"Our misguided belief that life change can come through proper knowledge acquired through education has failed to produce the kind of radical commitment to life in harmony with God in the way of Jesus that we are called to."
"Had Jesus Christ never walked the dusty paths of ancient Palestine, suffered, died, and risen from the dead, and never assembled around him a small group of disciples who spread out into the pagan world, the West would not have attained its high level of civilization, giving it the many human benefits it enjoys today."
"If we live in an exclusively material world, human life -- including mine and yours -- is absolutely meaningless. No matter how intense our passions, how great our accomplishments, or what side of history we choose, all of this will turn to dust in a universe doomed to extinction."
"The American church is losing ground as the population continues to surge. If trends continue, by 2050 the percentage of Americans attending church will be half the 1990 figure."
"We came at it from the points of view of an atheist and a believer, but we soon realized that we have a lot in common as human beings, that we respect each other and we enjoy each other's company."
"I decided long ago to cast my lot with the church. It has probably failed me as many times as I have failed it, but I will not abandon it. I could not, without abandoning myself."
"Just listen. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. You see, we live in a loud world, and often God speaks quietly."
"Evangelism is one of the highest values in the church -- and one of the least practiced."
"For most Christians these days, the workplace -- not the church or a foreign mission field -- is the primary setting for effective kingdom work."
"As parents we need to do some fresh thinking about ways to influence the minds of teens -- not with speeches or programs -- but by living together and sharing life. Good books are meant to be shared."
"'Faithfulness' in translation is neither a simple concept to define nor an easy goal to achieve."
"The Ninth Commandment condemns lying because it leads to the general breakdown of communities."
"Media and technology are primary forces that cause changes in our philosophy, theology, culture, and ultimately the way we do church."
"Banns (a word meaning 'to summon') are said to have originated with Charlemagne around AD 800, when he was concerned that people were marrying half brothers or sisters without realizing it. Therefore, the king ordered that all marriages must be announced publicly so that anyone with information about the couple's lineage could come forward and stop the marriage, if necessary."
"If Darwinism is true, then there are five inescapable conclusions: there's no evidence for God, there's no life after death, there's no absolute foundation for right and wrong, there's no ultimate meaning for life, and people don't really have free will."
"Americans spend $20 billion a year on ice cream. Providing clean water and basic sanitation for the entire world would cost $7 billion a year for the next 10 years."
"The challenge of living with our deepest -- that is, our religiously grounded -- differences is one of the world's great issues today."
"You can listen to innumerable sermons and read countless books, but the true transformation happens only when you practice the disciplines that lie at the heart of faith."
"It's not about missions; it's about globalization. People have become global beings. The problem with the word global is that it says 'way over there.' That is incomplete. It's way over there and here at the same time. That is why it's glocal."
"Of one thing I am confident: You do not have to be depressed."
"Traditional Mormonism teaches that there is a plurality of Gods and that God formed the world out of eternally preexisting matter (rather than create ex nihilo); humans are uncreated and eternal in their most basic part, of the same species of being as God, and have the potential to become what God is; Jesus is fully divine and fully human, but only because the only distinction between deity and humanity is one of degree, not kind; and God is said to literally be an exalted man."
