"If one is faced with the choice of a life compromised by sin, or a death for righteousness, he does not HAVE to live. A man way choose to starve to death, rather than steal food. On the anvil of this wilderness experience is hammered out Jesus' decision: 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to accomplish His work.' (John 4:34) It is far better to starve for sake of a right principle than to eat food misappropriated."
- Harold Fowler
“As an atheist my argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?” "the silence of the inspired apostles, on any theme, is to be sacredly and unscrupulously regarded as much as the positive teaching" "Jonah was a 'sign' to the Ninevites in that he appeared as one delivered from death. It was the knowledge of this which attested his preaching and caused their repentance. The point of the comparison with Jonah lies, therefore, in 'the authorization of the divine messenger by deliverance from death'. Jesus' preaching, which his hearers are rejecting, will in due course be attested by a still greater deliverance; therefore their condemnation will be the greater (verse 41). "In the argument concerning moral evil, atheists claim that an all-loving, all-powerful, all-knowing God cannot exist alongside moral evil. In other words, because God does not intervene to fix the problem of moral evil, he is immoral, and thus, as an essentially moral being, nonexistent. Yet, as we will see, many atheists will contradict this argument against moral evil by going on to label as immoral the very interventions God would naturally use to fix the problem of moral evil. Why are these divine interventions immoral? The reason divine intervention becomes a problem for these atheists stems from the value they place on human autonomy. Divine intervention suppresses self-rule...One regiment marches under a banner that reads "God Should Fix Everything"; another holds high a banner that says, "God shouldn't tough anything."" “The Master taught the inquiring Nicodemus that admission into God’s kingdom was by the new birth. “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God… Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3-5.) Human wisdom would never have chosen a birth of water and of the Spirit as the entrance requirements. This is forcefully evidenced by the total deviation that present day denominationalism practices toward the new birth. Denominationalism neither understands nor practices this new birth. Men like Billy Graham will talk of the new birth in one moment, deny the reality of a present kingdom in the next breath, and finally predicate salvation upon faith only, which is not the new birth at all. He counsels people to be born again but has no kingdom for them to enter when the birth is finalized! Graham understands neither the kingdom nor the new birth. And yet some of our brethren consider him a gospel preacher!" "A book is not the Word of God because it is accepted by the people of God. Rather, it is accepted by the people of God because it is the Word of God." In the order of printing, the first verse of the Bible is Genesis 1:1; but in the order of history and spiritual development it is Genesis 12:1: "Live so that when it comes your time to die, that's all you have to do." "No man has the right to expect his position to be accepted or respected if he cannot produce adequate evidence to substantiate it. If one holds a position he thinks valid and sound, then he must present the evidence or logical argumentation warranting the conclusions he has drawn. Simple affirming that he "believes" a certain thing to be true is not enough. A Christian preacher or teacher has no more right to expect his assertions to be accepted without substantiation than does an agnostic or atheistic professor." - |
Nathan Battey
We would like to share some worth-while quotes from various authors to make you pause and consider different aspects of what God's Word teaches. Archives
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