Vern Sheridan Poythress Quotes & Sayings

People come to the Bible with expectations that do not fit the Bible, and this clash becomes one main reason, though not the only one, why people do not find the Bible's claims acceptable. — Vern Sheridan Poythress

The truth is that our minds are corrupted by sin. Not just a little bit, but deeply, down to the depths as far as we can perceive, and beyond. And not just grossly, so that it is easy to figure out where we went wrong, but subtly, delicately, invisibly. If we think we know and appreciate how far we have gone wrong, we are still deceiving ourselves at this point also. — Vern Sheridan Poythress

We need the Holy Spirit to change our hearts if we are going to be willing to come to God and hear his word submissively. — Vern Sheridan Poythress

The beauty of scientific laws shows the beauty of God himself. — Vern Sheridan Poythress

Scientific investigation, narrowly conceived, does not prove materialism. Rather, materialism arises from confusing two distinct moves: (1) the narrow scientific strategy of focusing on what is material and (2) the claim that the narrow focus is all that there is. — Vern Sheridan Poythress

Some of the thinking about religion makes a mistake right here. If, in our thinking, God or religion becomes like an apple, we are in charge and we do our own investigating in whatever way we please. On the other hand, if God is a person, and in fact a person infinitely greater than we, it is up to him how he chooses to meet us. Until we get to know him, we cannot say whether he makes himself known in all religions equally, or in none of them, or in one particular way that fits his character. — Vern Sheridan Poythress

Contrary to secularist myth, science in practice is innately and irrepressibly religious: it serves either God or idolatry. But one of the features of idolatry is deceit. In this case, idolatry conceals from itself that it is idolatry. — Vern Sheridan Poythress

There is an obvious disconnect between someone's claim to be relativist and his own moral judgments, including his judgment that people ought to be relativist. — Vern Sheridan Poythress

But our deepest difficulties cannot be resolved merely on a narrowly intellectual plane. Our deepest difficulty is sin, rebellion against God. We have desires in our hearts that resist the Bible's views and what God has to say. We want to be our own master. — Vern Sheridan Poythress

The person who goes astray from God's wise guidance burdens himself with sorrows and frustrations. In fact, he ends up being a slave to his own desires. — Vern Sheridan Poythress

Tim Keller observes, "We are all exclusive in our beliefs about religion, but in different ways."3 — Vern Sheridan Poythress

New Testament authors all may have been premillennialists, they may all have been amillennialists, or some may not have had a particular worked-out conviction. But all were oriented to the idea of fulfillment in Christ and then in his people, in both his first and his second comings. This central motif rather than the Millennium as such dominated teaching about the future. — Vern Sheridan Poythress