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6236c7d Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. prayer humanity religion god heart inspirational souls weakness Mahatma Gandhi
59e9aea And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. god hope love Anonymous
486c7b8 "If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED music god life kurt vonnegut
ebb763c I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. jesus god C.S. Lewis
9df0084 Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that are gods. dogs religion god shelter atheism cats water food pets Christopher Hitchens
63d5ea7 Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)... There are just some kind of men who - who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results. hatred religion god judgement Harper Lee
cdbc1b2 I sought to hear the voice of God and climbed the topmost steeple, but God declared: "Go down again - I dwell among the people. god love inspirational John Henry Newman
645dc06 God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players [i.e. everybody], to being involved in an obscure and complex variant of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who . god humor gaiman Terry Pratchett
c6f04b9 Parents are like God because you wanna know they're out there, and you want them to think well of you, but you really only call when you need something. god parents Chuck Palahniuk
9e3e075 Sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves. faith god love inspirational Joni Eareckson Tada
4e98adf Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee. christianity jesus religion god heart rest restlessness peace desire longing Augustine of Hippo
7a9fa2f The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. christianity religion god yahweh organized-religion Richard Dawkins
c8d3bf4 I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. religion god purple alice walker
14b9047 "She glared at me like she was about to punch me, but then she did something that surprised me even more. She kissed me. kiss god greek gods Rick Riordan
27c9f5d Above all else, guard your heart for it affects everything else you do. religion bible god inspirational Anonymous
ff0f6ab The great thing to remember is that though our feelings come and go God's love for us does not. god love inspirational C.S. Lewis
884b602 And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history--money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery--the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy. slavery human god religious inspirational c-s-lewis mere-christianity C.S. Lewis
663920a I do not believe in God and I am not an atheist. religion god Albert Camus
68ca579 "Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as the final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God. The argument goes something like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist,'" says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing." "But," says Man, "The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED." "Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic. "Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing." man god h2g2 hitchhiker-s-guide rationalism logic Douglas Adams
87cf9c5 Because here's something else that's weird but true: in the day-to day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship--be it JC or Allah, be it YHWH or the Wiccan Mother Goddess, or the Four Noble Truths, or some inviolable set of ethical principles--is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive. If you worship money and things, if they are where you tap real meaning in life, then you will never have enough, never feel you have enough. It's the truth. Worship your body and beauty and sexual allure and you will always feel ugly. And when time and age start showing, you will die a million deaths before they finally grieve you. On one level, we all know this stuff already. It's been codified as myths, proverbs, cliches, epigrams, parables; the skeleton of every great story. The whole trick is keeping the truth up front in daily consciousness. worship god idols David Foster Wallace
e1d2979 Because God is never cruel, there is a reason for all things. We must know the pain of loss; because if we never knew it, we would have no compassion for others, and we would become monsters of self-regard, creatures of unalloyed self-interest. The terrible pain of loss teaches humility to our prideful kind, has the power to soften uncaring hearts, to make a better person of a good one. understanding loss god purpose Dean Koontz
d5213d3 If there were such a thing as terminal literalism, you'd have died in childhood. god life jace-wayland mortal-instruments Cassandra Clare
96c8332 When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a Religion. religion god Robert M. Pirsig
4c54acf What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God. christianity spirituality god philosophy inspirational christian-living catholicism gift Hans Urs von Balthasar
ec20756 "Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you." god beaver C.S. Lewis
cadc701 Whether or not you believe in God, you must believe this: when we as a species abandon our trust in a power greater than us, we abandon our sense of accountability. Faiths... all faiths... are admonitions that there is something we cannot understand, something to which we are accountable. With faith we are accountable to each other, to ourselves, and to a higher truth. Religion is flawed, but only because man is flawed. The church consists of a brotherhood of imperfect, simple souls wanting only to be a voice of compassion in a world spinning out of control. religion science god Dan Brown
2531315 It takes three to make love, not two: you, your spouse, and God. Without God people only succeed in bringing out the worst in one another. Lovers who have nothing else to do but love each other soon find there is nothing else. Without a central loyalty life is unfinished. lovers marriage relationships christianity spirituality religion god happiness philosophy relationship-with-god unhappy-marriage church expectations Fulton J. Sheen
2b9246b 25 And the Lord spake unto the Angel that guarded the eastern gate, saying 'Where is the flaming sword that was given unto thee?' 26 And the Angel said, 'I had it here only a moment ago, I must have put it down some where, forget my own head next.' 27 And the Lord did not ask him again. heaven god humor Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
6e7d9b6 Down on the lake rosy reflections of celestial vapor appeared, and I said, "God, I love you" and looked to the sky and really meant it. "I have fallen in love with you, God. Take care of us all, one way or the other." To the children and the innocent it's all the same. god spiritual love inspirational Jack Kerouac
bc221ad The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions, we are no longer dealing with God. jesus faith spirituality god Rob Bell
d485cb9 Why is there ever this perverse cruelty in humankind, that makes us hurt most those we love best? pain human god love hurt Jacqueline Carey
c8a3011 You are someone who is different, but who wants to be the same as everyone else. And that in my view is a serious illness. God chose you to be different. Why are you disappointing God with this kind of attitude? god life Paulo Coelho
9361756 The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive. religion god Sam Harris
541101c "How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, "This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?" Instead they say, "No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way." A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths." religion science god cosmology epistemology organized-religion Carl Sagan
d6f62b6 From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable. religion god inhumanity extremism justification fanaticism zealotry Salman Rushdie
e2cada5 Sometimes you can see things happen right in front of your eyes and still jump to the wrong conclusions. religion god inspirational Jodi Picoult
d98c582 It doesn't matter if a million people tell you what you can't do, or if ten million tell you no. If you get one yes from God that's all you need. motivational god inspirational Tyler Perry
3f737a6 "May the peace of God be with you," she says, her voice low, "even in the midst of trouble." "Why would it?" I say softly, so no one else can hear. "After all I've done..." "It isn't about you," she says. "It is a gift. You cannot earn it, or it ceases to be a gift." god peace Veronica Roth
e3851cb If you think God's there, He is. If you don't, He isn't. And if that's what God's like, I wouldn't worry about it. religion god Haruki Murakami
0ab6b31 About once or twice every month I engage in public debates with those whose pressing need it is to woo and to win the approval of supernatural beings. Very often, when I give my view that there is no supernatural dimension, and certainly not one that is only or especially available to the faithful, and that the natural world is wonderful enough--and even miraculous enough if you insist--I attract pitying looks and anxious questions. How, in that case, I am asked, do I find meaning and purpose in life? How does a mere and gross materialist, with no expectation of a life to come, decide what, if anything, is worth caring about? Depending on my mood, I sometimes but not always refrain from pointing out what a breathtakingly insulting and patronizing question this is. (It is on a par with the equally subtle inquiry: Since you don't believe in our god, what stops you from stealing and lying and raping and killing to your heart's content?) Just as the answer to the latter question is: self-respect and the desire for the respect of others--while in the meantime it is precisely those who think they have divine permission who are truly capable of any atrocity--so the answer to the first question falls into two parts. A life that partakes even a little of friendship, love, irony, humor, parenthood, literature, and music, and the chance to take part in battles for the liberation of others cannot be called 'meaningless' except if the person living it is also an existentialist and elects to call it so. It could be that all existence is a pointless joke, but it is not in fact possible to live one's everyday life as if this were so. Whereas if one sought to define meaninglessness and futility, the idea that a human life should be expended in the guilty, fearful, self-obsessed propitiation of supernatural nonentities... but there, there. Enough. existence morality faith religion god life secular-ethics supernaturalism meaning-of-life debate existentialism ethics materialism naturalism atheism respect self-respect Christopher Hitchens
a5e9742 For you will certainly carry out God's purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John. god judas john C.S. Lewis
4b94df1 [E]xceptional claims demand exceptional evidence. science god noremorse evidence atheist Christopher Hitchens
0c1282c Anything under God's control is never out of control. jesus relationship god hope inspirational Charles Swindoll
bdb5fdf I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. nature god inspirational art Frank Lloyd Wright
ada07a2 It's funny how, in this journey of life, even though we may begin at different times and places, our paths cross with others so that we may share our love, compassion, observations, and hope. This is a design of God that I appreciate and cherish. compassion motivational god hope life inspirational appreciation observation journey Steve Maraboli
e80079e You must accept the reality of other people. You think that reality is up for negotiation, that we think it's whatever you say it is. You must accept that we are as real as you are; you must accept that you are not God. reality god inspirational J.K. Rowling
522c637 Do your best and let God do the rest. god inspirational best Ben Carson
d4fa6cf He knew only that his child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke. god son Cormac McCarthy
4e9db66 Our belief is not a belief. Our principles are not a faith. We do not rely soley upon science and reason, because these are necessary rather than sufficient factors, but we distrust anything that contradicts science or outrages reason. We may differ on many things, but what we respect is free inquiry, openmindedness, and the pursuit of ideas for their own sake. science god noremorse atheist Christopher Hitchens
d2caa38 When I was a little girl, everything in the world fell into either of these two categories: wrong or right. Black or white. Now that I am an adult, I have put childish things aside and now I know that some things fall into wrong and some things fall into right. Some things are categorized as black and some things are categorized as white. But most things in the world aren't either! Most things in the world aren't black, aren't white, aren't wrong, aren't right, but most of everything is just different. And now I know that there's nothing wrong with different, and that we can let things be different, we don't have to try and make them black or white, we can just let them be grey. And when I was a child, I thought that God was the God who only saw black and white. Now that I am no longer a child, I can see, that God is the God who can see the black and the white and the grey, too, and He dances on the grey! Grey is okay. greyness learning inspirational-life inspirational-quotes life-and-living living god life-lessons life inspirational childishness living-life black-and-white childish growing grey differences wrong-and-right growth right-and-wrong different C. JoyBell C.
7a18a65 Experts in ancient Greek culture say that people back then didn't see their thoughts as belonging to them. When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order. Apollo was telling them to be brave. Athena was telling them to fall in love. Now people hear a commercial for sour cream potato chips and rush out to buy, but now they call this free will. At least the ancient Greeks were being honest. free-will god p20 greek goddess consumerism Chuck Palahniuk
5ce9c0e I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. (Psalms 116:1-2 NIV) live god life love truth cry mercy jesus-christ voice Anonymous
ed27bd8 When God is going to do something wonderful, He or She always starts with a hardship; when God is going to do something amazing, He or She starts with an impossibility. god Anne Lamott
4895c55 The Bible may, indeed does, contain a warrant for trafficking in humans, for ethnic cleansing, for slavery, for bride-price, and for indiscriminate massacre, but we are not bound by any of it because it was put together by crude, uncultured human mammals. god noremorse atheist Christopher Hitchens
f76bd31 When your will is God's will, you will have your will. god inspirational Charles Spurgeon
820dd37 If there was a God. I would spit in his face for subjecting me to this. If there was a Devil, I would sell my sould to make it end. If there was something Higher that controlled out f***ing fates, I would tell it to take my fate and shove it up its fucking ass. Shove it hard and far, you motherf***er. Please end. Please end. Please end. pain god fates devil James Frey
c5a4471 Sometimes I arrive just when God's ready to have somone click the shutter. photography god inspirational timing Ansel Adams
746f4bb Give me the Love that leads the wa prayer god love inspirational Amy Carmichael
52de61c I think the reason we sometimes have the false sense that God is so far away is because that is where we have put him. We have kept him at a distance, and then when we are in need and call on him in prayer, we wonder where he is. He is exactly where we left him. prayer religion god inspirational Ravi Zacharias
e2a60b7 "Our tendency in the midst of suffering is to turn on God. To get angry and bitter and shake our fist at the sky and say, "God, you don't know what it's like! You don't understand! You have no idea what I'm going through. You don't have a clue how much this hurts." suffering jesus god cross crucifixtion hurt Rob Bell
48f9b31 In a very real sense not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory. If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job ourselves. If we are forced to accept our evident lack of qualification, then there's no danger that we will confuse God's work with our own, or God's glory with our own. work god weakness humility Madeleine L'Engle
240b7c0 Sometimes I go to God and say, "God, if Thou dost never answer another prayer while I live on this earth, I will still worship Thee as long as I live and in the ages to come for what Thou hast done already. God's already put me so far in debt that if I were to live one million millenniums I couldn't pay Him for what He's done for me. a-w-tozer millenniums earth worship prayer god life truth inspirational million the-truth pay ages done A.W. Tozer
c2751af I have no duty to be anyone's Friend and no man in the world has a duty to be mine. No claims, no shadow of necessity. Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival. beauty friendship god love C.S. Lewis
1f1d9b7 People who cease to believe in God or goodness altogether still believe in the devil... Evil is always possible. And goodness is eternally difficult. good religion god devil Anne Rice
608cee6 To be the father of growing daughters is to understand something of what Yeats evokes with his imperishable phrase 'terrible beauty.' Nothing can make one so happily exhilarated or so frightened: it's a solid lesson in the limitations of self to realize that your heart is running around inside someone else's body. It also makes me quite astonishingly calm at the thought of death: I know whom I would die to protect and I also understand that nobody but a lugubrious serf can possibly wish for a father who never goes away. fathers mortality death religion god daughters yeats fatherhood Christopher Hitchens
29e11ed I think that I shall never se poem rain poems god inspirational tree Joyce Kilmer
750c12e Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God. virtue religion god happiness inspirational mormonism Joseph Smith
e8b9dd5 We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. inspiring god quranic islam Anonymous
266d03b There were a lot of gods. Gods always come in handy, they justify almost anything. religion god inhumanity extremism justification fanaticism Margaret Atwood
e01207e Be a light unto the world, and hurt it not. Seek to build not destroy. Bring My people home. How? By your shining example. Seek only Godliness. Speak only in truthfulness. Act only in love. Live the Law of Love now and forever more. Give everything require nothing. Avoid the mundane. Do not accept the unacceptable. Teach all who seek to learn of Me. Make every moment of your life an outpouring of love. Use every moment to think the highest thought, say the highest word, do the highest deed. In this, glorify your Holy Self, and thus too, glorify Me. Bring peace to the Earth by bringing peace to all those whose lives you touch. Be peace. Feel and express in every moment your Divine Connection with the All, and with every person, place, and thing. Embrace every circumstance, own every fault, share every joy, contemplate every mystery, walk in every man's shoes, forgive every offense (including your own), heal every heart, honor every person's truth, adore every person's God, protect every person's rights, preserve every person's dignity, promote every person's interests, provide every person's needs, presume every person's holiness, present every person's greatest gifts, produce every person's blessing, pronounce every person's future secure in the assured love of God. Be a living, breathing example of the Highest Truth that resides within you. Speak humbly of yourself, lest someone mistake your Highest Truth for boast. Speak softly, lest someone think you are merely calling for attention. Speak gently, that all might know of Love. Speak openly, lest someone think you have something to hide. Speak candidly, so you cannot be mistaken. Speak often, so that your word may truly go forth. Speak respectfully, that no one be dishonored. Speak lovingly, that every syllable may heal. Speak of Me with every utterance. Make of your life a gift. Remember always, you are the gift! Be a gift to everyone who enters your life, and to everyone whose life you enter. Be careful not to enter another's life if you cannot be a gift. (You can always be a gift, because you always are the gift--yet sometimes you don't let yourself know that.) When someone enters your life unexpectedly, look for the gift that person has come to receive from you...I HAVE SENT YOU NOTHING BUT ANGELS. world god love truth inspirational speak peace Neale Donald Walsch
8a6e22d Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. bible god truth inspirational Anonymous
3005700 Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action. prayer religion god inspirational Mahatma Gandhi
484a874 And if these mountains had eyes, they would wake to find two strangers in their fences, standing in admiration as a breathing red pours its tinge upon earth's shore. These mountains, which have seen untold sunrises, long to thunder praise but stand reverent, silent so that man's weak praise should be given God's attention. nature beauty god inspirational praise mountains Donald Miller
d8835a2 Talk to me about the truth of religion and I'll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I'll listen submissively. But don't come talking to me about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don't understand. grief religion god C.S. Lewis
5a5f366 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. faith god jesus-christ Anonymous
3a3e1e0 The significance of our lives and our fragile planet is then determined only by our own wisdom and courage. We are the custodians of life's meaning. We long for a Parent to care for us, to forgive us our errors, to save us from our childish mistakes. But knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring fable. If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal. meaning religion god truth purpose knowledge Carl Sagan
84e08cb Just because you can explain it doesn't mean it's not still a miracle. miracle god Terry Pratchett
41dedd0 The world takes us to a silver screen on which flickering images of passion and romance play, and as we watch, the world says, "This is love." God takes us to the foot of a tree on which a naked and bloodied man hangs and says, "This is love. passion world romance jesus god love inspirational cross christian christ Joshua Harris
b38d04e It is said that God has created man in his own image. But it may be that humankind has created God in the image of humankind. god inspirational creationism Thich Nhat Hanh
d1ee74f It's all God's will: you can die in your sleep, and God can spare you in battle. god Leo Tolstoy
4de2b16 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone one who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. faith god love philosophy truth Anonymous
3921ba8 And people who believe in God think God has put human beings on earth because they think human beings are the best animal, but human beings are just an animal and they will evolve into another animal, and that animal will be cleverer and it will put human beings into a zoo, like we put chimpanzees and gorillas into a zoo. Or human beings will all catch a disease and die out or they will make too much pollution and kill themselves, and then there will only be insects in the world and they will be the best animal. evolution god Mark Haddon
2d7ee33 There are powers far beyond us, plans far beyond what we could have ever thought of, visions far more vast than what we can ever see on our own with our own eyes, there are horizons long gone beyond our own horizons. This is courage- to throw away what is our own that is limited and to thrust ourselves into the hands of these higher powers- God and Destiny.To do this is to abide in the realm of the eternal, to walk in the path of the everlasting to follow in the footprints of God and demi-gods. The hardest part for man is the letting go. For some reason, he thinks himself big enough to know and to see what's good for him. But in the letting go........is found freedom. In the letting go........ is found the flight! flying-spirit letting-go inspiration inspirational-life inspirational-quotes living destiny god life truth inspirational footprints flying meaning-of-life belief C. JoyBell C.
406620f I tell of hearts and souls and dances... Butterflies and second chances; Desperate ones and dreamers bound, Seeking life from barren ground, Who suffer on in earthly fate The bitter pain of agony hate, Might but they stop and here forgive Would break the bonds to breathe and live And find that God in goodness brings A chance for change, the hope of wings To rest in Him, and self to die And so become a butterfly. god second-chances Karen Kingsbury
c347137 "What is sin? It is the glory of God not honored. The holiness of God not reverenced. The greatness of God not admired. The power of God not praised. The truth of God not sought. The wisdom of God not esteemed. The beauty of God not treasured. The goodness of God not savored. The faithfulness of God not trusted. The commandments of God not obeyed. The justice of God not respected. The wrath of God not feared. The grace of God not cherished. The presence of God not prized. god what-is-sin sin John Piper
0632d69 Day after day, day after day revenge faith god inspirational curse Samuel Taylor Coleridge
c633c15 there's nothing to discuss there's nothing to remember there's nothing to forget it's sad and it's not sad seems the most sensible thing a person can do is sit with drink in hand as the walls wave their goodbye smiles one comes through it all with a certain amount of efficiency and bravery then leaves some accept the possibility of God to help them get through others take it staight on and to these I drink tonight. poem independence poetry death sadness god life love bukowski goodbyes help goodbye forgetting forget sad Charles Bukowski
47b4649 Every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith--acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove. Every religion describes God through metaphor, allegory, and exaggeration, from the early Egyptians through modern Sunday school. Metaphors are a way to help our minds process the unprocessible. The problems arise when we begin to believe literally in our own metaphors. Should we wave a flag and tell the Buddhists that we have proof the Buddha did not come from a lotus blossom? Or that Jesus was not born of a literal virgin birth? Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical. religion god dan-brown Dan Brown
a273cb3 You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. (Matthew 5:14, The Message) light god life Anonymous
c78e5c2 These people walk by a widow deformed by leprosy...walk by children dressed in rags living in the street, and they think, 'Business as usual.' But if they perceive a slight against God, it is a different story. Their faces go red, their chests heave mightily, they sputter angry words. The degree of their indignation is astonishing. Their resolve is frightening. religion god hypocrisy Yann Martel
22bad56 There is no justice in love, no proportion in it, and there need not be, because in any specific instance it is only a glimpse or parable of an embracing, incomprehensible reality. It makes no sense at all because it is the eternal breaking in on the temporal. So how could it subordinate itself to cause or consequence? god love Marilynne Robinson
86ed420 The event of falling in love is of such a nature that we are right to reject as intolerable the idea that it should be transitory. In one high bound it has overleaped the massive of our selfhood; it has made appetite itself altruistic, tossed personal happiness aside as a triviality and planted the interests of another in the centre of our being. Spontaneously and without effort we have fulfilled the law (towards one person) by loving our neighbour as ourselves. It is an image, a foretaste, of what we must become to all if Love Himself rules in us without a rival. It is even (well used) a preparation for that. god love selflessness C.S. Lewis
66fec3c Here I am going to say something which may come as a bit of a shock. God doesn't necessarily want us to be happy. He wants us to be lovable. Worthy of love. Able to be loved by Him. We don't start off being all that lovable, if we're honest. What makes people hard to love? Isn't it what is commonly called selfishness? Selfish people are hard to love because so little love comes out of them. happy god love selfish selfishness William Nicholson
9446fd9 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. faith god grace Anonymous
aca7297 There was only one guy in the whole Bible Jesus ever personally promised a place with him in Paradise. Not Peter, not Paul, not any of those guys. He was a convicted thief, being executed. So don't knock the guys on death row. Maybe they know something you don't. good-and-evil prejudice heaven idealism jesus religion god life-lessons good-and-bad prejudices criminals Neil Gaiman
2be5afd Rabe'a al-Adiwiyah, a great woman saint of Sufism, was seen running through the streets of her hometown, Basra, carrying a torch in one hand and a bucket of water in the other. When someone asked her what she was doing, she answered, 'I am going to take this bucket of water and pour it on the flames of hell, and then I am going to use this torch to burn down the gates of paradise so that people will not love God for want of heaven or fear of hell, but because He is God. heaven god hell John Green
b3e94ca I think you have every right to cherry-pick when it comes to moving your spirit and finding peace in God. You take whatever works from wherever you can find it, and you keep moving toward the light. religion god Elizabeth Gilbert
21ef52d We're called to be faithful, to take those first difficult steps--and to leave the results up to God. god hope truth inspirational results faithful Alex Harris
6cf9c55 "Once upon a time there was a young prince who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, he did not believe in God. His father, the king, told him that such things did not exist. As there were no princesses or islands in his father's domains, and no sign of God, the young prince believed his father. But then, one day, the prince ran away from his palace. He came to the next land. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, a man in full evening dress approached him along the shore. Are those real islands?' asked the young prince. Of course they are real islands,' said the man in evening dress. And those strange and troubling creatures?' They are all genuine and authentic princesses.' Then God must exist!' cried the prince. I am God,' replied the man in full evening dress, with a bow. The young prince returned home as quickly as he could. So you are back,' said the father, the king. I have seen islands, I have seen princesses, I have seen God,' said the prince reproachfully. The king was unmoved. Neither real islands, nor real princesses, I have seen God,' said the prince reproachfully. The king was unmoved. Neither real islands, nor real princesses, nor a real God exist.' I saw them!' Tell me how God was dressed.' God was in full evening dress.' Were the sleeves of his coat rolled back?' The prince remembered that they had been. The king smiled. That is the uniform of a magician. You have been deceived.' At this, the prince returned to the next land, and went to the same shore, where once again he came upon the man in full evening dress. My father the king has told me who you are,' said the young prince indignantly. 'You deceived me last time, but not again. Now I know that those are not real islands and real princesses, because you are a magician.' The man on the shore smiled. It is you who are deceived, my boy. In your father's kingdom there are many islands and many princesses. But you are under your father's spell, so you cannot see them.' The prince pensively returned home. When he saw his father, he looked him in the eyes. Father, is it true that you are not a real king, but only a magician?' The king smiled, and rolled back his sleeves. Yes, my son, I am only a magician.' Then the man on the shore was God.' The man on the shore was another magician.' I must know the real truth, the truth beyond magic.' There is no truth beyond magic,' said the king. The prince was full of sadness. He said, 'I will kill myself.' The king by magic caused death to appear. Death stood in the door and beckoned to the prince. The prince shuddered. He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands and the unreal but beautiful princesses. suicide magic death god life philosophy John Fowles
2739ae9 "The soul is like an uninhabited world that comes to life only when joy spirituality god life St. Thomas Aquinas
8647ad5 " This was a brave statement but innocently absurd. No one will ever understand Auschwitz. What I might have set down with more accuracy would have been: Auschwitz itself remains inexplicable. The most profound statement yet made about Auschwitz was not a statement at all, but a response. The query: "At Auschwitz, tell me, where was God?" And the answer: "Where was man?" understanding man humanity god evil William Styron
9bb5509 But for me the sweetest contact with God has no form. I close my eyes, look within, and enter a deep soft silence. The infinity of God's creation embraces me. religion god Michael Jackson
4778864 God is whispering in your heart, in the whole existence, just tune your ears. silence spirituality motivational god spiritual inspirational mediation meditations spiritual-growth Amit Ray
2a476b6 God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours. god inspirational David Livingstone
cb03685 Life is sufferin true suffering god love inspirational humility Jordan B. Peterson
912fae7 Defeat is for the valiant. Only they will know the honour of losing and the joy of winning I am not here to tell you that defeat is a part of life: we all know that. Only the defeated know Love. Because it is in the realm of love that we fight our first battles - and generally lose. I am here to tell you that there are people who have never been defeated. They are the ones who never fought. They managed to avoid scars, humiliations, feelings of helplessness, as well as those moments when even warriors doubt the existence of God.'' Manuscript Found In Accra - Paulo Coelho defeat doubt god life love scar humiliation denial helplessness victory honour valiant Paulo Coelho
a13a626 I have met some highly intelligent believers, but history has no record to say that [s]he knew or understood the mind of god. Yet this is precisely the qualification which the godly must claim--so modestly and so humbly--to possess. It is time to withdraw our 'respect' from such fantastic claims, all of them aimed at the exertion of power over other humans in the real and material world. fantasy religion god inspirational arrogance belief humility atheism modesty respect power Christopher Hitchens
ba650d0 The power of God is with you at all times; through the activities of mind, senses, breathing, and emotions; and is constantly doing all the work using you as a mere instrument. human god spiritual life Anonymous
a9ba67a "Far better it is for you to say: "I am a sinner," than to say: "I have no need of religion." The empty can be filled, but the self-intoxicated have no room for God." christianity religion god sinners catholicism Fulton J. Sheen
54870a4 If you want to be reminded of the love of the Lord, just watch the sunrise. earth world religion god lord sunrise Jeannette Walls
e8d20b6 "God, who needs nothing, loves into existence wholly superfluous creatures in order that He may love and perfect them. He creates the universe, already foreseeing - or should we say "seeing"? there are no tenses in God - the buzzing cloud of flies about the cross, the flayed back pressed against the uneven stake, the nails driven through the mesial nerves, the repeated incipient suffocation as the body droops, the repeated torture of back and arms as it is time after time, for breath's sake, hitched up. If I may dare the biological image, God is a "host" who deliberately creates His own parasites; causes us to be that we may exploit and "take advantage of" Him. Herein is love. This is the diagram of Love Himself, the inventor of all loves." -- god love cross christ C.S. Lewis
99cf389 In the heartfelt mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will visit us, to shine on those sitting in darkness, in the shadow of death, to guide our feet to the way of peace. light darkness god wisdom mercy peace Anonymous
6d2f3da I could not believe in a God that would challenge faith like this. faith god Jonathan Safran Foer
c49b48d It's not about finding ways to avoid God's judgment and feeling like a failure if you don't do everything perfectly. It's about fully experiencing God's love and letting it perfect you. It's not about being somebody you are not. It's about becoming who you really are. god love inspirational god-s-love Stormie Omartian
6fb18db There is nothing more important than your eternal salvation. religion god hope truth inspirational salvation important eternity Kirk Cameron
710cbd3 The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. god fasting nibbling John Piper
d17cf81 For , literally translated, 'Since it must be so,' of all the good-bys I have heard is the most beautiful. Unlike the and , it does not try to cheat itself by any bravado 'Till we meet again,' any sedative to postpone the pain of separation. It does not evade the issue like the sturdy blinking . is a father's . It is - 'Go out in the world and do well, my son.' It is encouragement and admonition. It is hope and faith. But it passes over the significance of the moment; of parting it says nothing. It hides its emotion. It says too little. While ('God be with you') and say too much. They try to bridge the distance, almost to deny it. is a prayer, a ringing cry. 'You must not go - I cannot bear to have you go! But you shall not go alone, unwatched. God will be with you. God's hand will over you' and even - underneath, hidden, but it is there, incorrigible - 'I will be with you; I will watch you - always.' It is a mother's . But says neither too much nor too little. It is a simple acceptance of fact. All understanding of life lies in its limits. All emotion, smoldering, is banked up behind it. But it says nothing. It is really the unspoken good-by, the pressure of a hand, 'Sayonara. spanish emotion god japanese goodbyes german farewell english french mother father Anne Morrow Lindbergh
06ae62a My son, do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments; For length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you. Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. kindness trust god truth peace Anonymous
dfc6496 Did God ever cry over his lost angel, I wonder? god rebel-angels lucifer Libba Bray
3a77a92 Choices will continually be necessary and -- let us not forget -- possible. Obedience to God is always possible. It is a deadly error to fall into the notion that when feelings are extremely strong we can do nothing but act on them. feelings god possible emotions obedience Elisabeth Elliot
f5098c8 Every day God invites us on the same kind of adventure. It's not a trip where He sends us a rigid itinerary, He simply invites us. God asks what it is He's made us to love, what it is that captures our attention, what feeds that deep indescribable need of our souls to experience the richness of the world He made. And then, leaning over us, He whispers, "Let's go do that together. god inspirational dare adventure Bob Goff
26889eb Man corrupt everything, say Shug. He on your box of grits, in your head, and all over the radio. He try to make you think he everywhere. Soon as you think he everywhere, you think he God. But he ain't. Whenever you trying to pray, and man plop himself on the other end of it, tell him to git lost, say Shug. Conjure up the flowers, wind, water, a big rock. man religion god Alice Walker
ca24fe4 Work is a blessing. God has so arranged the world that work is necessary, and He gives us hands and strength to do it. The enjoyment of leisure would be nothing if we had only leisure. It is the joy of work well done that enables us to enjoy rest, just as it is the experiences of hunger and thirst that make food and drink such pleasures. fun jesus work god inspirational blessing rest christian leisure Elisabeth Elliot
b30bf1f We sinned for no reason but an incomprehensible lack of love, and He saved us for no reason but an incomprehensible excess of love. christianity jesus spirituality god love philosophy inspirational excess-love saved-souls the-cross jesus-shock salvation cross saved theology christ sin Peter Kreeft
947f2ff Never doubt God in the darkness what he has given us in the light. spirituality religion god mark-of-the-lion-series voice-in-the-wind Francine Rivers
051cc1b In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. science god truth scripture creation Anonymous
ebdc978 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. worship inspiration religion god hope life love truth verse reverence thankful kingdom Anonymous
562c5df I know how much you grieve over those who are under your care: those you try to help and fail, those you cannot help. Have faith in God and remember that He will is His own way and in His own time complete what we so poorly attempt. Often we do not achieve for others the good that we intend but achieve something, something that goes on from our effort. Good is an overflow. Where we generously and sincerely intend it, we are engaged in a work of creation which may be mysterious even to ourselves - and because it is mysterious we may be afraid of it. But this should not make us draw back. God can always show us, if we will, a higher and a better way; and we can only learn to love by loving. Remember that all our failures are ultimately failures in love. Imperfect love must not be condemned and rejected but made perfect. The way is always forward, never back. grief god love Iris Murdoch
e1f49e3 The world looks like something God had just imaged for his own pleasure, doesn't it? god pleasure L.M. Montgomery
b0784bf "God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. christianity religion god catholicism John Henry Newman
b496bf2 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. jesus faith religion god religious christ Anonymous
f55a7de She has man's brain--a brain that a man should have were he much gifted--and woman's heart. The good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me when He made that so good combination. mankind man woman mind women god heart intelligence combination gifted giftedness purpose brains Bram Stoker
5c71daf If pinpointing God's presence were really that simple, then he supposed the beaches would be more crowded in the mornings. They would be filled with people on their own quests, instead of people jogging or walking their dogs or fishing in the surf. god steve-miller the-last-song nicholas-sparks Nicholas Sparks
fce8996 Why would an all-powerful creator decide to plant his carefully crafted species on islands and continents in exactly the appropriate pattern to suggest, irresistibly, that they had evolved and dispersed from the site of their evolution? evolution god noremorse pg270 creator atheist Richard Dawkins
e720716 We all long for Eden, and we are constantly glimpsing it: our whole nature at its best and least corrupted, its gentlest and most human, is still soaked with the sense of exile. god redemption J.R.R. Tolkien
4af8bfe "If God existed (a question concerning which Jubal maintained a meticulous intellectual neutrality) and if He desired to be worshiped (a proposition which Jubal found inherently improbable but conceivably possible in the dim light of his own ignorance), then (stipulating affirmatively both the above) it nevertheless seemed wildly unlikely to Jubal to the point of reductio ad absurdum that a God potent to shape galaxies would be titillated and swayed by the whoop-te-do nonsense the Fosterites offered Him as "worship." worship religion god Robert A. Heinlein
d246386 Don't you think it's rather nice to think that we're in a book that God's writing? If I were writing a book, I might make mistakes. But God knows how to make the story end just right--in the way that's best for us. story reading writing god life nesbit railway christian mistakes E. Nesbit
2f6223c It is said that men may not be the dreams of the god, but rather that the gods are the dreams of men. dreams god gods Carl Sagan
af5cced I didn't need to understand the hypostatic unity of the Trinity; I just needed to turn my life over to whoever came up with redwood trees. nature christianity god trinity Anne Lamott
1af5700 Why do humans exist? A major part of the answer: because Pikaia Gracilens survived the Burgess decimation. science god noremorse atheist Christopher Hitchens
801b153 I wouldn't burden any decent system of faith by participating in it... I'm not agnostic. Just nonpartisan. Theological Switzerland, that's me. faith religion god atheist Jim Butcher
4d73ae9 When you are happy, so happy you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be -- or so it feels-- welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. grief loss religion god C.S. Lewis
6cc3ecd God hides the fires of hell within paradise. irony god paulo-coelho paradise hell Paulo Coelho
b8d71b6 There's a lot of pride involved in my refusal to believe in god. god belief pride Orhan Pamuk
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