Bread and wine Quote by Stephen King
““You have forgotten the doctrine of your own church, is it not so? The cross…the bread and wine…the confessional…only symbols. Without faith, the cross is only wood, the bread baked wheat, the wine sour grapes.””
About This Quote
Source Interview: “The King of Horror”, 2015
Religious symbols lose meaning without personal belief, reducing sacred rituals to mere objects.
In simple terms: Faith gives symbols power; without it they’re just objects.
Key Takeaway
Cultivate personal belief to give meaning to rituals.
Themes
faith
symbolism
religion
meaning
ritual
Mood
contemplative
skeptical
inquisitive
Type
theological
philosophical
When to use this quote
- worship
- personal reflection
- theological debate
Key Concepts
existentialism
personal belief
iconoclasm
Questions to Reflect On
- Do symbols retain power in secular societies?
- How does personal belief shape ritual experience?
A Different Perspective
Symbols can still hold cultural value even without belief.
![“But his Lordship [tells]us that God is wholly here, and wholly there, and wholly every where; because he has no parts. I cannot comprehend nor conceive this. For methinks it implies also that the whole world is also in the whole God, and in every part of God. Norcan I find anything of this in the…” quote by Thomas Hobbes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9db/thomas-hobbes-1127_believe_but-his-lordship-tells-us-that-god-is-wh_2417886.jpg)
![“[I]t is contrary to the economy of God for any member of the Church, or any one, to receive instruction for those in authority, higher than themselves . . . if any person have a vision or a visitation from a heavenly messenger, it must be for his own benefit and instruction; for the fundamental…” quote by Sam Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6fc/sam-smith-2934_authority_i-t-is-contrary-to-the-economy-of-god-fo_2414345.jpg)
