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Quotes by Theologian
"When we pray "in the Name of Jesus" the answers are in accordance with His nature and if we think our prayers are unanswered it is because we are not interpreting the answer along this line."
16
"Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity."
16
"We can only be used by God after we allow Him to show us the deep, hidden areas of our own character."
16
"To follow Jesus today is to follow a madman according to the ideals of present day civilization. We have the idea that our civilization is God-ordained, whereas it has been built up by ourselves. We have made a thousand and one necessities until our system of civilized life is as cast iron, and then we apologize to the Lord for not following Him."
16
"We look upon prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves The Bible idea of prayer is that we may get to know God Himself."
16
"Am I as spontaneously kind to God as I used to be, or am I only expecting God to be kind to me? Am I full of the little things that cheer His heart over me, or am I whimpering because things are going hardly with me? There is no joy in the soul that has forgotten what God prizes."
16
"Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy's hatred, the greater his need of love. Be his enmity political or religious, he has nothing to expect from a follower of Jesus but unqualified love. In such love there is not inner discord between the private person and official capacity. In both we are disciples of Christ, or we are not Christians at all."
15
"It never cost a disciple anything to follow Jesus, to talk about cost when you are in love with anyone is an insult."
15
"Men as a class appear to be 'at risk, ' maybe even at high risk."
15
"A sentimentalist is one who delights to have high and devout emotions stirred whilst reading in an arm-chair, or in a prayer meeting, but he never translates his emotions into action. Consequently a sentimentalist is usually callous, self-centred and selfish, because the emotions he likes to have stirred do not cost him anything."
15
"A skilled listener can help people tap into their own wisdom."
15
"So many people come to church with a genuine desire to hear what we have to say, yet they are always going back home with the uncomfortable feeling that we are making it too difficult for them to come to Jesus."
15
"Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion."
15
"For animals that are overworked, underfed, and cruelly treated; for all wistful creatures in captivity that beat their wings against bars; for any that are hunted or lost or deserted or frightened or hungry; for all that must be put to death...and for those who deal with them we ask a heart of compassion and gentle hands and kindly words."
15
"If we indulge in inordinate affection, anger, anxiety, God holds us responsible; but He also insists that we have to be passionately filled with the right emotions."
15
"It is only through love that we can attain to communion with God. All living knowledge of God rest upon this foundation: that we experience Him in our lives as Will-to-love."
15
"Any honours that come our way are only stolen from him to whom alone they really belong, the Lord who sent us."
15
"Suffering, then, is the badge of true discipleship. The disciple is not above his master. Following Christ means passio passiva, suffering because we have to suffer."
15
"Joy, sorrow, tears, lamentation, laughter - to all these music gives voice, but in such a way that we are transported from the world of unrest to a world of peace, and see reality in a new way, as if we were sitting by a mountain lake and contemplating hills and woods and clouds in the tranquil and fathomless water."
15
"The love of God pays no attention to my prejudices caused by my natural individuality."
15
"Jesus will not accept the common distinction between righteous indignation and unjustifiable anger. The disciple must be entirely innocent of anger, because anger is an offence against both God and his neighbour."
15
"Christ became our Brother in order to help us. Through him our brother has become Christ for us in the power and authority of the commission Christ has given him. Our brother stands before us the sign of the truth and the grace of God. He has been given to us to help us. He hears the confession of our sins in Christ's stead and he forgives our sins in Christ's name. He keeps the secret of our confession as God keeps it. When I go to my brother to confess, I am going to God."
15
"Judgement is the forbidden objectivization of the other person which destroys single-minded love. I am not forbidden to have my own thoughts about the other person, to realize his shortcomings, but only to the extent that it offers to me an occasion for forgiveness and unconditional love, as Jesus proves to me."
15
"The person who waits upon moods in impoverished. If the painter only wanted to paint when in the mood for it, he would not get very far. In religion, as in art and science, along with the times of high excitement, there are times of sober work and practice. We must practice our communion with God, otherwise we will not find the right tone, the right word, the right language, when God surprises us with his presence."
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"Our understanding of God is the answer to prayer getting things from God is God's indulgence of us. When God stops giving us things He brings us into the place where we can begin to understand Him."
15
"You ironically have to have a very strong ego structure to let go of your ego. You need to struggle with the rules more than a bit before you throw them out. You only internalize values by butting up against external values for a while."
15
"Your god may be your little Christian habit - the habit of prayer or Bible reading at certain times of your day. Watch how your Father will upset your schedule if you begin to worship your habit instead of what the habit symbolizes. We say, 'I can't do that right now; this is my time alone with God.' No, this is your time alone with your habit."
15
"Self - help courses will only help you if they teach you to pay attention to life itself."
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"You can unlock spiritual things only from within."
15
"In other times it may have been the business of Christianity to champion the equality of all men, its business today will be to defend passionately human dignity and reserve."
15
"We have to take the first step as though there were no God. It is no use to wait for God to help us, He will not: but immediately we arise we find He is there."
15
"Seventy times seven' is a medicine for a healing community, not for a community with all the answers beforehand and all the appropriate punishments afterwards."
15
"Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are."
15
"The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death-we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die."
15
"A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes - and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent."
15
"The Christian life is participation in the encounter of Christ with the world."
15
"People who know how to creatively break the rules also know why the rules were there in the first place."
14
"When we fail we are merely joining the great parade of humanity that has walked ahead of us and will follow after us."
14
"The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting."
14
"I would wonder if you could be a hero or heroine if you did not live in deep time, that is, Past, present, and future all at once."
14
"Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God."
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"I wanted to be a doctor that I might be able to work without having to talk because for years I had been giving myself out in words."
14
"Often it takes outer authority to send us on the path to our own inner authority."
14
"A father acts on behalf of his children by working, providing, intervening, struggling, and suffering for them. In so doing, he really stands in their place. He is not an isolated individual, but incorporates the selves of several people in his own self. Every attempt to live as if he were alone is a denial of the fact that he is actually responsible. He cannot escape the responsibility, which is his because he is a father. This reality refutes the fictitious notion that the isolated individual is the agent of all ethical behavior. It is not the isolated individual but the responsible person who is the proper agent to be considered in ethical reflection."
14
"Paul was devoted to a Person, not a cause."
14
"And if we ask how are we to know where our hearts are, the answer is just as simple - everything which hinders us from loving God above all things and acts as a barrier between ourselves and our obedience to Jesus is our treasure, and the place where our heart is."
14
"If we are to pray aright perhaps it is quite necessary that we pray contrary to our own heart. Not what we want to pray is important but what God wants us to pray. The richness of the Word of God ought to determine our prayer not the poverty of our heart."
14
"Testimony is an integral part of the Black religious tradition. It is the occasion where the believer stands before the community of faith in order to give account of the hope that is in him or her."
14
"Being free means "being free for the other," because the other has bound me to him. Only in relationship with the other am I free."
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"God's truth judges created things out of love, and Satan's truth judges them out of envy and hatred."
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