Quotes About Belief

It's easy to forget that anything is possible with these guys. That there really are no limits.

Alcoholism is a disease of faith. Alcoholics often develop a cynical attitude toward life, not seeing anything to believe in. When you persistently feel the need to change your consciousness through drugs or booze, you are expressing a lack of trust in life itself. And, in some ways, you are expressing a lack of trust in yourself, in your ability to tolerate life undiluted, to find value in your own, unadulterated experience.

Optimism is the best fertilizer.

Luke smiled at his friend. "I seem to remember you called the Force a 'hokey religion' when I first met you." Han looked away, embarrassed. "Well, I've gotten smarter since then.

To make disciples is to teach people how to keep the faith. One keeps faith by following Jesus' words rather than merely knowing faith's content.

Desire for God without doctrine is blind; doctrine without desire is empty. The

The theory-practice dichotomy that still bedevils many a theological curriculum serves neither seminary nor church. There is a debilitating dichotomy between what Christians believe (doctrine) and how they live their lives (discipleship).

Christian doctrine is what the church believes, teaches, and confesses as it prays and suffers, serves and obeys, celebrates and awaits the coming of the kingdom of God. —Jaroslav Pelikan

What is the message? Can faith bereft of specific beliefs speak understanding? If so, understanding of what? My concern is that the only thing Cox has to say to young people seeking spirituality is "Do good."13 But why should we do good? And what is the good if it is not somehow rooted in the nature and work of God? Cox's Age of the Spirit needs a normative Word. For while belief without faith is empty, faith without belief is blind.

Doctrine is less theoretical than it is theatrical, a matter of doing—speaking and showing—what we have heard and understood.

If actions speak louder than words, it is because they lend the weight of behavior (real assent) to belief (nominal assent).

does belief that fails to issue in behavior count as genuine witness (and understanding) or not?

I just want to put some positive stuff out there. If it works, great. If it doesn't, no problem.

You can reduce the annoyance of someone's stupid belief by increasing your understanding of why they believe it.

You should demand extraordinary evidence in order to believe extraordinary claims.

Embrace pronoia which is the opposite of paranoia. Choose to believe that the entire universe is conspiring behind your back to make you a success.

You can't reason someone out of a notion that they didn't reason themselves into.

The pseudo- and parasciences are nothing less, in fact, than small pools of knowledge that are not connected to the large network of science. They are valid only in their own network.)

All this is happening for a reason." Yeah, she thought, to annoy me.

There are all sorts of lies you tell yourself over and over until you accept them as readily as you do your own skin. And it isn't always easy to recognize them as lies.

The biggest lie you'll ever tell yourself is, "I'm going to try to do that." There's no trying. There's either doing it or not doing it. Trying is a state of mind. The difference between trying and doing? The level of commitment.

President Eisenhower, like many Americans, is a very fervent believer in a very vague religion.

Together, these political and economic rights rested on a pedestal inscribed "Constitutional Government designed to Serve the People." And that, in turn, stood on a more substantial foundation: "Fundamental Belief in God."7

The choice," he insisted, "boils down to this: 'Christ or Communism.' There is really no other. Those in between—playing neutral—are literally playing into the hands of the enemy."24