"An almost Christian, if we consider him in respect to his duty to God, is one that halts between two opinions; that wavers between Christ and the world; that would reconcile God and Mammon, light and darkness, Christ and Belial. It is true, he has an inclination to religion, but then he is very cautious how he goes too far in it."
George Whitefield
24 March 2009
20 March 2009
16 March 2009
Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote #2
In this quote Bonhoeffer is making the point that the Church at one point had become so secularized, in his words, that it reacted by implementing the monastic movement to offset the "worldliness" (my word).
Thus, he says...
"...the Church evolved the fatal conception of the double standard-- a maximum and a minimum standard of Christian obedience. Whenever the Church was accused of being too secularized, it could always point to monasticism as an opportunity of living a higher life within the fold, and thus justify the other possibility of a lower standard of life for others. And so we get the paradoxical result that monasticism, whose mission was to preserve in the Church of Rome the primitive Christian realization of the costliness of grace, afforded conclusive justification for the secularization of the Church. By and large, the fatal error of monasticism lay not so much in its rigorism (though even here there was a good deal of misunderstanding of the precise content of the will of Jesus) as in the extent to which it departed from genuine Christianity by setting up itself as the individual achievement of a select few, and so claiming a special merit of its own."
Thus, he says...
"...the Church evolved the fatal conception of the double standard-- a maximum and a minimum standard of Christian obedience. Whenever the Church was accused of being too secularized, it could always point to monasticism as an opportunity of living a higher life within the fold, and thus justify the other possibility of a lower standard of life for others. And so we get the paradoxical result that monasticism, whose mission was to preserve in the Church of Rome the primitive Christian realization of the costliness of grace, afforded conclusive justification for the secularization of the Church. By and large, the fatal error of monasticism lay not so much in its rigorism (though even here there was a good deal of misunderstanding of the precise content of the will of Jesus) as in the extent to which it departed from genuine Christianity by setting up itself as the individual achievement of a select few, and so claiming a special merit of its own."
14 March 2009
Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote #1
I've been re-reading "The Cost of Discipleship" by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I would certainly recommend it (especially along with a little study into the life of the author), but I wanted to post a few good quotes.
The quote below is from the very beginning of the book where he summarizes the rest of the book. It all deals with a proper definition of grace (costly vs. cheap) and the cost of discipleship.
"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living incarnate.
"Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
"Costly grace it the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock."
The quote below is from the very beginning of the book where he summarizes the rest of the book. It all deals with a proper definition of grace (costly vs. cheap) and the cost of discipleship.
"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living incarnate.
"Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
"Costly grace it the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock."
09 March 2009
A Real Life Musical!
This is very funny.
(*Warning: There is some inappropriate language used in this following video.*)
(*Warning: There is some inappropriate language used in this following video.*)
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