Quotes About Nonbelievers

In the seeker-church movement the emphasis away from the use and explication of creedal confession is obvious, since the whole point is to focus on the 'felt-needs' of the person in the pew - especially the felt-needs of nonbelievers. The rationale is that the church and its main service are evangelistic in nature. Because nonbelievers simply cannot penetrate the arcana of historic Christianity, the felt-needs of people become the point of entry into conversation with them.

Based on my own personal experiences with other people, I think that many nonbelievers haven't spent a great deal of time studying the Bible or exploring Christian theology. That is why I was determined to include in this book not just the arguments advanced by classical Christian apologists, but also a discussion of what Christians believe.

Nonbelievers can teach the truth in any given area only on the basis of common grace—that is, if they borrow Christian categories on the sly in order to do so. But when nonbelievers grow increasingly aware of their epistemological assumptions, they begin rejecting the very concept of truth—every manifestation of it—and they embrace the absurd. And this is why the only place where academic integrity can flourish over time is in a Christian school. The

On almost every page, the Koran instructs observant Muslims to despise nonbelievers.

we preach with the goal of spurring believers on in their maturity in Christ and of awakening nonbelievers to their need for the Savior.

Only if divine love burns in your heart can you awaken in a state of readiness, shaking off the paralyzing sleep that will overcome all humanity, believers and nonbelievers alike.

the naysayers are not only casting doubt on science and nonbelievers; they are also ignoring the billions of non-conflicted believers around the world, dismissing their views as unworthy.

Only [God] can convict nonbelievers of their sins; only He can convince them of the truth of the Gospel.

It is easy for Christians to allow themselves to be squeezed into the world's mold . . . When nonbelievers see nothing different in the lifestyle of believers, they wonder if our profession of faith is sincere.

Negotiating with a representative of the Libyan pirates in 1786, Thomas Jefferson was told that the Quran commanded the destruction of all nonbelievers, Americans included. And yet, when President Thomas Jefferson later made war on Libya, he dreamed of transforming it into a democracy.

You go deep enough or far out enough in consciousness and you will bump into the sacred. It's not something we generate; it's something out there waiting to be discovered. And this reliably happens to nonbelievers as well as believers." Second, that, whether occasioned by drugs or other means, these experiences of mystical consciousness are in all likelihood the primal basis of religion.

Pure Flix makes evangelistic films, but we also make family films. I think the viewer wants to see quality entertainment that the whole family can watch, and many nonbelievers watch our films because they can watch with their family and young kids.

William Stafford was describing (though he was talking about writing) when he wrote . . . Just as the swimmer does not have a succession of handholds hidden in the water, but instead simply sweeps that yielding medium and finds it hurrying him along, so the writer passes his attention through what is at hand, and is propelled by a medium too thin and all-pervasive for the perceptions of nonbelievers who try to stay on the bank and fathom his accomplishment.6

nonbelievers will insist on their convictions regardless how many miracles are presented to them

Christians can help people receive the message of reconciliation to God by modeling reconciliation among themselves. John 13:35 says, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." How well do we show love when we disagree? Nonbelievers look on and wonder if they can trust Christians to deal gently and respectfully with their questions and doubts if we don't treat each other that way.

Assure. Believe. Convert. Religions assure salvation; religions believe in a precise theory; and religions convert nonbelievers.

To insist that belief in the Bible demands belief in a young Earth is to put a stumbling block in the path of many nonbelievers. It raises the question of why a God who is committed to revealing truth would make the universe and Earth measure to be old if, in fact, they are not.

IN THE PARLANCE of the Bible Belt, those within the faith used many words and terms to describe those outside of it. On the harsher end of the spectrum, the "lost" were referred to as heathen, unsaved, unclean, hell-bound, and just old-fashioned sinners. More polite Christians called them nonbelievers, future saints, backsliders, or—the favorite—unchurched.