Whoever begins to read the Bible asks the usual questions—impatient, uncomprehending, arrogant questions. All these questions remain unanswered. Whoever keeps reading anyway, the Bible begins to ask its own questions of him. Whoever does not evade them finds the gate to life.
— Horst Bannach (1912–1980), Evangelischer Theologe, Pfarrer, Verleger und Autor
Topics: The Bible & the Word of God, Doubt & Hard Questions
Occasions: For Reflection
All quotes by Horst Bannach (1)
More on this topic
[The Bible is] shallow enough for a child not to drown, yet deep enough for an elephant to swim.
Augustine of Hippo
A Bible that’s falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.
Unknown
The Bible in the pulpit must never supersede the Bible at home.
John Charles Ryle
The Bible is almost bursting with good news for bad people.
Corrie ten Boom
I read the Bible the way I harvest my apple tree: I shake it, and what falls down and is ripe, I take. The rest I leave hanging for now.
Martin Luther
The Bible is the cradle wherein Christ is laid.
Martin Luther
The law is divine and holy. Let the law have its glory, but yet no law, be it never so divine and holy, ought to teach me that I am justified, and shall live through it. I grant it may teach me that I ought to love God and my neighbor; also to live in love, soberness, patience, etc., but it ought not to show me how I should be delivered from sin, the devil, death, and hell. Here I must take counsel of the gospel. I must hearken to the gospel, which teaches me, not what I ought to do but what Jesus Christ the Son of God hath done for me: that He suffered and died to deliver me from sin and death. The gospel wills me to receive this, and to believe it. And this is the truth of the gospel. Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually.
Martin Luther
Jesus was not a theologian. He was God who told stories.
Madeleine L'Engle
All quotes · lumen.bible