"It's the first effect of not believing in God that you lose your common sense, and can't see things as they are. Anything that anybody talks about, and says there's a good deal in it, extends indefinitely like a vista in a nightmare. And a dog is an omen and a cat is a mystery and a pig is a mascot, and a beetle is a scarab, calling up all the menagerie of polytheism from Egypt and old India; Dog Anubis and the great green-eyed Pasht and all the howling bulls of Bashan; reeling back to the bestial gods of the beginning, escaping into elephants and snakes and crocodiles; and all because you are frightened of four words: 'He was made Man.'" ~ Father Brown
"Evil exists... and its name is Boredom, and ministers are the guiltiest crew of all." ~ Galinda
"if ministers are effective, they're good at asking questions to get you to think. I don't think they're supposed to have the answers." Not necessarily." ~ Elphaba, The Wicked Witch of the West
"The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country."
As to why the Lord made it this way we may not know — but this much we do know, it is philosophically impossible to reject truth without accepting error, to shut out the light without being immersed in darkness, to reject true teachers without cleaving to false ones, to reject the true Christ and his prophets without giving allegiance to those who follow another Master.
The Restoration began with Joseph Smith on his knees in the Sacred Grove and that is where the testimony of every Latter-day Saint must begin, on their knees in a sacred moment asking of God. Everything that we believe as Latter-day Saints rests on the reality of what God said that spring morning to Joseph Smith and the great irony of it all is that the harder the saying, the more offensive it seems to the world, the more peace it brings, it is the very light that chases away the darkness of contention with all that are honest in heart.
That such texts will give offense to some is true. Truth, however, is more important than harmony. Were that not the case, there would have been no war in heaven, no gospel of Jesus Christ, and no reason for the Father and the Son to appear to Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove. If we are to be a Christ-like people, we must value truth above life itself.
If the gospel message is true, it must by its very nature have things in it that require faith to accept. If we are going to get serious about it we can hardly expect to find gospel truths getting along compatibly with worldly fashions, nor can we expect them to get an approving nod from those who worship at the shrine of their own intellect.
The plain fact of the matter is that you cannot build strong testimonies out of weak doctrine. As there is no courage without a struggle, so there can be no spiritual strength without a challenge. We have claim to neither peace nor safety save we build on a strong foundation.
Any time we declare something to be true, we have picked a fight with that which is untrue. We cannot, as Marion G. Romney assured us, do the Lord’s work without offending the devil. [12] It is as certain as the night following the day that we will never be able to declare our message without opposition or without giving offense to some.
Suppose schools were operated on that philosophy, with each discipline a separate path leading to the same diploma. No matter whether you study or not, pass the tests or not, all would be given the same diploma — the one of their choice. Without qualifying, one could choose the diploma of an attorney, an engineer, a medical doctor. Surely you would not submit yourself to surgery under the hands of a graduate of that kind of school! But it does not work that way. It cannot work that way — not in education, not in spiritual matters. There are essential ordinances just as there are required courses. There are prescribed standards of worthiness. If we resist them, avoid them, or fail them, we will not enter in with those who complete the course.
“Do you realize that the notion that all churches are equal presupposes that the true church of Jesus Christ actually does not exist anywhere?”
Would the people who claim all churches (save ours) to be true be willing when sick to take any randomly selected combination of drugs to cure what ails them or administer the same to their children? Would they substitute sand for flour when baking bread arguing that as long as they were sincere, it could not possibly make any difference? Would they fill their gas tank with water, arguing that it too was a true liquid and was also a creation of God and that God loved all liquids the same?
You can say what you want by way of criticism about the Book of Mormon. Give it whatever grade you think it deserves, but what you cannot say is that it lacks for plainness or that you cannot quite figure out where it stands relative to Christ and his gospel. On such matters it is plain, clear, and bold; its writers had no intention of being misunderstood. It is a theological Everest; you can try to cover it with flowers but you are not going to be able to hide it. Simply stated, it is a public relations nightmare.
A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation".
“If you’re not electing Christians, tried and true, under public scrutiny and pressure, if you’re not electing Christians then in essence you are going to legislate sin.”
“If people aren’t involved in helping godly men in getting elected, then we’re going to have a nation of secular laws. That’s not what our Founding Fathers intended and that certainly isn’t what God intended. . . .”
Religion and science “Shouldn’t be in competition. The problem is with your (US) preachers – and your scientists. They’re stepping on each other’s toes. With big, heavy boots. They don’t understand that religion and science are there to serve different purposes. We need science to understand how everything on this planet and beyond works. . . .But we also need religion. Not for ridiculous counter-theories about things science can prove. We need it for something else, to fill a different kind of need. The need for meaning. It’s a basic need we have as humans. And it’s a need that’s beyond the realm of science. Your (US) scientists don’t understand that it’s a need they can’t fulfill no matter how man Hadron colliders and Hubble telescopes they build – and you (US) preachers don’t understand that their job is to help you discover a personal, inner sense of meaning and not behave like a bunch of zealots intent on converting the rest of the planet to their rigid, literalist view of how everyone should live their lives. In your (US) country and in the Muslim countries, religion has become a political movement, not a spiritual one.” ~ Father Jerome
“religion in (the US) is so focused on fighting science and these compelling atheist voices that your preachers have lost track of what religion is really about. In . . . - the Eastern Church – and in Eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism, religion isn’t there to offer theories or explanation. We accept that the divine is unknowable. . . .for a lot of rational people . . ., it’s become a choice. Fact or faith. Science or religion. . . .You shouldn’t have to choose.” ~ Father Jerome
Yelling “God is on our side” is “very effective at rallying the masses. And at winning elections. . . .” ~ Father Jerome
“you can’t reconcile religion with modern life, with all the knowledge we have, with science. . . .” ~ Grace Logan
"Studies have shown that convincing religious agents had to have just the right level of outlandishness. Also, the manifestation needed to have an emotional resonance in order for belief to set in. Religions use elaborate rituals to stir up people's emotions...."
“History’s shown us time and again, that mixing religion and politics only brings destruction.” ~ Larry Rydell
“You don’t need anyone to tell you what to believe or who to worship. . . .You don’t need to follow any set of rituals. You don’t need to worry about an angry God not allowing you into heaven. You don’t need to march into these great temples or intolerance and be told what is God’s inerrant and infallible word, because the simple truth is that nobody really knows that. . . .All I know is that you’re not slaves and you’re not part of any grand master plan. . . .you are all God’s children. . . .You create your own destiny. And you need to accept that responsibility and put aside your egocentricity and stop looking for excuses in tired old myths. You make your own fate every single day. You need to look after each other. You need to look after the land that feeds you and gives you the air you breathe. You need to assume your duty toward all of God’s creation. And you need to accept the credit for the good and take the blame for the bad.” ~ Father Jerome
"There are only two surefire ways to get people to do what you want them to do. You either put on an iron glove and make them do it. Or you tell them God wants them to do it." ~ Keenan Drucker
“We’ll elect any bumbling fool, any champion of mediocrity to the highest office in the land as long as they have God as their running mate.” ~ Keenan Drucker
“The only reason – the only need – to believe in God is to try and explain where this all came from. . . .Where we come from. Where we’re headed. But it doesn’t work. If there was a creator, a designer who created all this, well then there had to be a creator to create the creator, right? And one to create him. And so on.”
“The problem with religion right now. It hasn’t evolved. And instead of being open and looking for ways to be relevant in today’s world, it’s gone all defensive and protective and it’s regressed into lowest-common-denominator sound bites – and fundamentalism.” ~ Father Jerome