A Quote I Enjoyed– #1

I am positive that in pursuing my seminary education I am going to run across some quotes that I will really enjoy, learn from and want to share. I am positive of this because I found one today. This one is in J P Moreland's "Love Your God with All Your Mind", in which Moreland quotes another deep thinker. I think one of the definitions of a good quote is one that when you read it, you see great relevance for today's world, regardless of when it was written.

Here goes:

"In an age in which infidelity abounds, do we observe them [parents] carefully instructing their children in the principles of faith which they profess? Or do they furnish their children with arguments for the defense of the faith? They would blush on their child's birth to think him inadequate in any branch of knowledge or any skill pertaining to his station in life. He cultivates these skills with becoming diligence. But he is left to collect his religion a she may. The study of Christianity has formed no part of his education. His attachment to it-where any attachment to it exists at all-is too often not the preference of sober reason and conviction. Instead his attachment to Christianity is merely the result of early and groundless possession. He was born in a Christian country, so of course he is a Christian. His father was a member of the Church of England so that is why he is, too. When religion is handed down among us by hereditary succession, it is not surprising to find youth of sense and spirit beginning to question the truth of the system in which they were brought up. And it is not surprising to see them abandon a position which they are unable to defend. Knowing Christianity chiefly by its difficulties and the impossibilities falsely imputed to it, they fall perhaps into the company of unbelievers."

William Wilberforce (1759-1833) - Real Christianity

We need to think, not just feel, Christianity. We need to question, in order to learn, in order to defend, our faith. And that hasn't changed all that much in the past couple of hundred years. I am so enjoying seminary.