, and the balance on faith, and you will live and die a happier man.
— Elton Trueblood, Abraham Lincoln: Theologian of American Anguish
He (her son) is just like his father, doesn't listen to a word I say!
— Logan Crowe, Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls
He (Lincoln) saw how intellectually and spiritually impoverished a person would be if he was limited to his own personal resources. The Bible, he recognized, vastly enlarged the area of experience on which an individual might depend.
— Elton Trueblood, Abraham Lincoln: Theologian of American Anguish
...Bud forth as the rose planted by the brooks of waters. Give ye a sweet odor as frankincense. Send forth flowers, as the lily...and bring forth leaves in grace, and praise with canticles, and bless the Lord in his works." —Ecclesiasticus 39:17-19
— Douai-Rheims Bible
When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.
— 1 Corinthians 13 11
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.
— Anonymous
Every great scientific truth goes through three stages. First, people say it conflicts with the Bible. Next they say it has been discovered before. Lastly they say they always believed it.
— Louis Agassiz
Human life is created in God's image, and that makes it sacred.
— Colin S. Smith, The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life
The Bible said, as Chris quoted one memorable day, there was a time foreverything. I figured my time for happiness was just ahead, waitingfor me.
— V.C. Andrews, Flowers in the Attic
Upon being given a Bible, President Abraham Lincoln replied, "In regard to this Great book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man.
— Elton Trueblood, Abraham Lincoln: Lessons in Spiritual Leadership
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)
— Bible. New International Version
Sin is a power; wherever it is given room, it will grow in strength, and it will take you where you do not want to go.
— Colin S. Smith, Unlocking the Bible Story: Old Testament Study Guide 1
Sometimes, when you have spent a long time rejecting the gifts of the Spirit and come to believe in them, you almost feel as if you are being born again. You feel as if you have a whole new Bible. By that latter statement I mean that the Gospels and Acts come alive for you in a way that they never have before. Things that you had relegated to the first century now become a possibility for today's church.
— Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit: Discovering How God Speaks and Heals Today
Not taking the Bible (or other texts based on 'revealed truths') literally leaves it up to the reader to cherry-pick elements for belief. There exists no guide for such cherry-picking, and zero religious sanction for it.
— Jeffrey Tayler
[..] as midnight inevitably came and went without the horsemen of the apocalypse making an appearance, Clara surprised herself by falling into a melancholy.For ridding oneself of faith is like boiling sea-water to retrieve the salt something is gained but something is lost. Though her friends Merlin, Wan-Si, et al. clapped her on the back and congratulated her for exorcizing those fervid dreams of perdition and redemption, Clara quietly mourned the warmer touch she had waited for these nineteen years, the all-enveloping bear hug of the Saviour, the One who was Alpha and Omega, both the beginning and the end; the man who was meant to take her away from all this, from the listless reality of life in a ground-floor flat in Lambeth. What now for Clara? Ryan would find another fad; Darcus need only turn to the other channel; for Hortense another date would of course materialize, along with more leaflets, ever more faith. But Clara was not like Hortense. Yet a residue, left over from the evaporation of Clara's faith, remained. She still wished for a saviour. She still wished for a man to whisk her away, to choose her above others so that she might Walk in white with Him: for [she] was worthy. Revelation 3:4.
— Zadie Smith, White Teeth
I think there's something to the idea that the divine dwells more easily in text than in images. Text allows for more abstract thought, more of a separation between you and the physical world, more room for you and God to meet in the middle. I find it hard enough to conceive of an infinite being. Imagine if those original scrolls came in the form of a graphic novel with pictures of the Lord? I'd never come close to communing with the divine.
— A.J. Jacobs, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible
The Bible is different because it is the Word of God, by which He speaks to me. Disagreeing with the Bible would be disagreeing with God. So when I read the Bible I want to place myself ‘under’ it. I want to receive the Scripture in such a way that over time, my thinking, feeling, choosing, believing and behaving will be molded by the Word God is speaking into my life. I don’t want to critique the Scriptures; I want them to critique me and change me.
— Colin S. Smith, Jonah: Navigating a God-Centered Life
Burn God's words into your heart, His thoughts into your mind and His ways into your actions; and you'll have a Spirit-filled life.
— Alisa Hope Wagner
God is well able to turn your tragedies into triumphs.
— Jim George
You are being fashioned into one of two images, either God's or the worlds. Make a choice!
— Jim George
Explaining temptation by saying “God is testing me” or “Satan is attacking me” positions “me” either as the victim, if I am defeated, or the hero, if I prevail. But confessing that “My heart is desperately wicked” provides no such comforts. It heads off all attempts to shift blame, and cuts down all the pretensions of spiritual pride.
— Colin S. Smith, Jonah: Navigating a God-Centered Life
The person who learns to number his or her days gains a heart of wisdom (Ps. 90:12).
— Colin S. Smith, Jonah: Navigating a God-Centered Life
He is the Creator and the sustainer of all things. He is the unchanging, self-existent God, and that means that He depends on nobody. He is neither helped by our faith nor hindered by our unbelief.
— Colin S. Smith, The 10 Greatest Struggles of Your Life
There Is Only One Gospel... But The Preaching Is Different.
— Cyc Jouzy
But what does he profit if the man gains the world but loses his soul?
— Anonymous