Francis Schaeffer: Most people catch their presuppositions from their...

The central problem of our age is not liberalism or modernism, nor the old Roman Catholicism or the new Roman Catholicism, nor the threat of communism, nor even the threat of rationalism and the monolithic consensus which surrounds us. All these are dangerous but not the primary threat. The real problem is this: the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, individually corporately, tending to do the Lord’s work in the power of the flesh rather than of the Spirit. The central problem is always in the midst of the people of God, not in the circumstances surrounding them.

Francis Schaeffer

real people jesus

Our relationship with each other is the criterion the world uses to judge whether our message is truthful - Christian community is the final apologetic.

Francis Schaeffer

community judging christian

If there is no absolute moral standard, then one cannot say in a final sense that anything is right or wrong. By absolute we mean that which always applies, that which provides a final or ultimate standard. There must be an absolute if there are to be morals, and there must be an absolute if there are to be real values. If there is no absolute beyond man's ideas, then there is no final appeal to judge between individuals and groups whose moral judgments conflict. We are merely left with conflicting opinions.

Francis Schaeffer

real men mean

Truth always carries with it confrontation. Truth demands confrontation; loving confrontation nevertheless. If our reflex action is always accommodation regardless of the centrality of the truth involved, there is something wrong.

Francis Schaeffer

reflexes demand action

If we do not show love to one another, the world has a right to question whether Christianity is true.

Francis Schaeffer

christianity shows world

One of the greatest injustices we do to our young people is to ask them to be conservative. Christianity is not conservative, but revolutionary.

Francis Schaeffer

injustice conservative people

There is a sad myth going around today - the myth of neutrality. According to this myth, the secular world gives every point of view an equal chance to be heard. And it works fairly well - unless you are a Christian.

Francis Schaeffer

religious christian views

No work of art is more important than the Christian's life, and every Christian is called to be an artist in this sense... The Christian's life is to be a thing of truth and also a thing of beauty in the midst of a lost and despairing world.

Francis Schaeffer

important christian art

Reformation is a return to the sound doctrine of the Bible. Revival is the practice of that sound doctrine under the power of the Holy Spirit.

Francis Schaeffer

sound-doctrine return practice

If man is not made in the image of God, nothing then stands in the way of inhumanity. There is no good reason why mankind should be perceived as special. Human life is cheapened. We can see this in many of the major issues being debated in our society today.

Francis Schaeffer

issues men children

If Christians win a battle by using worldly means, they have really lost.

Francis Schaeffer

christian winning mean

Man, made in the image of God, has a purpose - to be in relationship to God, who is there. Man forgets his purpose and thus he forgets who he is and what life means.

Francis Schaeffer

purpose men mean

No totalitarian authority nor authoritarian state can tolerate those who have an absolute by which to judge that state and its actions. The Christians had that absolute in God's revelation.

Francis Schaeffer

rome judging christian

We must realize that the Reformation world view leads in the direction of government freedom. But the humanist world view with inevitable certainty leads in the direction of statism. This is so because humanists, having no god, must put something at the center, and it is inevitably society, government, or the state.

Francis Schaeffer

government views world

Tell me what the world is saying today, and I'll tell you what the church will be saying in seven years.

Francis Schaeffer

church world years

Any denomination or church group that forsakes inerrancy will end up shipwrecked. It is impossible to prevent the surrender of other important doctrinal teachings of the Word of God when inerrancy is gone.

Francis Schaeffer

church important teaching

The beginning of men's rebellion against God was, and is, the lack of a thankful heart.

Francis Schaeffer

rebellion heart men

Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.

Francis Schaeffer

biblical compassion world

The Lord is the General, and he has the right . . . the sovereign right . . . to put us where he wants in the battle.

Francis Schaeffer

sovereign battle want

In passing, we should note this curious mark of our own age: the only absolute allowed is the absolute insistence that there is no absolute.

Francis Schaeffer

aging age birthday

Most people catch their presuppositions from their family and surrounding society the way a child catches measles. But people with more understanding realize that their presuppositions should be chosen after a careful consideration of what world-view is true.