The virgin birth, understood as literal biology, makes Christ's divinity, as traditionally understood, impossible. John Shelby Spong More Quotes by John Shelby Spong More Quotes From John Shelby Spong Moral judgment is not life-giving; love that transcends the boundaries of judgment as Jesus' love did, is. John Shelby Spong giving-love justice jesus Theism, as a way of conceiving God, has become demonstrably inadequate, and the God of theism not only is dying but is probably not revivable. If the religion of the future depends on keeping alive the definitions of theism, then the human phenomenon that we call religion will have come to an end. If Christianity depends on a theistic definition of God, then we must face the fact that we are watching this noble religious system enter the rigor mortis of its own death throes. John Shelby Spong rigor-mortis dying religious Jesus' power is the power of human wholeness that ultimately opens, invites and enables human beings to step beyond defense lines where incomplete humanity always hides in order to experience full humanity. John Shelby Spong humanity order jesus The way that I see Christianity is that its role is to enhance the life of every person. John Shelby Spong roles christianity way I think I can tell you how I experience God. I experience God as the power of life calling me to live, I experience God as the power of love calling me to love. That's the God I see in Jesus of Nazareth, that's the God I see in the fourth gospel. John Shelby Spong calling jesus thinking The church had to find a way to protect Jesus' perfection so that he could do the work of salvation which, in their frame of reference, only God could do, because God had to come into this world from outside this world to rescue the fallen creation. John Shelby Spong church perfection jesus Edward Schillebeeckx is probably as fine a New Testament scholar as I've ever read. He's a Dutchman. And he was harassed so many times that it was just painful for him. He constantly had to go to Rome to explain his views. John Shelby Spong rome painful views The first command given by God when Adam and Eve were pitched out of the Garden of Eden in the Book of Genesis is, "Be fruitful and multiply, and subdue the Earth." We've been trying to do that for a long time, and now the Earth is fighting back. I'm not sure that we're going to survive as a species. John Shelby Spong garden fighting book Jerry Falwell says, on Pat Robertson's program, that the reason we got attacked on 9/11 is that we were accommodating the ACLU and abortion and homosexuals and feminists in America, so God smacked us down. John Shelby Spong abortion feminist america The Bible Belt, the religious South, is the section of the country that practiced slavery until the war made them give it up. They practiced segregation. They practiced lynchings. I don't see any great value in that. John Shelby Spong religious war country You need to identify the values that come out of that kind of belief system, because I don't see them. All the polls I look at say, for example, that adultery is committed as much in the Bible Belt as in any other part of the country. The same goes for abortion, child abuse, spouse abuse or murder. John Shelby Spong abortion country children I still hope. I wouldn't be in this position if I didn't. I love the church. I love the Bible. But I think we're in a time where we're desperately in need of a great reformation. John Shelby Spong church needs thinking There are some great values in Christianity, but I think the values are located more deeply in our humanity than they are in our religion. There are certainly some survival values. John Shelby Spong survival humanity thinking Men didn't like to empty bedpans, so we made women nurses. Then men didn't like to do the administrative stuff, so women were allowed to become secretaries. That's the way they entered the work force. Then we began to educate them because they had to be educated. But it wasn't until after World War II that most of the great universities of this country became coeducational. John Shelby Spong men war country The trouble is, the same thing that enabled us to survive evolution is also going to kill us, because in the final analysis, if survival is the primary motivation of every human being, then we will finally be in a situation where might will make right and only one person will survive. John Shelby Spong finals survival motivation Prayer is not adult letters written to Santa Claus, and God is not some parent-like figure up in the sky who's going to take care of us. John Shelby Spong parent prayer sky I'd like to turn the whole Jesus story around and look at it from a different vantage point, to consider that he was a human being who achieved such promise of humanity that he entered into what I think God is: mainly, the power of life, the power of love and what Paul Tillich, a German theologian of the mid-twentieth century, called "the ground of all being." John Shelby Spong humanity jesus thinking The time has come for us to think of Christianity in a different way. Instead of thinking of God entering human life from outside in the person of Jesus, we have to begin to see human life evolving to the place where it opens itself into an experience of divinity. John Shelby Spong different jesus thinking The 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 Spong self order thinking I've never met anybody who was helped by being told how wretched, miserable and sinful they are. John Shelby Spong wretched mets miserable
