The Story of Reality Quotes

“The next time you see something—a moment in a film, or an embrace, or a vista that transfixes you—or you hear something—a poem, or a melody, or a bit of a story—or you detect a faint fragrance that sends you, in the same moment, both back to a forgotten time and forward to a new, unknown one—and you find that deep down inside of you something moves and you are transported, and you want to weep, though you’re not sure why—I want you to think, in that moment, that God is giving you a foretaste of Glory. And”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“I do not want you to miss the simple arithmetic here: If man’s special value falls, then unalienable human rights fall, too. If man is not special, if he is not deeply different from any other thing, then there is no good reason not to treat him just like any other thing when it’s convenient for us to do so. If man is just “the result of a purposeless and natural process that did not have him in mind,” as matter-ism dictates, if he is just a gear in the machine, or if he is only an illusion of the universal Mind, then there is no good reason for unique and unalienable human rights. It should not be surprising, then, when cultures consistently believe that there is nothing special about being human, that soon they deny ultimate moral obligations and unalienable human rights too. When man is reduced to a mere animal—when the force of one’s worldview logic demotes humans to mere biological machines—morality and human rights die and power is all that remains. This has happened with every communist regime, and happens with all governments as they get increasing secular. It cannot be otherwise.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“ONE OF FRANCIS SCHAEFFER’S most memorable sayings was that Christianity does not start with “Jesus saves you from your sins.” It starts with “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Schaeffer’s point was that Christianity cannot be reduced to a tract or a technique for getting “saved.” It is a comprehensive account of the structure of reality, a rational and real-world account of the history of the universe, a verifiable storyline of the unfolding of the cosmos. In”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“If you still insist that a loving God would never send anyone to hell, then you must settle in your mind that desperately evil acts will forever remain unpunished. God will simply “look the other way” when evil is done, as if nothing had happened. That is what you must accept.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“The world went bad because man went bad first.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“All was just as he wanted it, just the way it was supposed to be, everything fulfilling its proper purpose, everything completely good. Evil intruded later when man rebelled and broke the world. Indeed, without that unfortunate failing, there would be no Story at all.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“His parents are the poorest of the poor and his first visitors, shepherds, are of Israel’s lowliest vocation.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“The world was entrusted to man, but the deceiver took it away and now rules instead. A man must war to win it back again.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“So, in the beginning the world was filled with wonderful things that would never be able to share in God’s happiness. So God made man.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“Allowing some evil for a time, for example, may result in a better world in the long run than a world that never had evil to begin with.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“Instead, it is more accurate to say that a good God always prevents suffering and evil unless he has a good reason to allow it.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“He might (as we have seen in our example) allow a lesser evil if doing so would prevent a greater evil.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“Imagine a commando in World War II who is dropped behind enemy lines posing as a German officer so he can get into a concentration camp and destroy the gas chambers. Imagine next that as he mingles with other officers he sees a soldier preparing to execute a prisoner. This is an evil he could stop by simply shooting the soldier, but at what cost? He might save one person, but his mission is to save many. More lives would be lost in the long run if he prevents an individual death, but does not stop the gas chambers from destroying thousands.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“There is no one above you whom you must answer to, true enough. But there is also no one above you to turn to when life goes south.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“Who is the Lord, the master of the universe? Who is the all-powerful one? The New Age answer is, you are. That’s why you are also the center of the universe.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“It is critical to get certain facts right. Put simply—reason assesses, faith trusts.5 That is the relationship of reason to faith. Reason helps us know what is actually true, leading to accurate belief. Faith is our step of trust to rely on what we have good reason to believe is so. In”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“The divide for Jesus was not between the poor and the rich, but between the proud and the repentant, regardless of income or social standing. Miss that, and you miss everything. These”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“story being attractive and a story being true are two entirely different things. Never forget that. I”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“given a Godless, physical universe, the idea that things are not as they should be makes little sense. How can something go wrong when there was no right way for it to be in the first place? So”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“With one act of self-will, man’s world turns black. Instead of life, he finds death, his defiance severing his soul’s lifeline to God.1 Instead of freedom, he finds slavery, his corrupted “flesh” now ruling from within and a new master ruling from without, the serpent who man obeyed in the Garden instead of God. Humanity is in the deceiver’s grip—held captive by him to do his dark will—and the snake will not let go.2”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“scholars both liberal and conservative overwhelming agree that Jesus of Nazareth was a man of history and the Gospels, on the main, tell his story accurately.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“What now is the atheist to do? Nothing has really changed. Things still are not the way they’re supposed to be, so the atheist continues to be plagued with the same problem he started with. But given a Godless, physical universe, the idea that things are not as they should be makes little sense. How can something go wrong when there was no right way for it to be in the first place?”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“EVERY WORLDVIEW HAS FOUR ELEMENTS. They help us understand how the parts of a person’s worldview story fit together. These four parts are called creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“If a personal God created us as personal beings, then it is logical to conclude that we stand in a personal relationship with him. In fact, we have a moral obligation to him, owing him respect and fidelity, just as human offspring have an obligation to honor the parents who brought them into the world.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“Christianity cannot be reduced to a tract or a technique for getting “saved.” It is a comprehensive account of the structure of reality, a rational and real-world account of the history of the universe, a verifiable storyline of the unfolding of the cosmos.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“Hell is not an example of God’s love. It is an example of his justice.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“And that is only the beginning, since fixing man is the first part of fixing the world.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“Why punish the innocent One?”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“And here we must be clear. It is the Father, not Jesus’ enemies, who is in control, and Jesus knows this. He is not a victim. No one takes his life from him. Not the Jews. Not the Romans. He gives it willingly and purposefully.23 It is his choice. It is what he wants. It is the reason he was born.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between

“When he returns from the wilderness, Jesus begins his work, identified by John as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
― Gregory Koukl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between