I've never known about anyone being helped by being told how wretched, miserable, sinful, and evil they are.
John Shelby SpongI think one of the things we've got to look out for is human beings claiming that they know how God operates.
John Shelby SpongThe powers of nature are so great, and our power is so inept. So,in order to cope with the incredible anxiety that human self-consciousness produced, I think we created God in our own image, and then portrayed this God as having supernatural power that we didn't have.
John Shelby SpongSome parts of the Bible are dreadful. In fact, my working title for The Sins of Scripture was "The Terrible Text of The Bible."
John Shelby Spong