Tidbits from The Reason for God #1

Part 1 of Keller's book deals with common questions/doubts/reasons that skeptics and unbelievers raise in regards to Christianity. Here are the seven thoughts he deals with:

1 - There Can't Be Just One True Religion
2 - How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?
3 - Christianity is a Straitjacket
4 - The Church is Responsible for So Much Injustice
5 - How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?
6 - Science Has Disproved Christianity
7 - You Can't Take the Bible Literally

Here are some bits that I marked in my copy. The chapter # comes first, followed by the page # and then the quote.

2, p.25 "If you have a God great and transcendent enough to be mad at because he hasn't stopped evil and suffering in the world, then you have (at the same moment) a God great and transcendent enough to have good reasons for allowing it to continue that you can't know. Indeed, you can't have it both ways."

3, p.39 "The idea of a totally inclusive community is, therefore, an illusion. Every human community holds in common some beliefs that necessarily create boundaries..."

3, p.44 Quoting historian Andrew Walls, "Cultural diversity was built into the Christian faith...There is no "Christian culture" the way there is an "Islamic culture" which you can recognize from Pakistan to Tunisia to Morocco..."

3, p.46 "A fish is only free if it is restricted and limited to water. If we put it out on the grass, its freedom to move and even live is not enhanced, but destroyed. The fish dies if we do not honor the reality of its nature."

4, p.59 "The tendency of religious people, however, is to use spiritual and ethical observance as a lever to gain power over others and over God, appeasing him through ritual and good works."

4, p.61 "The shortcomings of the church can be understood historically as the imperfect adoption and practice of the principles of the Christian gospel."

4, p.67 "When people have done injustice in the name of Christ they are not being true to the spirit of the one who himself died as a victim of injustice and who called for the forgiveness of his enemies."