To be spiritually dead is to be diabolically alive
R. C. SproulRead
Why would the disciples invent a God whose holiness was more terrifying than the forces of nature that provoked them to invent a god in the first place?
Interpretation
This quote questions the rationale behind creating a fearsome deity when natural phenomena already inspire fear.
R. C. Sproul's quote challenges the notion of why early believers would conceive of a God whose attributes are even more daunting than the natural elements that initially drove them to create a divine figure. It suggests a paradox in religious belief, where the invention of a deity intended to provide assurance and explanation actually embodies greater dread than the very forces of nature that beg for understanding.
In practice
In a theological debate about the nature of God.
To be spiritually dead is to be diabolically alive
Iβve often wondered where Jesus would apply His hastily made whip if He were to visit our culture. My guess is that it would not be money-changing tables in the temple that would feel His wrath, but the display racks in Christian bookstores.
The real crisis of worship today is not that the preaching is paltry or that it's too drafty in church. It is that people have no sense of the presence of God, and if they have no sense of His presence, how can they be moved to express the deepest feelings of their souls to honor, revere, worship, and glorify God?
We talk about predestination because the Bible talks about predestination. If we desire to build our theology on the Bible, we run head on into this concept. We soon discover that John Calvin did not invent it.
Without God man has no reference point to define himself.
I do not want to drive across a bridge designed by an engineer who believed the numbers in structural stress models are relative truths.
Las Vegas is the only place I know where money really talks--it says, Goodbye.
Do you ever suddenly find it strange to be yourself?
If we return to the two faces of individualism - individualism as the spur of energy, initiative, and imagination; and individualism as the limitless struggle of all against all - it can be seen how the two practices emerge from and limit the extend of the disequilibrating impact of the contradiction involved in the geocultural agenda.
Once we are self-aware, we must choose purposes and principles to live by; otherwise the vacuum will be filled, and we will lose our self-awareness and become like groveling animals who live primarily for survival and propagation. People who exist on that level aren't living; they are "being lived".
The only devils in the world are those running around in our own hearts - that is where the battle should be fought.
How can I make difference so that I may bring peace to this world that I love and cherish so much? A name flickers instantly in my mind.
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