I’m a quote junkie. I’ve saved hundreds of them, geekily organized into a categories. What follows aren’t my favorites, per se (I have too many). Consider this more like “this season’s iTunes playlists,” except that it’s quotes that fit the three broad categories of the podcast. And check back, I’ll have a new playlist playing soon.
NOTE: In episode #933 I mentioned I’d share the visual image quotes here. My bad. Haven’t figured out how to do that yet. In the meantime, you can copy them from our Instagram account here. Thanks for understanding.
Fall 2019
Christianity
If Jesus was right, then the critics are wrong, despite the pretense of having scholarship on their side. For if Jesus is the Son of God, then it is a matter of Lordship, not a matter of scholarship. ~ Norman Geisler, Twelve Points that Show Christianity is True: A Handbook on Defending the Christian Faith
Folks, if we could lose our salvation, we would. ~ Voddie Baucham
But (evil) isn’t God’s problem—He is only good and doesn’t do any evil. It’s humankind’s problem because we are the ones who do evil. With that perspective in mind, the question changes from “Why does God allow evil?” to “Why does God allow humans?” ~ Clay Jones, Why Does God Allow Evil?: Compelling Answers for Life’s Toughest Questions
What does it mean to find the truth in an entertainment driven society? If all you get out of life is what you see on TV, you will be dumb. And it is a sin to be dumb. ~ John Stonestreet
When we fall into problems with Christianity, it’s not an operating system problem, it’s an anomalous problem committed by misinterpretation and sin. ~ John Mark Reynolds
Forgiveness is offered as a gift; you have to resolve in your heart to forgive. Forgiveness is given in the Christian faith, it is not earned. But the only way that forgiveness can be received is when there is true repentance, and true repentance only happens when you are genuinely sorry. And you can only be genuinely sorry when to admit that you were wrong. That's why it is truly humbling. That's why there is no room for pride or arrogance or boasting in the Christian faith. To truly come to Christ is to be humbled. ~ Michael Ramsden
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. ~ Galileo Galilei, Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina
The deepest reality is personal; the deepest need is spiritual. ~ Ravi Zacharias
Culture
For more and more Americans, the other side isn’t merely misguided in the extreme. It’s evil in the absolute, and virtue is measured by the starkness with which that evil is labeled and reviled. There are emotional satisfactions to this. There is also a terrible price. ~ Frank Bruni, I’m OK - You’re Pure Evil, New York Times
I feel my body weakened by the years
As people turn to gods with cruel design
Is it that they fear the pain of death
Or could it be they fear the joy of life
~ Toad the Wet Sprocket, Pray Your Gods
Most people are not on a Truth quest, they're on a happiness quest. Whatever is going to make them happy they're going to believe. ~ Frank Turek
Alice came to a fork in the road. “Which road do I take?” she asked.
”Where do you want to go?” responded the Cheshire Cat.
“I don’t know,” Alice answered.
“Then,” said the Cat, “It doesn’t matter.”
~ Lewis Carroll, Alice In Wonderland
Let me summarize my views on what modern evolutionary biology tells us loud and clear…There are no gods, no purposes, no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end for me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning to life, and no free will for humans, either. ~ William B. Provine, Origins Research, 16, no. 1 (1994), pg 9.
Death seed, blind man's greed
Poets' starving children bleed
Nothing he's got he really needs
Twenty first century schizoid man
~ King Crimson, 21st Century Schizoid Man
You study the history of Christian martyrdom. They were murdered, they were killed, not ultimately for being Christians, though we know that's the reason behind it, but for being enemies of the state. ~ Gavin Peacock
People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive. ~Blaise Pascal
I had motive for not wanting the world to have meaning; consequently assumed that it had none, and was able to without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. The philosopher who finds no meaning in the world is not concerned exclusively with a problem in pure metaphysics, he is also concerned to prove that there is no valid reason why he personally should not do as he wants to do, or why his friends should not seize political power and govern in the way that they find most advantageous to themselves…For myself, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation, sexual and political. ~ Aldous Huxley, Ends and Means
Connectorship
Apologetics is not simply about giving answers to other people's questions. It's also about learning to question other people's answers or even question the question itself. ~ Michael Ramsden
Information is cheap. Meaning is expensive. ~ George Dyson
We’re not called to tolerate our neighbor, we’re called to love our neighbor. ~ Tim Muehlhoff
Ministry is when the people who hear you, don't want more of you; they want more of Him because of what you've said. When you point them to God's fire instead of trying to get attention for yourself-that's ministry. ~ Priscilla Shirer
If a watch proves the existence of a watchmaker but the universe does not prove the existence of a great architect, then I consent to be called a fool. ~ Voltaire
We don’t want to be great apologists and crappy human beings. ~ John Mark Reynolds
Apologetics must be carried out with the utmost intellectual integrity (Titus 2:7-8; James 3:1-2). All propaganda, cheap answers, caricatures of non-Christian views, hectoring, and fallacious reasoning must be avoided. ~Douglas Groothuis, A Christian Apologetics Manifesto (19 Ways to Ignite Apologetic Passion)
Connection is the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued. ~ Brene Brown
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously - no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption. ~ C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page. ~Jeff Myers
Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true. The cure for this is first to show that religion is not contrary to reason, but worthy of reverence and respect. Next make it attractive, make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is. ~ Blaise Pascal, Pensees’
If you are communicating the gospel message, you must not only help listeners distinguish between obeying God and disobeying him; you must also make clear the distinction between obeying God as a means of self-salvation and obeying God out of gratitude for an accomplished salvation. You will have to distinguish between general, moralistic religion and gospel Christianity. You will always be placing three ways to live before your listeners. ~ Timothy J. Keller, Center Church: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.