Gregory Koukl > Quotes

“Whenever someone tries to deny the truth, ultimately, reality betrays him.”
― Greg Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“There is no neutral ground when it comes to the tolerance question. Everybody has a point of view she thinks is right, and everybody passes judgment at some point or another. The Christian gets pigeonholed as the judgmental one, but everyone else is judging, too, even people who consider themselves relativists.”
― Greg Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“An alternate explanation is not a refutation.”
― Greg Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“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

“Here is the lesson: Don’t retreat in the face of opposition. Too much is at stake. Be the kind of soldier who instills respect in others because of your courage under fire. Make your case in the presence of hostile witnesses. Throw your gauntlet into the arena and see what the other side has to say. It’s one of the most effective ways to establish your case and to help you cultivate a bullet-proof faith over time.”
― Gregory Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“The phrase 'Founding Fathers' is a proper noun. It refers to a specific group: the delegates to the Constitutional Convention. There were other important players not in attendance, but these fifty-five made up the core. Among the delegates were twenty-eight Episcopalians, eight Presbyterians, seven Congregationalists, two Lutherans, two Dutch Reformed, two Methodists, two Roman Catholics, one unknown, and only three deists- Williamson, Wilson, and Franklin. This took place at a time when church membership usually entailed "sworn adherence to strict doctrinal creeds." This tally proves that 51 of 55 -a full 93 percent- of the members of the Constitutional Convention, the most influential group of men shaping the political underpinnings of our nation were Christians, not deists.”
― Greg Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“Beware when rhetoric becomes a substitute for substance. You always know that a person has a weak position when he tries to accomplish with the clever use of words what argument alone cannot do.”
― Gregory Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Loving God with the mind is not a passive process. It is not enough to have sentimental religious thoughts. Rather, it involves coming to conclusions about God and his world based on revelation, observation, and careful reflection.”
― Gregory Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“The belief that objective good and evil do not exist (relativism) is in conflict (rivalry) with a rejection of God based on the existence of objective evil.”
― Gregory Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“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

“Suffering is standard fare in life, but especially so for those who take the Story seriously. This is a clue that man did not make up the Story by himself. If he did, he probably would have written a different story.”
― Gregory Koukl

“In a very real sense, every person who denies God is living of borrowed capital. He enjoys living as if the world is filled with morality, meaning, order and beauty, yet he denies the God whose existence makes such things possible.

When you start with theism - "in the beginning God"- these destinations make complete sense. When you start with materialism though - "in the beginning, the particles" - that route takes you over a cliff of absurdity and despair.”
― Gregory Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“When people say you can’t argue anyone into the kingdom, they usually have an alternative approach in mind. They might be thinking that a genuine expression of love, kindness, and acceptance, coupled with a simple presentation of the gospel, is a more biblical approach. If you are tempted to think this way, let me say something that may shock you: You cannot love someone into the kingdom. It can’t be done. In fact, the simple gospel itself is not even adequate to do that job. How do I know? Because many people who were treated with sacrificial love and kindness by Christians never surrendered to the Savior. Many who have heard a clear explanation of God’s gift in Christ never put their trust in him. In each case something was missing that, when present, always results in conversion. What’s missing is that special work of the Father that Jesus referred to, drawing a lost soul into his arms. Of this work Jesus also said, “Of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:39). According to Jesus, then, two things are true. First, there is a particular work of God that is necessary to bring someone into the kingdom. Second, when present, this work cannot fail to accomplish its goal. Without the work of the Spirit, no argument — no matter how persuasive — will be effective. But neither will any act of love nor any simple presentation of the gospel. Add the Spirit, though, and the equation changes dramatically. Here’s the key principle: Without God’s work, nothing else works; but with God’s work, many things work. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, love persuades. By the power of God, the gospel transforms. And with Jesus at work, arguments convince. God is happy to use each of these methods.”
― Gregory Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“We want to be on the offensive without being offensive.”
― Greg Koukl

“The only consistent response for a relativist is, "Pushing morality is wrong for me, but that's just my personal opinion, and has nothing to do with you. Please ignore me.”
― Gregory Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“If we disqualify legitimate discussion, we compromise our ability to know the truth.”
― Gregory Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“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

“Asking questions enables you to escape the charge, “You’re twisting my words.” A question is a request for clarification specifically so you don’t twist their words.”
― Gregory Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“Wisdom is an artful method—a skillful, tactical, fair, and diplomatic use of knowledge.”
― Greg Koukl

“Interested is interesting.”
― Greg Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“C. S. Lewis notes: My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I gotten this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call something crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. 5 This is precisely the problem for the atheist. He must answer the question: Where does the moral scoring system come from that allows one to identify evil in the first place? Where is the transcendent standard of objective good that makes the whole notion of evil intelligible? Are moral laws the product of chance? If so, why obey them? What —or who —establishes how things are supposed to be?”
― Gregory Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“G. K. Chesterton saw the problem over half a century ago: [The modernist] goes first to a political meeting where he complains that savages are treated as if they were beasts. Then he takes his hat and umbrella and goes on to a scientific meeting where he proves that they practically are beasts. . . . In his book on politics he attacks men for trampling on morality, and in his book on ethics he attacks morality for trampling on men.”
― Gregory Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“Do you see why relativism is so attractive? Relativists seem to think if they can get rid of both morality and God, then guilt and judgment will disappear as well. It's like saying if we can eliminate hospitals, then disease and suffering will disappear too. This is foolish.”
― Gregory Koukl, Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air

“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

“People don’t know what they mean much of the time. Often they’re merely repeating slogans.”
― Gregory Koukl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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