excerpts from Donald Miller's "Searching for God Knows What".

" 'The reason I wrote [How I Lost Five Pounds in Six Years],' Tom Arnold said, 'is because I wanted something out there so people would tell me they liked me. It's the reason behind almost everything I do.' [...] Leave it to an ex-alcoholic to tell the truth about life.

"A few weeks later I was giving an interview in Seattle when the host asked me the same question asked of Tom Arnold: 'Why did you write this book?' I wondered, on the air, if the explanation Tom Arnold gave was not the same reason I do what I do, and in the end, I had to concede my motives of faith often take a backseat to my broken nature and desire to feel validity in life. I told the guy in Seattle that I am broken, that I like to write, but basically, subconsciously, I just want people to like me. The guy in Seattle leaned back in his chair, paused for a moment, and said, 'You aren't alone.' "

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"Racism and socioeconomic prejudice would be the very first thing to start happening in a culture absent God. Not simply because people are 'bad' but because a certain system of internal mechanisms would immediately ensue. [...] In the context of [motivation by self-preservation], the characteristics of 'other people' become inferior simply because they are not our characteristics. Logic is thrown out the window, or worse, used as a tool to validate our prejudices. Philosophies, ideals, and even religious convictions become weapons for slaughter.

"In my own life, I notice I validate people who like or validate me. When I say so-and-so is a nice person, what I really mean is so-and-so thinks I'm a nice person."

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"All this is to say that when the Bible indicates life comes from God, and death comes from separation from God, it makes complete sense, and this truth serves as an explanation for all of our feelings, for the way in which we interact, for the ways in which we entertain ourselves, and for the general precepts of the human plot. Without Him, we feel that we are being thrown out of a boat. No life can exist outside the influence of the sun, outside the energy of light. It makes you wonder if our souls are any different. It makes you wonder if there is any hope."