“Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected.”
― Charles Lamb, The Life, Letters and Writings of Charles Lamb

Should a conflict arise between the witness of the Holy Spirit to the fundamental truth of the Christian faith and beliefs based on argument and evidence, then it is the former which must take precedence over the latter, not vice versa. - William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith

Marcel Proust

Peter Matthiessen

-Apocalypse of Peter

Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus an Idolater and Scorner of Christians

Chapter 2 of his work To Autolycus: That the Eyes of the Soul Must Be Purged Ere God Can Be Seen.

But if you say, “Show me your God,” I would reply, “Show me yourself, and I will show you my God.” Show, then, that the eyes of your soul are capable of seeing, and the ears of your heart able to hear; for as those who look with the eyes of the body perceive earthly objects and what concerns this life, and discriminate at the same time between things that differ, whether light or darkness, white or black, deformed or beautiful, well-proportioned and symmetrical or disproportioned and awkward, or monstrous or mutilated; and as in like manner also, by the sense of hearing, we discriminate either sharp, or deep, or sweet sounds; so the same holds good regarding the eyes of the soul and the ears of the heart, that it is by them we are able to behold God. For God is seen by those who are enabled to see Him when they have the eyes of their soul opened: for all have eyes; but in some they are overspread, and do not see the light of the sun. Yet it does not follow, because the blind do not see, that the light of the sun does not shine; but let the blind blame themselves and their own eyes. So also you, O man, have the eyes of your soul overspread by your sins and evil deeds. As a burnished mirror, so ought man to have his soul pure. When there is rust on the mirror, it is not possible that a man's face be seen in the mirror; so also when there is sin in a man, such a man cannot behold God. Do you, therefore, show me yourself, whether you are not an adulterer, or a fornicator, or a thief, or a robber, or a purloiner; whether you do not corrupt boys; whether you are not insolent, or a slanderer, or passionate, or envious, or proud, or supercilious; whether you are not a brawler, or covetous, or disobedient to parents; and whether you do not sell your children; for to those who do these things God is not manifest, unless they have first cleansed themselves from all impurity. All these things, then, involve you in darkness, as when a filmy defluxion on the eyes prevents one from beholding the light of the sun: thus also do iniquities, man, involve you in darkness, so that you cannot see God.

- Apocalypse of Paul

Woody Allen - Sleeper

What utter nonsense.

Isn't he implicitly admitting here that faith will, at least occasionally, fall to argument and evidence? If not, what is the point of even stating this?

Driving shotgun along Lake Tahoe after waking up from a cardrive pretty long with my buddy eric cotto in the drivers seat and adam stoldal in the rear i murmeled:


' Isn't mountain dew supposed to keep you wake!? '

"Don't feel embarrassed if you've never heard of William Lane Craig. He parades himself as a philosopher, but none of the professors of philosophy whom I consulted had heard his name either. Perhaps he is a "theologian". For some years now, Craig has been increasingly importunate in his efforts to cajole, harass or defame me into a debate with him. I have consistently refused, in the spirit, if not the letter, of a famous retort by the then president of the Royal Society: "That would look great on your CV, not so good on mine".

-Richard Dawkins

N.T. Wright in a blogalogue to Bart Ehrman:

"Underneath a lot of this I resonate with a line from Bonhoeffer that has haunted me ever since I heard it as a student: that the primal sin of humanity, as in Genesis 3, is to put the knowledge of good and evil before the knowledge of God. This could just be a shrug of the shoulders (‘Who am I to understand such mysteries?’), but it could and I think should be something more and richer: a recognition that the sort of creatures we are are never going to be in a position to set a moral bar and insist that God – if there is a creator God – jump over it. It is like recognising that the telescope I have, while very good at enabling me to see the moon, Jupiter, Saturn and other glories, won’t ever let me see a black hole, or several other things that the high-energy physicists and astronomers tell me are there. The instrument in question – my creaturely and innately rebellious humanity – can’t pick up the full mysteries of God and the world. Of course, there is continuity between God’s view of good and evil and ours, or it would be chaos come again. But we are never in a position to judge God (if God there be). That’s not a pious platitude, but a rather obvious ontological reality."

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/blogalogue...#ixzz1xjjgGGXQ

Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility

"Jesus did not believe, however, that one could be saved by apologetic evidence alone. He understood the difference between belief that, which requires evidence, and belief in, which involves an act of the will. He knew evidence was the ground for belief that something is true, but he also knew that evidence alone was not sufficient to produce belief unto salvation."

Norman L. Geisler and Patrick Zukeran, The Apologetics of Jesus

Wikipedia on pidyon-haben:

The pidyon haben, (Hebrew: פדיון הבן‎) or redemption of the first born son,[1] is a mitzvah in Judaism whereby a Jewish firstborn son is redeemed by use of silver coins from his birth-state of sanctity.

Quote: "The redemption price was set at 5 shekels for each of 273 surplus firstborn Levites."

The quote is based on Numbers passage 3:49.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pidyon_haben

John F. Kennedy

Tertullian - Apology (c. 190 A.D.)

NotReady,

I feel like you always post just a portion of the quote. And I never really understand any points the quote might be trying to convey. I'm probably dumb.

I'm just trying to save space - I don't leave out anything contextual that would change the meaning of the quote.

The one from Tertullian was amazing to me because it shows an awareness of natural law from a theologian in the 2nd century A.D. I knew people were aware of natural law then but didn't know anyone had stated it so explicitly, though I can find some quotes from Augustine, 200 years later. Tertullian was the first significant Christian theologian, called the Father of the Latin Church, and his work affected theology for centuries following.

C.S. Lewis - Religion: Reality or Substitute

Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary by Warren W. Wiersbe

Leviticus 13

Concern. Leprosy was a feared disease for which there was no known cure. God had concern for the leper and made certain he or she was treated with dignity. God gave the priest all the information he needed to detect the disease and make sure it did not spread. How tragic it would be to isolate someone who was not really infected or to declare clean somebody who was unclean.

Characteristics. There is more to this law than a lesson of symptoms in the Bible, leprosy is a picture of sin. (Isa. 1:4-6). The disease was not on the surface, like sin, it was "deeper than the skin." (The phrase is used ten times.) Leprosy spreads in the system and makes the person unclean, so much so that he or she has to be isolated. "He shall dwell alone" (v. 46). How like sin!

Compassion. Our Lord had compassion on the lepers, touched them, and made them clean (Mark 1:40-45) and He gave his disciples power to cleanse the lepers (Matt. 10:6). What Jesus did for all of us is beautifully pictured in the next chapter. -end quote

** Of course, the next chapter is Leviticus 14.

Three quotes from somebody who could really think about religion:

If the Holy Spirit can take over the subconscious with our consent and cooperation, then we have almighty Power working at the basis of our lives, then we can do anything we ought to do, go anywhere we ought to go, and be anything we ought to be.


In conversion you are not attached primarily to an order, nor to an institution, nor a movement, nor a set of beliefs, nor a code of action - you are attached primarily to a Person, and secondarily to these other things.



Our intentions may be very good, but, because the intelligence is limited, the action may turn out to be a mistake - a mistake, but not necessarily a sin, for sin comes out of a wrong intention.

E. Stanley Jones
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/au...IGvUEK5yIyp.99

Who was E. Stanley Jones?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._Stanley_Jones

Gerald Massey

“Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy.”
― Warren Wiersbe