Quotations of the day

[FineLinen]

"God is not only King and Judge, God is Father – he is indeed Father more than anything else. No father could be happy while there were members of his family for ever in agony. No father would count it a triumph to obliterate the disobedient members of his family."

"The only triumph a father can know is to have all his family back home. The only victory love can enjoy is the day when its offer of love is answered by the return of love. The only possible final triumph is a universe loved by and in love with God." -Dr. Wm. Barclay

 

[FineLinen]

"Every Christian sect or denomination has doctrines so dearly held that the Bible cannot be allowed to damage them." - Brother Buford-

 

[FineLinen]

“When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.”- Peter Marshall-​

 

[FineLinen]

“This much is certain, that we have no theological right to set any sort of limits to the loving-kindness of God which has appeared in Jesus Christ. Our theological duty is to see and understand it as being still greater than we had seen before.” - Karl Barth-

 

[FineLinen]

"The secret of the mystery is: God is always greater.

No matter how great we think Him to be, His love is always greater." -Brennan Manning-

 

[FineLinen]

"Unto You, O Lord, belongs mercy; for You render to every man according to his work."

Some of the translators make it kindness and goodness; but I presume there is no real difference among them as to the character of the word which here, in the English Bible, is translated mercy.

The religious mind, however, educated upon the theories yet prevailing in the so-called religious world, must here recognize a departure from the presentation to which they have been accustomed: to make the psalm speak according to prevalent theoretic modes, the verse would have to be changed thus:--

'To You, O Lord, belongs justice, for You render to every man according to his work.' -George MacDonald-

 

[FineLinen]

"I could more easily contain Niagara Falls in a teacup than I can comprehend the wild, uncontainable love of God." -Brennan Manning-

"We must go out into a desert of some kind (your backyard will do) and come into a personal experience of the awesome love of God." -Brennan Manning-

 

[FineLinen]

The path of descent is the path of transformation. Darkness, failure, relapse, death, and woundedness are our primary teachers, rather than ideas or doctrines.
Richard Rohr

 

[FineLinen]

"When we sin and mess up our lives, we find that God doesn't go off and leave us- he enters into our trouble and saves us." -Eugene H. Peterson-

"The life of faith isn't meant for tourists. It's meant for pilgrims." -Eugene H. Peterson-

 

[FineLinen]

“How glorious the splendor of a human heart that trusts that it is loved!” - Brennan Manning-

“The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creation. Not to make people with better morals but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love. This, my friend, is what it really means to be a Christian.” -Brennan Manning-

 

[FineLinen]

"All I have learned through trial and error is to stay alert and aware, especially God smiling @ our silliness." -Brennan Manning

"One of my realizations in such an earthy atmosphere was that many of the burning theological issues in the church were neither burning nor theological." -Brennan Manning-

 

[FineLinen]

“This much is certain, that we have no theological right to set any sort of limits to the loving-kindness of God which has appeared in Jesus Christ. Our theological duty is to see and understand it as being still greater than we had seen before.” - Karl Barth-

 

[FineLinen]

"We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it." -Madeleine L'Engle

 

[FineLinen]

"O my God, Thou art love and canst no more cease to be so than to be Thyself. Take Thy own methods with us, and submit us to them. Well may we do so in an assurance that the beginning, the way, and the end of them all is love. I must believe then that Thy grace will super-abound wherever sin hath most abounded.” -Jeremiah White-

 

[Idolater]

"We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it." -Madeleine L'Engle

What if you're dealing with trolls, though? They don't respond to the light. They despise it. They don't have a word for light, they only recognize light as pain or discomfort and the light only makes them angry and sometimes in history, criminally so.

Do you just give up? Leave them? Or do you try to demonstrate by whatever means necessary that they are trolls and that what makes them so angry is light?

They could be hopeless. There is always prayer though, prayer for their intention, "For the intention of trolls...." :idunno:

 

[FineLinen]

"What I believe is so magnificent, so glorious, that it is beyond finite comprehension. To believe that the universe was created by a purposeful, benign Creator is one thing. To believe that this Creator took on human vesture, accepted death and mortality, was tempted, betrayed, broken, and all for love of us, defies reason. It is so wild that it terrifies some Christians who try to dogmatize their fear by lashing out at other Christians, because tidy Christianity with all answers given is easier than one which reaches out to the wild wonder of God's love, a love we don't even have to earn." -Madeleine L'Engle-

 

[FineLinen]

"Sometimes when we get overwhelmed we forget how big God is." -A.W. Tozer-

 

[FineLinen]

"The Bible is not a script for a funeral service, but it is the record of God always bringing life where we expected to find death. Everywhere it is the story of resurrection." -Eugene H. Peterson-

 

[Idolater]

"The Bible is not a script for a funeral service, but it is the record of God always bringing life where we expected to find death. Everywhere it is the story of resurrection." -Eugene H. Peterson-

Resurrection is the Gospel in a nutshell, for it verifies the whole Gospel.

 

[FineLinen]

“God’s grace always precedes his call.” -Brennan Manning-

“In philosophy, the opposite of truth is error; in Scripture, the opposite of truth is a lie.” -B. Manning-

The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out