Your mind will really talk to you when you begin to deny fulfillment to your desires, and you will find how subtle and shameless it is.

We don't believe something by merely saying we believe it, or even when we believe that we believe it. We believe something when we act as if it were true.

My hope is to gain a fresh hearing for Jesus, especially among those who believe they already understand him. In his case, quite frankly, presumed familiarity has led to unfamiliarity, unfamiliarity has led to contempt, and contempt has led to profound ignorance.

And God has set up prayer in such a way that, if you want to explain it away, you can. That's the human mind. God set it up like that for a reason, which is this: God ordained that people should be governed in the end by what they want.

One does not miss heaven by a hair, but by constant effort to avoid and escape God.

Many people get what they need from church attendance because the Word is preached, and the rituals are carried on, and God works, but it's drift more than anything else. And that's why the churches keep reaching for some programmatic formula that will make people come and give money. It's just really very sad.

Education (the institution) has now adopted values, attitudes, and practices that make any rigorous understanding of the human self and life impossible.