
„Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for?“
— Leonard Ravenhill British writer 1907 - 1994
Source: Final message to the church (n. d.)
A collection of quotes on the topic of religion, god, christ, use.
„Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for?“
— Leonard Ravenhill British writer 1907 - 1994
Source: Final message to the church (n. d.)
„Michael Servetus, alone, but trusting in Christ’s most sure protection.“
— Michael Servetus Spanish physician and theologian 1511 - 1553
While in prison, Servetus signed his last letter with these words.
Michael Servetus—A Solitary Quest for the Truth (2006)
„Christ is the population of the world,
and every object as well.“
— Rumi Iranian poet 1207 - 1273
Source: The Essential Rumi (1995), Ch. 19 : Jesus Poems, p. 204
Context: Christ is the population of the world,
and every object as well. There is no room
for hypocrisy. Why use bitter soup for healing
when sweet water is everywhere?
„Christ not only died for all: He died for each.“
— Billy Graham American Christian evangelist 1918 - 2018
„Christ is either Lord of all, or is not Lord at all.“
— James Hudson Taylor Missionary in China 1832 - 1905
(Roger Steer. Hudson Taylor: Lessons in Discipleship. OMF International, 1995, 34).
Variant: Those who do not make God Lord of all, do not make Him Lord at all
„Our position in Christ Jesus is enhanced each time we help someone in trouble.“
— T. B. Joshua Nigerian Christian leader 1963
From his message titled "Your Life Is A Solution" http://thenationallife.com/2009/07/12/your-life-is-a-solution/, published in a weekly column for the Nigerian Tabloid, The National Life (July 12 2009)
„Unless you live in Christ, you are dead to God.“
— Rowland Hill (preacher) British preacher 1744 - 1833
P. 90.
„The Head and the body are Christ wholly and entirely.“
— Aurelius Augustinus early Christian theologian and philosopher 354 - 430
The Head is the only begotten Son of God, the body is His Church; the bridegroom and the bride, two in one flesh. All who dissent from the Scriptures concerning Christ, although they may be found in all places in which the Church is found, are not in the Church; and again all those who agree with the Scriptures concerning the Head, and do not communicate in the unity of the Church, are not in the Church
Encyclical letter of Pope Leo XIII on the Unity of the Church, June 29, 1896, ch. 16, Publications of the Catholic Truth Society, 1896, London, Volume 30, p. 41. http://books.google.com/books?id=pYcQAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA41&dq=%22Head+and+the+body+are+Christ+wholly+and+entirely%22&hl=en&ei=6JVRToOwCYbKsQKKxvTHBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22Head%20and%20the%20body%20are%20Christ%20wholly%20and%20entirely%22&f=false
Alternate translation: The whole Christ is Head and Body. The Head, the only begotten Son of God; and His Body, the Church: the Bridegroom and the Bride, two in one flesh. Whosoever dissent from the Holy Scriptures in respect of the Head, even though they be found in all the places in which the Church is marked out to be, are not in the Church. And again, whosoever agree with the Holy Scriptures concerning the Head, and do not communicate with the unity of the Body, are not in the Church, because they dissent from Christ's own witness concerning Christ's Body, which is the Church.
Dr. Pusey, and the Ancient Church (1866), by Thomas W. Allies, Longmans, Green, London, p. 82 http://books.google.com/books?id=Cn-pxLKAcRIC&pg=PA82&dq=%22whole+Christ+is+Head+and+Body.+The+Head,+the+only-begotten+Son+of+God%22&hl=en&ei=gZZRTpHKDqmusQKQ8cnnBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22whole%20Christ%20is%20Head%20and%20Body.%20The%20Head%2C%20the%20only-begotten%20Son%20of%20God%22&f=false
De Unitate Ecclesiae - On the Unity of the Church (c. 401 – 405)
„What is the Church? She is the body of Christ.“
— Aurelius Augustinus early Christian theologian and philosopher 354 - 430
Source: On the Mystical Body of Christ, p. 414
Context: What is the Church? She is the body of Christ. Join to it the Head, and you have one man: The Head and the body make up one man. Who is the head? He who was born of the Virgin Mary. … And what is His body? It is His Spouse, that is, the Church.... The Father willed that these two, the God Christ and the Church, should be one man. All men are one man in Christ, and the unity of the Christians constitutes but one man. And this man is all men, all men are this man; for all are one, since Christ is one.
Total 1987 quotes christ, filter:
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi 1906 - 1945
Source: Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community
— Jeff Buckley American singer, guitarist and songwriter 1966 - 1997
B-Side Magazine, October/November 1994
From Interviews
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi 1906 - 1945
Source: Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community
— Jonathan Edwards Christian preacher, philosopher, and theologian 1703 - 1758
Letter to Deborah Hatheway (1741), in Letters and Personal Writings (1998), edited by George S. Claghorn, Vol. 16.
— James H. Cone American theologian 1938 - 2018
Source: Black Theology and Black Power (1969), pp. 39-41
— Joan of Arc French folk heroine and Roman Catholic saint 1412 - 1431
From the trial transcript, as quoted in The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994)
„The first sermon that Christ preached, indeed, the first word of his sermon was 'Repent.“
— Thomas Watson English nonconformist preacher and author 1616 - 1686
The Doctrine of Repentance (1668)
— Aurelius Augustinus early Christian theologian and philosopher 354 - 430
Source: On the Mystical Body of Christ, p.436
— Charles Spurgeon British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist 1834 - 1892
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 315.
— Paramahansa Yogananda Yogi, a guru of Kriya Yoga and founder of Self-Realization Fellowship 1893 - 1952
The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, (2004) by Yogananda
— John Locke English philosopher and physician 1632 - 1704
§ 228
The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)
— Florence Nightingale English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing 1820 - 1910
Cassandra (1860)
Context: The great reformers of the world turn into the great misanthropists, if circumstances or organisation do not permit them to act. Christ, if He had been a woman, might have been nothing but a great complainer. Peace be with the misanthropists! They have made a step in progress; the next will make them great philanthropists; they are divided but by a line.
The next Christ will perhaps be a female Christ. But do we see one woman who looks like a female Christ? or even like "the messenger before" her "face", to go before her and prepare the hearts and minds for her?
To this will be answered that half the inmates of Bedlam begin in this way, by fancying that they are "the Christ."
People talk about imitating Christ, and imitate Him in the little trifling formal things, such as washing the feet, saying His prayer, and so on; but if anyone attempts the real imitation of Him, there are no bounds to the outcry with which the presumption of that person is condemned.
— Clive Staples Lewis Christian apologist, novelist, and Medievalist 1898 - 1963
The Efficacy of Prayer (1958)
Context: Prayer is not a machine. It is not magic. It is not advice offered to God. Our act, when we pray, must not, any more than all our other acts, be separated from the continuous act of God Himself, in which alone all finite causes operate. It would be even worse to think of those who get what they pray for as a sort of court favorites, people who have influence with the throne. The refused prayer of Christ in Gethsemane is answer enough to that. And I dare not leave out the hard saying which I once heard from an experienced Christian: “I have seen many striking answers to prayer and more than one that I thought miraculous. But they usually come at the beginning: before conversion, or soon after it. As the Christian life proceeds, they tend to be rarer. The refusals, too, are not only more frequent; they become more unmistakable, more emphatic.” Does God then forsake just those who serve Him best? Well, He who served Him best of all said, near His tortured death, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” When God becomes man, that Man, of all others, is least comforted by God, at His greatest need. There is a mystery here which, even if I had the power, I might not have the courage to explore. Meanwhile, little people like you and me, if our prayers are sometimes granted, beyond all hope and probability, had better not draw hasty conclusions to our own advantage. If we were stronger, we might be less tenderly treated. If we were braver, we might be sent, with far less help, to defend far more desperate posts in the great battle.
„Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.“
— Sojourner Truth African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist 1797 - 1883
Ain't I a Woman? Speech (1851)
Context: That little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Jesus Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky Russian author 1821 - 1881
Letter To Mme. N. D. Fonvisin (1854), as published in Letters of Fyodor Michailovitch Dostoevsky to his Family and Friends (1914), translated by Ethel Golburn Mayne, Letter XXI, p. 71 <!-- London: Chatto & Windus -->
Context: I want to say to you, about myself, that I am a child of this age, a child of unfaith and scepticism, and probably (indeed I know it) shall remain so to the end of my life. How dreadfully has it tormented me (and torments me even now) this longing for faith, which is all the stronger for the proofs I have against it. And yet God gives me sometimes moments of perfect peace; in such moments I love and believe that I am loved; in such moments I have formulated my creed, wherein all is clear and holy to me. This creed is extremely simple; here it is: I believe that there is nothing lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic, more rational, more manly, and more perfect than the Saviour; I say to myself with jealous love that not only is there no one else like Him, but that there could be no one. I would even say more: If anyone could prove to me that Christ is outside the truth, and if the truth really did exclude Christ, I should prefer to stay with Christ and not with truth.
„I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.“
— Mahatma Gandhi pre-eminent leader of Indian nationalism during British-ruled India 1869 - 1948
As quoted by William Rees-Mogg in The Times [London] (4 April 2005) {not found}. Gandhi here makes reference to a statement of Jesus: “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (Luke 16:13); also partly quoted in Christianity in the Crosshairs: Real Life Solutions Discovered in the Line of Fire (2004, p. 74 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=I7_5OM2VWuMC&pg=PA74) by Bill Wilson.
A variation is found in Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal & Gandhi Research Foundation's website mkgandhi.org http://www.mkgandhi.org/africaneedsgandhi/gandhi's_message_to_christians.htm. Christian missionary E. Stanley Jones, who spent much time with Gandhi in India, is said to have askedː “Mr Gandhi, though you quote the words of Christ often, why is it that you appear to so adamantly reject becoming his follower?". To this, Gandhi is said to have repliedː “Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It is just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ”. Jones would write a book called " Mahatma Gandhi: An Interpretation https://archive.org/details/mahatmagandhiani000019mbp" (1948), where he included excerpts of his personal correspondance with Gandhi, but he did not include this conversation.
No further sources for Gandhi have been yet found; but a A similar quote is attributed to Bara Dadaː "Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians -- you are not like him." Source - Jones, E. Stanley. The Christ of the Indian Road, New York: The Abingdon Press,1925. (Page 114)
Disputed
Context: I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. The materialism of affluent Christian countries appears to contradict the claims of Jesus Christ that says it's not possible to worship both Mammon and God at the same time.
Source: The Prophecy Answer Book
— Jimmy Carter American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981) 1924
Source: NIV Lessons from Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter
— William Booth British Methodist preacher 1829 - 1912
Variant: I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be.... religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God and heaven without hell.
„Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.“
— Francis of Assisi Catholic saint and founder of the Franciscan Order 1182 - 1226
— Sojourner Truth African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist 1797 - 1883
Ain't I a Woman? Speech (1851)
Context: That little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Jesus Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.
„Christ could be born a thousand times in Bethlehem – but all in vain until He is born in me.“
— Angelus Silesius German writer 1624 - 1677
As quoted in Messenger Of The Heart: The Book Of Angelus Silesius, With Observations By Frederick Franck (2005)
— Leslie Weatherhead English theologian 1893 - 1976
Source: The Christian Agnostic (1965), p.29
— Elvis Presley American singer and actor 1935 - 1977
September 30, 1974. South Bend, IN. Notre Dame Ath Center.
Source: http://www.elvisconcerts.com/real/oct74-01.htm
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEZpSFnDxRg
— Óscar Romero Fourth Archbishop of San Salvador 1917 - 1980
Oscar A. Romero, The Violence of Love http://data.plough.com/ebooks/ViolenceOfLove.pdf (1977).
— Rich Mullins American christian musician 1955 - 1997
Wheaton, Illinois http://www.kidbrothers.net/words/concert-transcripts/wheaton-illinois-sep1590-backup-copy.html (April 11, 1997)
In Concert
— Frederick William Robertson British writer and theologian 1816 - 1853
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 401.
„Every day we may see some new thing in Christ. His love hath neither brim nor bottom.“
— Samuel Rutherford Scottish Reformed theologian 1600 - 1661
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 95.
— Pope John Paul II 264th Pope of the Catholic Church, saint 1920 - 2005
Address to High School Students
Source: Libreria Editrice Vaticana http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1979/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19791003_ny-madison-square-garden_en.html
„I shall be thy name in Christ as I emerge through these walls in vein“
— Elizabeth I of England Queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until 1603 1533 - 1603
The Golden Speech (1601)
— Alice A. Bailey esoteric, theosophist, writer 1880 - 1949
The Introduction
The Unfinished Autobiography (1951)
„I need Christ, not something that resembles Him.“
— Clive Staples Lewis, book A Grief Observed
A Grief Observed (1961)
— Frida Kahlo Mexican painter 1907 - 1954
9 September 1950
Source: 1946 - 1953, "Song of herself"; interviews by Olga Campos, Sept. 1950, Chapter 'My life', p. 64
— Anthony the Great Christian saint, monk, and hermit 251 - 357
Book IV, Chapter 20 (his last words), St. Athanasius. Trans. Dom J.B. McLaughlin, O.S.B. St. Antony of the Desert. Rockford: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc, 1995.
From St. Athanasius' Life of St. Antony
— Oscar Cullmann French theologian 1902 - 1999
In the contemporary Vocabulaire biblique, Protestant theologian Oscar Cullmann is quoted as admitting that.
— Martin Luther seminal figure in Protestant Reformation 1483 - 1546
As quoted in Anderson, H. George; Stafford, J. Francis; Burgess, Joseph A., eds. (1992). The One Mediator, The Saints, and Mary. Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue. VIII. Minneapolis: Augsburg. ISBN 0-8066-2579-1., p. 236
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky Russian author 1821 - 1881
Fyodor Dostoevsky in a letter to his Niece Sofia Alexandrovna, Geneva, January 1, 1868. Ethel Golburn Mayne (1879), Letters of Fyodor Michailovitch Dostoyevsky to His Family and Friends http://www.archive.org/stream/lettersoffyodorm00dostiala/lettersoffyodorm00dostiala_djvu.txt, Dostoevsky's Letters XXXIX, p. 136.
„The modern man is necessarily a seeker of God, maybe a Man of Christ.“
— Joseph Goebbels Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister 1897 - 1945
Der moderne Mensch ist notwendigerweise ein Gottsucher, vielleicht ein Christusmensch.
Michael: a German fate in diary notes (1926)
— Dallin H. Oaks Apostle of the LDs Church 1932
He Heals the Heavy Laden https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2006/10/he-heals-the-heavy-laden, Dallin H. Oaks, October 2006
„Show me, dear Christ, Thy spouse, so bright and clear.“
— John Donne, book Holy Sonnets
No. 18, line 1
Holy Sonnets (1633)
— James Irwin, book More Than Earthlings
More Than Earthlings: An Astronaut's Thoughts for Christ-Centered Living (1983)
„We know a roofleaf is not Jesus Christ, but in its own humble way, is it not God?“
— Alice Walker, book The Color Purple
The Color Purple (1982)
— Joseph Goebbels Nazi politician and Propaganda Minister 1897 - 1945
Christus ist das Genie der Liebe, als solches der diametralste Gegenpol zum Judentum, das die Inkarnation des Hasses darstellt. … Christus ist der erste Judengegner von Format. … Der Jude ist die menschgewordene Lüge. In Christus hat er zum erstenmal vor der Geschichte die ewige Wahrheit ans Kreuz geschlagen.
Michael: a German fate in diary notes (1926)
— Jim Caviezel actor 1968
Jim Caviezel on what he learned playing St. Luke—and why he thinks “We don’t love Jesus enough” http://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/03/11/jim-caviezel-on-what-he-learned-playing-st-luke-and-why-he-thinks-we-dont-love-jesus-enough/ (March 11, 2018)
— Stephen R. Lawhead American writer 1950
Source: The Bone House (2011), p. 160
— Rich Mullins American christian musician 1955 - 1997
Lufkin, Texas http://www.kidbrothers.net/words/concert-transcripts/lufkin-texas-jul1997-full.html (July 19, 1997)
In Concert
— John Locke English philosopher and physician 1632 - 1704
§ 233
The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)
— Charles I of England monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland 1600 - 1649
Letter to Pope Gregory XV (20 April 1623).
Sir Charles Petrie (ed.), The Letters...of King Charles I (1935), p. 16.
— John Locke English philosopher and physician 1632 - 1704
§ 156
The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)
„Must then a Christ perish in torment in every age to save those that have no imagination?“
— George Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan
Saint Joan : A Chronicle Play In Six Scenes And An Epilogue (1923)
1920s
— Charles Kingsley English clergyman, historian and novelist 1819 - 1875
Source: Attributed, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 230.
— Charles Spurgeon British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist 1834 - 1892
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 227.
— John Locke English philosopher and physician 1632 - 1704
§ 232
The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695)
— Eric Voegelin American philosopher 1901 - 1985
Eric Voegelin (1999), The Collected Works, Vol. 31: Hitler and the Germans, edited and translated by Detlev Clemens and Brandon Purcell, ISBN 0826212166, p. 200.
— James H. Cone American theologian 1938 - 2018
Source: Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology (1986), p. v
— T. B. Joshua Nigerian Christian leader 1963
In a biographical article - "Everything Big Starts Little" http://www.scoan.com/articles_etbsl.htm SCOAN Website (July 10 2009)
— Fulton J. Sheen Catholic bishop and television presenter 1895 - 1979
"A Plea For Intolerance" (1931)
— Friedrich Schleiermacher German theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar 1768 - 1834
Friedrich Schleiermacher, A Critical Essay on the Gospel of St. Luke https://archive.org/details/gospelofstluke00schluoft, 1825, pp. 185–186
— Ray Comfort New Zealand-born Christian minister and evangelist 1949
You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think (2009)
— John Henry Newman English cleric and cardinal 1801 - 1890
Tract 83 http://anglicanhistory.org/tracts/tract83.html (29 June 1838).
— Jonathan Edwards Christian preacher, philosopher, and theologian 1703 - 1758
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 541.
„For Jesus Christ is one man, having a Head and a body“
— Aurelius Augustinus early Christian theologian and philosopher 354 - 430
Source: On the Mystical Body of Christ, pp. 424-425
Context: What does the Scripture mean when it tells us of the body of one man so extended in space that all can kill him? We must understand these words of ourselves, of our Church, or the body of Christ. For Jesus Christ is one man, having a Head and a body. The Saviour of the body and the members of the body are two in one flesh, and in one voice, and in one passion, and, when iniquity shall have passed away, in one repose.
And so the passion of Christ is not in Christ alone; and yet the passion of Christ is in Christ alone. For if in Christ you consider both the Head and the body, the Christ’s passion is in Christ alone; but if by Christ you mean only the Head, then Christ’s passion is not in Christ alone. Hence if you are in the members of Christ, all you who hear me, and even you who hear me not (though you do hear, if you are united with the members of Christ), whatever you suffer at the hands of those who are no among the members of Christ, was lacking to the sufferings of Christ. It is added precisely because it was lacking. You fill up the measure; you do not cause it to overflow. You will suffer just so much as must be added of your sufferings to the complete passion of Christ, who suffered as our Head and who continues to suffer in His members, that is, in us. Into this common treasury each pays what he owes, and according to each one’s ability we all contribute our share of suffering. The full measure of the Passion will not be attained until the end of the world.
„We are waiting for Christ, and not a better time.“
— Nikolaj Velimirović Serbian bishop and saint 1880 - 1956
Ми чекамо Христа, а не боље време.
Prayerful songs http://www.svetosavlje.org/biblioteka/vlNikolaj/PesmeMolitvene/Nikolaj100219.htm
„Even if there had never been a Buddha nor a Christ
CHRIST NATURE IS!
BUDDHA NATURE IS!“
— Frederick Franck Dutch painter 1909 - 2006
Source: Echoes from the Bottomless Well (1985), p. 103
— Paul of Tarsus Early Christian apostle and missionary 5 - 67
2:1-10 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+2&version=KJV;SBLGNT (KJV)
Epistle to the Ephesians
Context: And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
— Paul of Tarsus, book Second Epistle to the Corinthians
2 Corinthians 3:1-16 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+3&version=KJV;SBLGNT
Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Context: Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
— Pope Francis 266th Pope of the Catholic Church 1936
2010s, 2013, Interview in La Repubblica
Context: I believe in God, not in a Catholic God, there is no Catholic God, there is God and I believe in Jesus Christ, his incarnation. Jesus is my teacher and my pastor, but God, the Father, Abba, is the light and the Creator. This is my Being.
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi 1906 - 1945
Source: Discipleship (1937), Revenge, p. 141.
Context: The right way to requite evil, according to Jesus, is not to resist it. This saying of Christ removes the Church from the sphere of politics and law. The Church is not to be a national community like the old Israel, but a community of believers without political or national ties. The old Israel had been both — the chosen people of God and a national community, and it was therefore his will that they should meet force with force. But with the Church it is different: it has abandoned political and national status, and therefore it must patiently endure aggression. Otherwise evil will be heaped upon evil. Only thus can fellowship be established and maintained.
At this point it becomes evident that when a Christian meets with injustice, he no longer clings to his rights and defends them at all costs. He is absolutely free from possessions and bound to Christ alone. Again, his witness to this exclusive adherence to Jesus creates the only workable basis for fellowship, and leaves the aggressor for him to deal with.
The only way to overcome evil is to let it run itself to a stand-still because it does not find the resistance it is looking for. Resistance merely creates further evil and adds fuel to the flames. But when evil meets no opposition and encounters no obstacle but only patient endurance, its sting is drawn, and at last it meets an opponent which is more than its match. Of course this can only happen when the last ounce of resistance is abandoned, and the renunciation of revenge is complete. Then evil cannot find its mark, it can breed no further evil, and is left barren.
— Florence Nightingale English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing 1820 - 1910
Cassandra (1860)
Context: The great reformers of the world turn into the great misanthropists, if circumstances or organisation do not permit them to act. Christ, if He had been a woman, might have been nothing but a great complainer. Peace be with the misanthropists! They have made a step in progress; the next will make them great philanthropists; they are divided but by a line.
The next Christ will perhaps be a female Christ. But do we see one woman who looks like a female Christ? or even like "the messenger before" her "face", to go before her and prepare the hearts and minds for her?
To this will be answered that half the inmates of Bedlam begin in this way, by fancying that they are "the Christ."
People talk about imitating Christ, and imitate Him in the little trifling formal things, such as washing the feet, saying His prayer, and so on; but if anyone attempts the real imitation of Him, there are no bounds to the outcry with which the presumption of that person is condemned.
— Isaac Newton British physicist and mathematician and founder of modern classical physics 1643 - 1727
An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture (1704), regarding his calculations "Of the End of the World" based upon the prophecies of Daniel, quoted in Look at the Moon! the Revelation Chronology (2007) by John A. Abrams, p. 141
Modern typographical and spelling variant:
This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail.
As quoted in "The world will end in 2060, according to Newton" in the London Evening Standard (19 June 2007) http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23401099-the-world-will-end-in-2060-according-to-newton.do
Context: The 2300 years do not end before the year 2132 nor after 2370.
The time times & half time do not end before 2060..... It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner. This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fancifull men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, & by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predictions fail. Christ comes as a thief in the night, & it is not for us to know the times & seasons which God hath put into his own breast.
— Jacques Ellul French sociologist, technology critic, and Christian anarchist 1912 - 1994
Source: The Ethics of Freedom (1973 - 1974), p. 398
Context: It seems to me that the free man, i. e., the man freed in Christ, ought to take parts in all movements that aim at human freedom. He obviously ought to oppose all dictatorship and oppression and all the fatalities which crush man. The Christian cannot bear it that others should be slaves. His great passion in the world ought to be a passion for the liberation of men.
— Harun Yahya Turkish author 1956
As quoted in "Turkish Thinker Adnan Oktar Tells about His Struggle against the Freemasons" Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar) (28 September 2007) http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1643.htm.
— Martin Luther seminal figure in Protestant Reformation 1483 - 1546
Source: Letter 99, Paragraph 13. Erika Bullmann Flores, Tr. from: <cite>Dr. Martin Luther's Saemmtliche Schriften</cite>Dr. Johann Georg Walch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Georg_Walch Ed. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, N.D.), Vol. 15, cols. 2585-2590. http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/letsinsbe.txt
Context: If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (sin boldly), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign.
— Jiddu Krishnamurti Indian spiritual philosopher 1895 - 1986
"Fifth Talk in Bombay 1950 (12 March 1950) http://www.jkrishnamurti.com/krishnamurti-teachings/view-text.php?tid=352&chid=4672&w=%22Truth+is+not+something+in+the+distance%22, J.Krishnamurti Online, JKO Serial No. 500312, The Collected Works, Vol. VI, p. 134
Posthumous publications, The Collected Works
Context: Truth is not something in the distance; there is no path to it, there is neither your path nor my path; there is no devotional path, there is no path of knowledge or path of action, because truth has no path to it. The moment you have a path to truth, you divide it, because the path is exclusive; and what is exclusive at the very beginning will end in exclusiveness. The man who is following a path can never know truth because he is living in exclusiveness; his means are exclusive, and the means are the end, are not separate from the end. If the means are exclusive, the end is also exclusive. So there is no path to truth, and there are not two truths. Truth is not of the past or the present, it is timeless; the man who quotes the truth of the Buddha, of Shankara, of Christ, or who merely repeats what I am saying, will not find truth, because repetition is not truth. Repetition is a lie.
— Ram Mohan Roy Indian religious, social, and educational reformer, and humanitarian 1772 - 1833
S.R.Goel, Preface, in Goel, Sita Ram (ed.) (1998). Freedom of expression: Secular theocracy versus liberal democracy.
— Pope John Paul II, Salvifici doloris
Apostolic Letter, Salvifici Doloris (“redemptive suffering”), 1984
Source: http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1984/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_11021984_salvifici-doloris.html
— Benjamin Creme artist, author, esotericist 1922 - 2016
The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom (1980)