David Gregory > Quotes

“So Allah has to deny perfect justice in order to be merciful. There’s no penalty for wrongdoing if you have done enough good things to offset it. But true justice doesn’t work that way, not even on earth. If someone is convicted of fraud, the judge doesn’t say, ‘Well, he was a kind Little League coach. That offsets it.’ In Islam, Allah is not perfectly just, because if he were, people would have to pay the penalty for every sin, and no one would get into paradise. That’s what perfect justice is.” I pushed the vegetables around on my neglected plate. “But I thought God is forgiving. You’re implying that because of justice, God can’t forgive.” “God is forgiving. God wants to forgive people more than anything in the world, to restore them to himself. What I’m saying is that God’s desire to forgive doesn’t negate his perfect justice. Someone has to pay the penalty for sins. God’s justice demands it.”
― David Gregory, Dinner with a Perfect Stranger: An Invitation Worth Considering

“Jesus, I recognize that I need your forgiveness, and the life you offer. Thank you for dying for my sins and rising from the dead on my behalf, so that you could give me true life. I receive you by faith as my Savior and Lord. I trust you to forgive my sins, give me a new heart, join yourself to me forever, and come to live within me. Thank you for giving me new life.”
― David Gregory, If Jesus Loves Me Why Isn't This Working?

“We remained in our seats as everyone around us stood with the personal items they had rushed to retrieve. Why do people always do that? It’s not like they can go anywhere.”
― David Gregory, A Day with a Perfect Stranger

“But God – I mean, even if there is a God – reaching out to him… Who would know where to start?”
“You don’t have to start,” he answered. “God has already started. He is already reaching out to you. That’s why he became a person.”
― David Gregory, A Day with a Perfect Stranger

“He’d have to be really smart. The universe is pretty intricate. And humans themselves are so complex, given what we’ve learned about DNA and all.'
“Okay, God would have to be super intelligent.”
'Yeah. I’m not sure I buy that design in the universe proves God, but if there was a God, he would really be intelligent – and powerful – to pull it all off.”
― David Gregory, A Day with a Perfect Stranger

“The issue isn’t whether we’ve experienced pain. All people have, even those who seem to have it all together. God is bigger than people’s pain, and he can heal it. God’s love heals all.”
― David Gregory, A Day with a Perfect Stranger

“The violence that Jesus endured only makes sense if you understand that here was God taking upon himself the punishment for the sins of humanity. He would do anything to be reconnected with those he loves – even die for them.”
― David Gregory, A Day with a Perfect Stranger

“Suddenly everything her grandfather had been saying about God made sense, as if the pieces were waiting for her to click into place. This beautiful mother’s very life was constantly flowing into her baby. The baby didn’t have to do anything to get it. It was already his. He possessed her very life. He didn’t have to do anything to activate it. It was already active inside him. Apart from her, he had no life. But being joined to her, he had her life. All he had to do was be”
― David Gregory, The Last Christian