I’m going to give Hugh the week off by tossing in an entry for this week. The same rules apply…  Interacting with ideas expressed is more valuable than the guess itself. And, of course, no Googling.

Therefore, that for ministers in this present day to address unconverted persons, or indiscriminately all in a mixed congregation, calling upon them to savingly repent, believe, and receive Christ, or perform any other acts dependent upon the new creative power of the Holy Ghost, is, on the one hand, to imply creature power, and on the other to deny the doctrine of special redemption.

Update 8/10:

Well, Dan pretty much nailed this week’s quote within hours of its posting. The quote is from article 33 of the …

Read the full entry

No Googling! And remember, thinking through the ideas expressed in the quote is more important than guessing the source.

The church has been preoccupied with the question, “What happens to your soul after you die?” As if the reason for Jesus coming can be summed up in, “Jesus is trying to help get more souls into heaven, as opposed to hell, after they die.” I just think a fair reading of the Gospels blows that out of the water. I don’t think that the entire message and life of Jesus can be boiled down to that bottom line.

Brian McLaren

Update 8/4 2:00: The answer is Brian McLaren.

This quote gets at one

…

Read the full entry

Here’s this week’s entry. Remember, it’s not just “who said it” that we’re interested in — it’s just as much about what you think of the idea. And no Googling!

Nobody can be argued into the kingdom of God, for the very reason that Christianity does not concern ideas but a living reality.

Update 7/28 3:30 PM:

The answer is Alister E. McGrath, in his book Understanding the Trinity.

To be fair, the fuller quote goes like this:

Nobody can be argued into the kingdom of God, for the very reason that Christianity does not concern ideas but a living reality. To persuade someone that God exists is not necessarily to make him a Christian, but for someone to encounter the living God

…

Read the full entry

Remember the rules: no Googling, and comments about your agreement and/or disagreement with the quote are welcome and encouraged.

This week’s entry:

Is it faith to understand nothing, and merely submit your convictions implicitly to the Church?

Update 7/22 8:45: The answer is… John Calvin.

Read the full entry

I have a tendency (and maybe you do too) to decide what to make of something solely on the basis of “who said it.” I confess it’s a cheap shortcut. It lets me avoid actually thinking about whether or not a thing is good or bad, right or wrong, true or false.

It’s not always a bad thing. As C. S. Lewis wrote in his essay, Why I Am Not A Pacifist, it’s inevitable that we look to credible authorities for many beliefs we hold:

Of every hundred facts upon which to reason, ninety-nine depend on authority… Few of us have followed the reasoning on which even ten percent of the truths we believe are based. We accept them

…

Read the full entry