Interfaith Quotes About God

God is the great unknown, the ultimate mystery. Spiritual maturity asks that we set aside certainty and learn to hold opposing thoughts in our minds for contemplation rather than taking the easy route of accepting or rejecting ideas without investigation. Keep an open mind as you read the following.

Human Limitations

O Lord, forgive three sins that are due to my human limitations. Thou art everywhere, but I worship you here; thou art without form, but I worship you in these forms; thou needest no praise, yet I offer you these prayers and salutations. Lord, forgive three sins that are due to my human limitations.

Hindu Invocation
Used at Opening Ceremonies at Temples

Immanent and Transcendent

Christian terminology employs two phrases—God immanent and God transcendent—which make a similar distinction. Again and again, in Hindu and Christian literature, we find this great paradox restated—that God is both within and without, instantly present and infinitely elsewhere, the dweller in the atom and the abode of all things. But this is the same Reality, the same Godhead, seen in its two relations to the cosmos (…) They imply no kind of duality. Atman and Brahman are one.

Swami Prabhavananda (1893-1976)
and Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986)

Gospel Not in the Bible Alone

God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)
German Professor of Theology (Lutheranism)

Not Limited by a Single Belief

Those who cherish God in the sun witness the sun, and those who cherish Him in living things observe a living thing, and those who cherish Him in lifeless things view a lifeless thing, and those who cherish Him as a unique and unequaled being see Him as such. Beware of committing yourself exclusively to a specific belief so that you disbelieve everything else, or else you will miss out on much good—in fact, you will miss out on recognizing the authentic truth. God, the all-present and all-powerful, is not limited to any single belief.

Ibn al-Arabi (1165-1240)
Scholar of Islam and Sufi Mystic

As Old as Man Himself

Deep down in every man, woman and child, is the fundamental idea of God. It may be obscured by calamity, by pomp, by worship of other things, but in some form or another it is there. For faith in a Power greater than ourselves, and miraculous demonstrations of that power in human lives, are facts as old as man himself.

Alcoholic Anonymous
Big Book of AA

Surrender from Two-ness

Thou must love God as not-God, not-Spirit, not-person, not-image, but as He is, a sheer, pure absolute One, sundered from all two-ness, and in whom we must eternally sink from nothingness to nothingness.

Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)
German Theologian, Philosopher, and Mystic

Whatever You Think

Whatever you think concerning God—know that he is different from that!

Ibn Ata Allah (1259-1310)
Third Murshid of the Shadhili Sufi Order

True Now

There is but One God, His name is Truth, He is the Creator, He fears none, he is without hate, He never dies, He is beyond the cycle of births and death, He is self illuminated, He is realized by the kindness of the True Guru. He was True in the beginning, He was True when the ages commenced and has ever been True, He is also True now.

Guru Nanak (1469-1539)
Founder of Sikhism

No Statement Literally True

No statement about God is simply, literally true. God is far more than can be measured, described, defined in ordinary language, or pinned down to any particular thing.

David Jenkins (1925-2016)
Theologian and Bishop of Durham in England

Tiniest House of Time

Are you looking for me? I am in the next seat. My shoulder is against yours. You will not find me in the stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms, nor in synagogues, nor in cathedrals: not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding around your own neck, nor in eating nothing but vegetables. When you really look for me, you will see me instantly—you will find me in the tiniest house of time.

Kabir (1440-1518)
Poet, Indian Mystic and Saint

Invisible Causation

The principle of any science is invisible, theoretical, as is our idea of Spirit. No one has seen God; no one has seen Life; what we have seen is the manifestation of Life. No one has seen Intelligence; we experience it. No one has ever seen Causation; we can see what It does, we deal with Its effects. We do not see Beauty. The artist feels beauty and depicts it as best he can, and the result of his effort is what we call the beautiful…We do not see Life, we experience living. Causation is invisible.

Ernest Holmes (1887-1960)
Founder of Religious Science

Impregnates All Things

Wherever you look…see that one unique Presence, indivisible and eternal, is manifested in all the universe. That is because God impregnates all things.

Anandamayi Ma (1896-1982)
Bengali Saint

Ah!

God is the experience of looking at a tree and saying, ‘Ah!

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)
American Mythologist, Writer and Lecturer

Don’t Believe?

When somebody says to me, “I don’t believe in God,” my first response is, “Tell me about the God you don’t believe in.” Almost always, it’s the God of supernatural theism.

Marcus J. Borg (1942-2015)
New Testament Scholar, Theologian and Author

Can’t See?

You see many stars in the sky at night, but not when the sun rises. Can you therefore say that there are no stars in the heavens during the day? Because you cannot find God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God.

Ramakrishna (1836-1886)
Indian Yogi and Mystic

Like a Mirror

God is like a mirror. The mirror never changes, but everybody who looks at it sees something different.

Rabbi Harold Kushner (1935)
Prominent American Rabbi and Popular Author

Throbbing with the Life

Every content of the universe is throbbing with the Life of the Lord. Smile with the flowers and the green grass. Smile with the shrubs, ferns and twigs. Develop friendship with all neighbors, dogs, cats, cows, human beings, trees, in fact, with all nature’s creations. You will have a perfect and rich life.

Swami Sivananda Saraswati (1887-1963)
Hindu Spiritual Teacher and Proponent of Yoga

Bee Gathering Honey

Like the bee gathering honey from different flowers, the wise man accepts the essence of different Scriptures and sees only good in all religions.

Srimad Bhagavatam

To Suit Different Aspirants

God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, times, and countries. All doctrines are only so many paths; but a path is by no means God himself. Indeed, one can reach God if one follows any of the paths with whole-hearted devotion. One may eat a cake with icing either straight or sidewise. It will taste sweet either way.

Ramakrishna (1836-1886)
Indian Yogi and Mystic

Guiding Means

Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. All systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926)
Vietnamese Buddhist Monk and Peace Activist

Human Systems

God is not a Christian, God is not a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist. All of those are human systems, which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God. I honor my tradition, I walk through my tradition, but I don’t think my tradition defines God, I think it only points me to God.

John Shelby Spong (1931)
American Bishop of the Episcopal Church

Different Administrations

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.

Corinthians 12:4-5
King James Bible

Variety an Advantage

The varieties of religious belief are an advantage, since all faiths are good, so far as they encourage us to lead a religious life. The more sects there are, the more opportunities there are for making a successful appeal to the divine instinct in all of us.

Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902)
Hindu Monk and Disciple of Ramakrishna