Who Said That?

Who said that?

"I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world."

Place your guess in the comments section below.  No google searches (or cheating).  The goal is to guess "who said this?"

Update on Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at 09:52AM by Kim Riddlebarger

As some of you guessed, these words come from Bertrand Russell, in his book, Why I Am Not A Christian.  I wonder if he'd want to rethink that now . . .

Who Said That?

Who said that?

"But here's first what I see for Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). You're going to have people raised from the dead watching this network. You're going to have people raised from the dead watching TBN.  Programs -- just plain programs -- programs that haven't done much when it comes to supernatural manifestations -- teaching programs!"

Read the quote carefully and after you stop laughing, leave your guesses in the comments section below!  No cheating!

Update on Monday, March 12, 2007 at 02:25PM by Kim Riddlebarger

These words come from our friend, Tofik Benedictus (Benny Hinn) and were spoken on TBN during a "beg-a-thon."  I was glad to learn that dead people watched TBN.

Who Said That?

Okay, who said that?

"The premillennialist maintains that there will be a lengthy gap in the end-time events into which the millennium will be inserted after Christ’s return; the millennial kingdom will be characterized by the prosperity of a restored Jewish state.  The amillennialist denies any such gap in the end-time events, looking for Christ to return after a basically non-prosperous millennial age.  And the post millennialist is distinguished from the two foregoing positions by holding that there will be no gap in the end-time events; rather, when Christ returns subsequent to the millennial, interadventual, church age. There will have been conspicuous and widespread success for the great commission.  In short, postmillennialism is set apart from the other two schools of thought by its essential optimism for the kingdom in the present age.  This confident attitude in the power of Christ’s kingdom, the power of its gospel, the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit, the power of prayer, and the progress of the great commission, sets postmillennialism apart from the essential pessimism of amillennialism and premillennialism."

The goal is to guess who said this!  So, don't cheat and do a google search.  Leave your answer in the comments section below.

Update on Monday, March 5, 2007 at 02:30PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This quote comes from Greg Bahnsen's very influential essay, The Prima Facie Acceptability of Postmillennialism (found in the Journal of Christian Reconstructionism, Vol. III, 1976-77, pages 66-67). 

Two major problems are found here.  One is Bahnsen's specious argument that amillenniarians are "pessimistic" while postmillennarians are "optimistic."  For one thing, amillennarians are very optimistic about the kingdom of God and the spread of the gospel.  We are pessimistic about the city of man (otherwise known as "Babylon the Great" in the Book of Revelation).  Eschatology must be done by exegesis not by ramming everything into the procrustean bed of cultural "optimism" and transformation (a category, by the way, which may have more to do with the Enlightenment than with the New Testament).

The second problem is Bahnsen's lumping amillennialism in with premillennialism because both are supposedly "pessimistic."  The better contrast is millennarianism in all its forms ("pre and post") with non-millenarianism (which makes amillennialism unique when contrasted with either "pre" or "post" millennialism). 

Who Said That?

OK, who said that?

"If you retake the throne of your life through sin -- a definite act of disobedience -- breathe spiritually.  Spiritual breathing (exhaling the impure and inhaling the pure) is an exercise in faith and enables you to continue to experience God's love and forgiveness.

1.  Exhale -- confess your sin -- agree with God concerning your sin and thank him for His forgiveness of it, according to 1 John 1:9 and Hebrews 10:1-25.  Confession involves repentance -- a change in attitude and action.  2.  Inhale -- surrender the control of your life to Christ, and appropriate (receive) the fullness of the Holy Spirit by faith.  Trust that he now directs and empowers you, according to the command of Ephesians 5:18 and the promise of 1 John 5:14, 15."

You know the drill!  Leave your answers in the comments section.  Please, no cheating (google searches).  The fun is in the guessing.  For some of you (who have already learned the art of spiritual breathing) the answer will be easy.

Okay everybody, on the count of three, one . . . two . . . three . . . exhale, inhale.  

Update on Monday, February 26, 2007 at 03:33PM by Kim Riddlebarger

Many of you guessed this one.  This comes from the infamous "Blue Book" put out by Bill Bright's Campus Crusade for Christ (page 284, to be specific).

For some Reformed Christians, spiritual breathing is closely tied to the enjoyment of certain fine Dominican tobacco plants, finely rolled and cut and sold by a certain Arturo Fuente. 

Who Said That?

OK, Who Said That . . .

B. B. Warfield's doctrine of Biblical inspiration and authority is "exegetically improbable, hermeneutically defective, theologically dangerous, and educationally disastrous."

No cheating or google searches.  Leave your guess in the comments section below.

Update on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 05:56PM by Kim Riddlebarger

These words come from James D. G. Dunn (The Living Word, Fortress, 1989, 107).  I guess if Luther didn't quite understand Paul, Warfield surely didn't understand the meaning of theopneustos.

Who Said That?

Who Said That?

"Last Day and return of Christ sometime on or between:  September 14, 1994:  Beginning of 1994 Jubilee Year, and September 27, 1994:  Last Day of the Feast of Tabernacles."

OK, this is an easy one.  Leave your guesses in the comments section below. Please no google searches.  You must guess! 

Update on Monday, February 12, 2007 at 11:01AM by Kim Riddlebarger

Well, nearly thirteen years have gone by, and he's still dead wrong.  These words come from Harold Camping's 1994 (531).  Its bad enough when the dispensationalists set dates.  It is that much worse when a professing Reformed Christian does it!

Who Said That?

Who Said That?

" . . . the first place we should look for God in the War on Terror would be in the smouldering ruins of the Twin Towers, in the tears of the widows and children on that terrible day five years ago, and then in the ruins of Baghdad and Basra, the shattered homes and lives of the tens of thousands who have through no fault of their own been in the wrong place at the wrong time as the angry superpower, like a rogue elephant teased by a little dog, has gone on the rampage stamping on everything that moves in the hope of killing the dog by killing everything within reach."

Please leave your guesses in the comments section below!  No google searches!  You must guess!  And don't spoil it for everyone else.

Update on Monday, February 5, 2007 at 05:24PM by Kim Riddlebarger

As some of you guessed, these words come from everybody's favorite Bishop, N. T. Wright ("Where is God in ‘The War on Terror’?"
a public lecture in Durham Cathedral, 9 November 2006).  While Americans can and do differ in their views on the Iraq war, it troubles me when an Anglican bishop--who many consider the foremost expert on Paul--draws a tacky moral equivalence between an act of terror (911) and the US-led (and UN sanctioned, I might add) invasion of Iraq.

Who Said That?

Who Said That?

"However improbable it may seem that the whole world should be Christianized, we know that God is able to perform what he has promised. . . . A future generation will witness the rapidity of its progress; and long before the end of time. . . Christianity will gain a complete triumph over all false religions; and the visible kingdom of Satan will be destroyed, or reduced without narrow limits, during the happy period when, in the figurative language of the Apocalypse, `he shall be bound.'"

No google searches!  Leave your guess in the comments section below.

Update on Monday, January 29, 2007 at 11:43AM by Kim Riddlebarger

These words come from Scottish theologian John Dick (1764-1833), in his Lectures on Theology (156), which was widely used at Princeton Theological Seminary.

These words illustrate both the best and worst of postmillennialism.  On the one hand, Dick correctly believes the kingdom of God will spread to the ends of the earth.  While, on the other, Dick incorrectly argues that the kingdom of God will triumph over all forms of unbelief before the eschaton.  I'm with Vos (and not Warfield) on this one.  Christ comes to save the earth (Vos), he does not return to a saved earth (Warfield).

Who Said That?

Who said that? (or better, "what is this?")

"God is bigger and better and closer than we can imagine.

The Bible is God’s perfect guidebook for living.

Jesus is God showing himself to us.

Through His Holy Spirit, God lives in and through us now.

Nothing in creation `just happened.' God made it all.

Grace is the only way to have a relationship with God.

Faith is the only way to grow in our relationship with God.

God has allowed evil to provide us with a choice, God can bring good even out of evil events and God promises victory over evil to those who choose him.

Heaven and hell are real places. Death is a beginning, not the end.

The church is to serve people like Jesus served people..

Jesus is coming again."

Please, no google searches! Leave your guesses in the comments section below.

Update on Monday, January 22, 2007 at 05:35PM by Kim Riddlebarger

As many of you guessed (and some of you cheated to find out), such as it is, this is Saddleback's "Statement of Faith."  They do have a more in-depth statement for those who want it.

Who Said That?

Who said that?

"Many of you have known the writer . . .  to be faithful, honest, caring for others, wise, of sound judgment, just, decisive, careful with the wealth of the people and the state . . . and that his heart is big enough to embrace all without discrimination.  You have known your brother and leader very well and he never bowed to the despots and, in accordance with the wishes of those who loved him, remained a sword and a banner. . . . I call on you not to hate because hate does not leave a space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking and keeps away one from balanced thinking and making the right choice. . . . Dear faithful people, I say goodbye to you, but I will be with the merciful God who helps those who take refuge in him and who will never disappoint any faithful, honest believer . . . God is great . . ."

This is an easy one!  Leave your guesses in the comments section.  Please, no google searches!

Update on Monday, January 8, 2007 at 10:31AM by Kim Riddlebarger

As many of you correctly guessed, these words come from Saddam's "farewell" letter.  These are the words of a true megalomaniac.