“Did he say both things? Could he mean both things? How can both be true at once? Or is it possible that one of the Gospel writers got things switched around?”

His name never occurs in a single inscription, and it is never found in a single piece of private correspondence. Zero! Zip references!

My students sometimes ask: what is a fundamentalist? I give them a very simple definition.

I have such a fantastic life that I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude for it. . . . But I don’t have anyone to express my gratitude to. This is a void deep inside me, a void of wanting someone to thank, and I don’t see any plausible way of filling it.

No other author, biblical or otherwise, mentions this event. Is it, like John’s account of Jesus’ death, a detail made up by Matthew in order to make some kind of theological point?

The problem then with Jesus is that he cannot be removed from his time and transplanted into our own without simply creating him anew

Everything we hear and see we need to evaluate—whether the inspiring writings of the Bible or the inspiring writings of Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, or George Eliot, of Ghandi, Desmond Tutu, or the Dalai Lama.

[P]eople need to use their intelligence to evaluate what they find to be true and untrue in the Bible. This is how we need to live life generally.

In Matthew, Jesus declares, “Whoever is not with me is against me.” In Mark, he says,“Whoever is not against us is for us.”

In terms of the historical record, I should also point out that there is no account in any ancient source whatsoever about King Herod slaughtering children in or around Bethlehem, or anyplace else.

In the entire first Christian century Jesus is not mentioned by a single Greek or Roman historian, religion scholar, politician, philosopher or poet.

Traditionally in Christian circles, Judas in fact has been associated with Jews. Of being traitors, avaricious, who in fact, betray Jesus, who are Christ-killers. And this portrayal of Judas of course also leads then to horrendous acts of anti-Semitism through the centuries.

I think the evidence is just so overwhelming that Jesus existed, that it’s silly to talk about him not existing.

You can’t believe something just because someone else desperately wants you to.

A fundamentalist is no fun, too much damn, and not enough mental.

The search for truth takes you where the evidence leads you, even if, at first, you don’t want to go there.

As time goes on, thing do get made up.

As the music played over the speakers and the waterfall in the pool filled the silence around us, I knew that without a doubt I had just been ruined.

The work that the kids saw around them was so odious, so boring, so worthless that they came to regard WORK as the only dirty four-letter word in the English language.

We don’t look at each other [in the car], but instead do so only when we want to. We’re allowed to look around without appearing rude. We have a big screen in front of us and side views.

The older I get, the more I realize that you don’t have to be around people you don’t want to be around, and you don’t have to be in a situation you don’t want to be in. You have the power to rise up and leave.

The guys who stick around are the smartest guys and the guys who are the most self-driven. You have to have drive. The coaches can only take you so far. You have to want to learn and work.

I’ve always been supremely confident in my abilities. But the biggest confidence boost is when the guys around you, you feel like they have confidence in you.

I sing around the house, in the shower

Observe the world around you everything you do, and especially everything you hate to do.