John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

Oh, among a sinful race of people all authority is hateful. The prodigal son hates the rule of his good father, and goes into the far country. The workman hates his boss, and defies his authority. The citizen hates the speed laws, and tries to avoid income tax. I say, in a world of sinful people, authority becomes hard and bitter. - John R. Rice


Even when the authority is wholly right and good, the rebellious hearts of sinful men and women find authority unhappy. That is why men everywhere want to find some other explanation of the universe instead of direct creation by a God to whom they must give an account. That is why infidels want to find flaws in the Bible. Consciously or subconsciously they do not want to be accountable to the law of God and to meet in judgment the God of vengeance and the Christ they will not love and trust. - John R. Rice


I do not mean that God cursed the ground because He hated man. I am saying that God cursed the ground because man needs to work. Now that man is by nature wicked and sinful, only a shortened life and the burden of toil can keep man from orgies of sin. - John R. Rice


Heretofore Adam had run gladly to meet God when he came to walk in the garden, and followed Him eagerly when the Lord went away in whatever human manifestation He may have appeared. But now when God came, after Adam is conscious of the guilt of sin, he runs and hides himself in the trees and bushed and God runs after him calling, "Adam, Adam!" Now Adam is not at home in the presence of God. He turns his face away. It has become true with Adam and Eve, as it is true of every unregenerate sinner in the world. - John R. Rice


I do not say that an unaccountable child, a baby, is condemned to Hell. I do not believe that. I believe that ". . . as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Cor. 15:22). I believe that the dear Lord Jesus has paid for all of Adam's sin and that no one goes to Hell because of the inherited taint of sin. I think little children are kept safe until they come to know right from wrong and come to choose sin for themselves and then they must personally turn to Christ and be born again or go to Hell. But it is a fact, nevertheless, that "they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies" (Ps. 58:1) and that every child born has the taint of sin inbred. - John R. Rice 


I hear foolish prattle of Bible teachers who talk about how men are getting so bad "in these last days." They foolishly forget that man is by nature incurably wicked, that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9). They forget that man is a depraved, fallen creature by nature, dead in trespasses and in sins. Death has passed upon all men for that all have sinned! - John R. Rice 


The Bible is the Word of God. The Scripture says that Jesus is the Word of God, and the Bible is the Word of God. Jesus even went so far as to say, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of Him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels" (Luke 9:26). So Jesus and the Word of God are together. You are not going to be a good Christian without the Word of God. - John R. Rice