“It is easy to understand God as long as you don't try to explain him.”
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Joseph Joubert 253
French moralist and essayist 1754–1824Related quotes

interview published in Superstrings: A Theory of Everything? (1988) edited by Paul C. W. Davies and Julian R. Brown, p. 208-209
Context: God was always invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand. Now, when you finally discover how something works, you get some laws which you're taking away from God; you don't need him anymore. But you need him for the other mysteries. So therefore you leave him to create the universe because we haven't figured that out yet; you need him for understanding those things which you don't believe the laws will explain, such as consciousness, or why you only live to a certain length of time — life and death — stuff like that. God is always associated with those things that you do not understand. Therefore I don't think that the laws can be considered to be like God because they have been figured out.

“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”

“If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.”
Variant: If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.
“I honestly don't think it's easy to turn from God if we see Him as He really is.”
Open Letter To Satanists
Context: I've watched closely and I believe most people who turn from God do so for one of two basic reasons. One, they mistake some aspect of religion as God (like Anton LaVey did). Or two, they are unable to overcome their need to understand what can not be understood. I honestly don't think it's easy to turn from God if we see Him as He really is. Every Satanist I've ever encountered has fallen into one of those two categories. They either have a warped, distorted perception of God, based on what they were taught by some idiot, or they don’t believe in the goodness or even the existence of God because of the injustice of the world. The first is a problem of perception. The second is a problem of pride. Both are hard to get past.

SGU, Podcast #170, October 22nd, 2008 http://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcast/sgu/170
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, Podcast, 2000s

A Conversation with Ward Cunningham (2003), Working the Program

“If God entrusted his word to priests, it’s easy to explain why the world refuses to listen to it.”
Donna Giovanna, Act IV, scene ii.
Theater Quotes