Failure to believe stems from moral failure to recognize the truth, not from want of evidence, but from willful neglect or distortion of the evidence.
Interpretation
Believing in the truth requires moral integrity and a willingness to acknowledge evidence, rather than ignoring or twisting facts.
This quote by D. A. Carson emphasizes that the root of disbelief is often not a lack of evidence, but rather a conscious choice to distort or overlook the truth. It suggests that our moral compass plays a critical role in our ability to accept and recognize reality, highlighting the psychological barriers that can prevent individuals from embracing truths that may be uncomfortable or challenging to their beliefs.
In practice
In a discussion about the importance of honesty in journalism, this quote can illustrate how personal integrity affects the portrayal of facts.
Both God's love and God's wrath are ratcheted up in the move from the old covenant to the new, from the Old Testament to the New. These themes barrel along through redemptive history, unresolved, until they come to a resounding climax - in the cross.
It is a cheap zeal that reserves its passions to combat only the sins and temptations of others.
Many of us in our praying are like nasty little boys who ring front door bells and run away before anyone answers.
There is a certain kind of maturity that can be attained only through the discipline of suffering.
The kingdom of heaven is worth infinitely more than the cost of discipleship, and those who know where the treasure lies joyfully abandon everything else to secure it.
Imagination is a God-given gift; but if it is fed dirt by the eye, it will be dirty. All sin, not least sexual sin, begins with the imagination. Therefore what feeds the imagination is of maximum importance in the pursuit of kingdom righteousness.
Do you know this Sanskrit Shloka: "Let those who are versed in the ethical codes praise or blame, let Lakshmi, the goddess of Fortune, come or go wherever she wisheth, let death overtake him today or after a century, the wise man never swerves from the path of rectitude." Let people praise you or blame you, let fortune smile or frown upon you, let your body fall today or after a Yuga, see that you do not deviate from the path of Truth.
You know people just assume, 'Well, all my life I'll be a worrier.' That doesn't have to be true. There's a way to drink from God's presence so much that worry begins to dissipate.
We usually know what we can do, but temptation shows us who we are.
Always be willing to look at both sides of the argument. Understanding the other side is the best way to strengthen your own.
Experts are just trained dogs.
This silence, this moment, every moment, If it's genuinely inside you, brings what you need.
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