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John Shelby Spong Quotes

So much organized religion, in my opinion, ends up being life-denying Picture Quote #1

If you begin to give people hope that there is a brighter future, there is a new tomorrow, then the people who were yesterday’s terrorists become tomorrow’s elected officials and they’re part of the system Picture Quote #1

My basis of morality is this: does this action enhance life, or does it denigrate life? Does it build up or does it tear down? Picture Quote #1

Let me say that I consider myself a deep believer in the reality of God. I might define God quite differently from the way some people in the Christian faith would do so, but I do not doubt the reality of that experience Picture Quote #1

I think the best way to view the Gospels is to view them as a magnificent portrait being painted by Jewish artists to try to capture the essence of a God experience that they believe they had with Jesus of Nazareth Picture Quote #1

I’ve never met anybody who was helped by being told how wretched,miserable and sinful they are Picture Quote #1

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I’ve never known about anyone being helped by being told how wretched, miserable, sinful, and evil they are Picture Quote #1

I am trying to understand what it means to be a Christian without being religious Picture Quote #1

I go where I’m invited. And all I can tell you is if we accepted every invitation we had, I’d be away every day of my life Picture Quote #1

A lot of people hear me attacking their certainty. I don’t have any interest in doing that. I’m interested in penetrating the meaning of certainty Picture Quote #1

I never really liked the Gospel of John because I never could find the humanity of Jesus in it. I thought it presented Jesus as a visitor from another planet; in addition, John’s gospel is and has been interpreted as a document that fuels anti-Semitism in the church Picture Quote #1

I was baptized as an infant. I was confirmed as an adolescent; I was active in my church’s youth group and in my university student group. I was married before the church’s altar; trained at the church’s seminaries, ordained deacon and priest at age 24 Picture Quote #1

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I don’t think hell exists. I happen to believe in life after death but I don’t think it’s got a thing to do with reward and punishment. Religion is always in the control business and that’s something which people don’t really understand Picture Quote #1

Plenty of people out there think of me as the Antichrist or the devil incarnate because I do not affirm the literal patterns of the Bible. But the fact is I can no more abandon the literal patterns than I could fly to the moon. I just go beyond them Picture Quote #1

When I grew up in the South, I was taught that segregation was the will of God, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I was taught that women were by nature in inferior to men, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it Picture Quote #1

I cannot say my yes to legends that have been clearly and fancifully created. If I could not move my search beyond angelic messengers, empty tombs, and ghostlike apparitions, I could not say yes to Easter Picture Quote #1

The great biblical tradition says that loving God and loving one’s neighbor are not two separate actions but two sides of the same action. It was the prophet Amos who bore witness to the fact that divine worship is nothing but human justice being offered to God and human justice is nothing but divine worship being lived out Picture Quote #1

Was Judas Iscariot a figure of history? I do not think so. There is no mention of him in any source before the 8th decade Picture Quote #1

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True religion is not about possessing the truth. No religion does that. It is rather an invitation into a journey that leads one toward the mystery of God. Idolatry is religion pretending that it has all the answers Picture Quote #1

The task of the church, for example, becomes less that of indoctrinating or relating people to an external divine power and more that of providing opportunities for people to touch the infinite center of all things and to grow into all that they are destined to be Picture Quote #1

The Bible Belt, the religious South, is the section of the country that practiced slavery until the war made them give it up. They practiced segregation. They practiced lynchings. I don’t see any great value in that Picture Quote #1

I don’t think much about my physical body going off into the long, green fairways of Heaven to play golf Picture Quote #1

It’s not going to be a straight upward progression, but there’s no doubt that consciousness is growing. Prejudices die regularly in the Western world. We don’t burn witches anymore Picture Quote #1

Our English language really says if you’re not a theist, the only alternative is to be an atheist. What I’m trying to do is develop a language that will enable us to talk about God beyond the, what I think, are sterile categories of theism and atheism Picture Quote #1

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Now, if Mary has an egg cell, then Jesus gets 50 percent of his genetic make up from his mother. And if his mother is a child of Adam, she, too,is fallen so Jesus is not perfect Picture Quote #1

Pat Robertson said the feminist movement was just a bunch of lesbians who wanted to leave their husbands and kill their children. I quoted him in my book. It’s a fantastic statement Picture Quote #1

Jesus represents the possibilities of a new dimension of existence that transcends all the boundaries that restrict us from opening ourselves to God and allowing this source of love to flow through us Picture Quote #1

Terrorism is a real despair. These are people for whom life has been so negative that they’re willing to die if they can take down some of their enemies Picture Quote #1

What happened in the Western world was that Plato ceased to be the way people thought. Aristotle was rediscovered, and the modern, educated world moved toward Aristotelian thinking Picture Quote #1

So who is God? No one can finally say. That is not within human competence. All we can ever say is how we believe we have experienced God, doing our best to dispel our human delusions. Let me try to do just that. I experience God as the source of life calling me to live fully and thus to respect life in every form as embodying the holy Picture Quote #1

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Text Quotes

So much organized religion, in my opinion, ends up being life-denying (John Shelby Spong Quotes) If you begin to give people hope that there is a brighter future, there is a new tomorrow, then the people who were yesterday’s terrorists become tomorrow’s elected officials and they’re part of the system. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) My basis of morality is this: does this action enhance life, or does it denigrate life? Does it build up or does it tear down? (John Shelby Spong Quotes) Let me say that I consider myself a deep believer in the reality of God. I might define God quite differently from the way some people in the Christian faith would do so, but I do not doubt the reality of that experience. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) I think the best way to view the Gospels is to view them as a magnificent portrait being painted by Jewish artists to try to capture the essence of a God experience that they believe they had with Jesus of Nazareth. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) I’ve never met anybody who was helped by being told how wretched,miserable and sinful they are (John Shelby Spong Quotes) I’ve never known about anyone being helped by being told how wretched, miserable, sinful, and evil they are. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) I am trying to understand what it means to be a Christian without being religious (John Shelby Spong Quotes) I go where I’m invited. And all I can tell you is if we accepted every invitation we had, I’d be away every day of my life. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) A lot of people hear me attacking their certainty. I don’t have any interest in doing that. I’m interested in penetrating the meaning of certainty. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) I never really liked the Gospel of John because I never could find the humanity of Jesus in it. I thought it presented Jesus as a visitor from another planet; in addition, John’s gospel is and has been interpreted as a document that fuels anti-Semitism in the church. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) I was baptized as an infant. I was confirmed as an adolescent; I was active in my church’s youth group and in my university student group. I was married before the church’s altar; trained at the church’s seminaries, ordained deacon and priest at age 24. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) I don’t think hell exists. I happen to believe in life after death but I don’t think it’s got a thing to do with reward and punishment. Religion is always in the control business and that’s something which people don’t really understand (John Shelby Spong Quotes) Plenty of people out there think of me as the Antichrist or the devil incarnate because I do not affirm the literal patterns of the Bible. But the fact is I can no more abandon the literal patterns than I could fly to the moon. I just go beyond them (John Shelby Spong Quotes) When I grew up in the South, I was taught that segregation was the will of God, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I was taught that women were by nature in inferior to men, and the Bible was quoted to prove it. I was taught that it was okay to hate other religions, and especially the Jews, and the Bible was quoted to prove it (John Shelby Spong Quotes) I cannot say my yes to legends that have been clearly and fancifully created. If I could not move my search beyond angelic messengers, empty tombs, and ghostlike apparitions, I could not say yes to Easter (John Shelby Spong Quotes) The great biblical tradition says that loving God and loving one’s neighbor are not two separate actions but two sides of the same action. It was the prophet Amos who bore witness to the fact that divine worship is nothing but human justice being offered to God and human justice is nothing but divine worship being lived out (John Shelby Spong Quotes) Was Judas Iscariot a figure of history? I do not think so. There is no mention of him in any source before the 8th decade (John Shelby Spong Quotes) True religion is not about possessing the truth. No religion does that. It is rather an invitation into a journey that leads one toward the mystery of God. Idolatry is religion pretending that it has all the answers (John Shelby Spong Quotes) The task of the church, for example, becomes less that of indoctrinating or relating people to an external divine power and more that of providing opportunities for people to touch the infinite center of all things and to grow into all that they are destined to be. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) The Bible Belt, the religious South, is the section of the country that practiced slavery until the war made them give it up. They practiced segregation. They practiced lynchings. I don’t see any great value in that. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) I don’t think much about my physical body going off into the long, green fairways of Heaven to play golf. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) It’s not going to be a straight upward progression, but there’s no doubt that consciousness is growing. Prejudices die regularly in the Western world. We don’t burn witches anymore. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) Our English language really says if you’re not a theist, the only alternative is to be an atheist. What I’m trying to do is develop a language that will enable us to talk about God beyond the, what I think, are sterile categories of theism and atheism. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) Now, if Mary has an egg cell, then Jesus gets 50 percent of his genetic make up from his mother. And if his mother is a child of Adam, she, too,is fallen so Jesus is not perfect. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) Pat Robertson said the feminist movement was just a bunch of lesbians who wanted to leave their husbands and kill their children. I quoted him in my book. It’s a fantastic statement. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) Jesus represents the possibilities of a new dimension of existence that transcends all the boundaries that restrict us from opening ourselves to God and allowing this source of love to flow through us. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) Terrorism is a real despair. These are people for whom life has been so negative that they’re willing to die if they can take down some of their enemies. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) What happened in the Western world was that Plato ceased to be the way people thought. Aristotle was rediscovered, and the modern, educated world moved toward Aristotelian thinking. (John Shelby Spong Quotes) So who is God? No one can finally say. That is not within human competence. All we can ever say is how we believe we have experienced God, doing our best to dispel our human delusions. Let me try to do just that. I experience God as the source of life calling me to live fully and thus to respect life in every form as embodying the holy (John Shelby Spong Quotes)

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