Quotes About Doctrine

Changing the theology, changing the rules, does not bring freedom. Only truth brings freedom. And

Man can be defined as an animal that makes dogmas. As he piles doctrine on doctrine and conclusion on conclusion in the formation of some . . . philosophy or religion, he is . . . becoming more and more human. When

The doctrine of hell exists solely to paralyze thought.

The very concept of sin comes from the Bible. Christianity offers to solve a problem of its own making! Would you be thankful to a person who cut you with a knife in order to sell you a bandage?

Nobody is more indoctrinated than the indoctrinator.

the gospel of grace can never be reduced to a doctrine that demands more human doing. The gospel of grace is a divine declaration that Jesus Christ has already secured all that's required to turn zombie corpses into chosen children. The only right response to such a glorious announcement is to discard every concern about what you must do, to cling desperately to what Christ has already done, and to call everyone around you to cling to Christ with you.

Through the lens of his socialism, Haldane saw—and was offended by—the sociopolitical presumptions, so many of them increasingly contrary to his own, hidden in mainline doctrine. Little was yet known about human heredity and, as Haldane put it, "many of the deeds done in America in the name of eugenics are about as much justified by science as were the proceedings of the inquisition by the gospels."54

Evangelicals have largely misinterpreted Aquinas, and they have placed on him views that he did not hold.

A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor.

I grew up in an environment where it was permittable to use violence to solve a problem. But it was not permittable ever to call the police under any circumstances. That was the kind of doctrine of my household. My dad was a career-long criminal, and you weren't calling the police for any reason.

Nothing in socialist doctrine argues for the abuse of power, from Thomas More, to Karl Marx, to Chavez, to Ocasio-Cortez. Historically, however, it has been the case that socialist countries often end up violently suppressing their citizens.

Strength was the virtue of paganism; obedience is the virtue of Christianity.

By virtue of believing in a Supreme Being one embraces certain mysteries.

Of all possible sexual perversions, religion is the only one to have ever been scientifically systematized.

Strictly speaking, it may be said that the true preaching of the Word and its recognition as the standard of doctrine and life, is the one mark of the Church. Without it there is no Church.

Tertullian was the first to use the term "Trinity" and to formulate the doctrine, but his formulation was deficient, since it involved an unwarranted subordination of the Son to the Father.

For us the existence of God is the great presupposition of theology.

The real difficulty lies in the relation in which the persons in the Godhead stand to the divine essence and to one another; and this is a difficulty which the Church cannot remove, but only try to reduce to its proper proportion by a proper definition of terms. It has never tried to explain the mystery of the Trinity, but only sought to formulate the doctrine of the Trinity in such a manner that the errors which endangered it were warded off.

Revelation is always something purely subjective, and can never turn into something objective like the written Word of Scripture, and as such become an object of study. It is given once for all in Jesus Christ, and in Christ comes to men in the existential moment of their lives. While there are elements of truth in what Barth says, his construction of the doctrine of revelation is foreign to Reformed theology.

What President Bush did in his doctrine of preemptive strike and in his war in Afghanistan and in Iraq was to turn even his allies in Europe negatively toward America.

Thomistic synthesis.

They believe in a virgin birth, a resurrection, walking on water and some old guy with a white beard floating in the sky and running the world, but this they find unbelievable?" Gamache was quiet for a moment, then nodded. "It is interesting," he agreed, "what people choose to believe." And what they'd do in the name of that faith.

Faith discriminates thus: This is true, that is false. And it claims truth to itself alone. Faith has for its object a definite, specific truth … One thing alone is truth, … God … ; all other gods are vain idols.

T]he creation out of nothing is no object of philosophy; … for it cuts away the root of all speculation, presents no grappling point to though, … a baseless air-built doctrine, originated solely … to give warrant to … egoism, which … expresses nothing but the command to make Nature – not an object of thought, of contemplation, but – an object of utilisation.