Some people think prayer is telling God what to do. I don't think that's the case. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Was Judas Iscariot a figure of history? I do not think so. There is no mention of him in any source before… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think we have to recover our spiritual nature. The way we have interpreted Christianity does not do that. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I don't think much about my physical body going off into the long, green fairways of heaven to play golf. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think one of the things we've got to look out for is human beings claiming that they know how God operates. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think I could make the case for any kind of organized religion, but I'm not an expert in those, so let… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
What happened in the Western world was that Plato ceased to be the way people thought. Aristotle was rediscovered, and the modern,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The time has come for us to think of Christianity in a different way. Instead of thinking of God entering human life… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
There are some great values in Christianity, but I think the values are located more deeply in our humanity than they are… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think I can tell you how I experience God. I experience God as the power of life calling me to live,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
We have a democracy within the bounds of a constitution which provides certain guarantees related to the basic humanity of every person.… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I'm not writing for fundamentalists. I'm writing for the people who have been repelled by that kind of thinking and yet who… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Some people think prayer stops bullets or rockets or land mines. It doesn't. That's magic, that's not God. Sometimes, you're just in… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I still hope. I wouldn't be in this position if I didn't. I love the church. I love the Bible. But I… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
We have to start at ground zero and ask what it means to have a real connection with God and what it… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I go to a church here in New Jersey that is just a very exciting place, and I just love to be… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
We live in a very pluralistic society today. There are Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, atheists, Roman Catholics, Evangelical Christians, and Christians like me.… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think if you're convinced that you're evil, and that God has had to rescue you, then the best you can be… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Nobody in the scientific or medical world thinks that homosexuality is something that people choose. It's something we are. Now, I didn't… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The God of the Hebrews is a God that human language, we're not even supposed to speak the holy name. We were… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
If you're going to live in a community, you have to refrain from killing one another and stealing from one another. You… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think Jesus is a fact of history. I think a man named Jesus of Nazareth lived and was crucified. I think… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think human beings are almost, by definition, religious people,in the sense that we ask questions of meaning, we anticipate future events,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think the story of the Christian faith is how you can become more deeply and fully human, not how you can… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The powers of nature are so great, and our power is so inept. So,in order to cope with the incredible anxiety that… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I think the worst way to go is to have somebody think they speak for God. If you look at history, every… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
If you're really thinking prayer can stop rockets or bullets, you have to ask why some people do get hit by rockets… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I don't think hell exists. I happen to believe in life after death but I don't think it's got a thing to… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
We were born in a Jewish world, as part of a Jewish faith tradition. We had to translate ourselves into the neo-Platonic… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
God is not a Christian, God is not a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist. All of those… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I have no problem with anybody who wants to bear public witness to their religion, but I don't think they can do… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
If I want to put a Christmas tree in my yard, or three crosses for the crucifixion story, that's fine. But if… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
We didn't educate women, because the leaders then didn't think they were educable. That changed when a shortage of teachers developed, because… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I'd like to turn the whole Jesus story around and look at it from a different vantage point, to consider that he… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
I do not think of God theistically, that is, as a being, supernatural in power, who dwells beyond the limits of my… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
Our problem is not that we're fallen; our problem is we haven't become human yet. The question is, what can make us… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share Image
The way that I see Christianity is that its role is to enhance the life of every person. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
The Sins of Scripture is an interesting title; most people don't put sins and scripture together in the same title. It jars people. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
“When a human life is open to all that humanity can be, humanity and divinity flow together as one. It was and is a… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
I don't see Jesus as rescuing the fallen; I see Jesus as expanding the potential of life. The primary reason the old idea of… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
The Bible interprets life from its particular perspective; it does not record in a factual way the human journey through history. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
My basis of morality is this: does this action enhance life, or does it denigrate life? Does it build up or does it tear… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
I want the traditional family upheld, but I don't want it upheld to the detriment of other people. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
We live in a very pluralistic society today. There are Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, atheists, Roman Catholics, Evangelical Christians, and Christians like me. There are… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
The Bible was written between 3,000 and 2,000 years ago, and it's filled with the knowledge that people had in that period of time,… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
We are in a survival mentality, and that's hard-wired into our humanity, because we are the winners of an evolutionary struggle of millions and… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
Some people think prayer stops bullets or rockets or land mines. It doesn't. That's magic, that's not God. Sometimes, you're just in the wrong… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
The Hebrew scriptures say it's okay to enslave anybody except your fellow Jews. It says you should enslave only your neighbors. I say to… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
I know Jerry [Falwell] fairly well, and he's probably not bright enough to recognize all of the implications of what he said. — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
Benedict XVI kept saying that homosexuals are deviant. They're not deviant. They're deviant only if you say that anyone who is different from me… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
I find it fascinating that Paul [the apostol], writing to the Galatians, responds to the question, "What does it mean to live in Christ?"… — John Shelby Spong Copy Share
