"The church has an unconditional obligation to the victims of any ordering society, even if they do not belong to the Christian community."
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Quote collection
Dietrich Bonhoeffer quotes (page 5 of 22)
425 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Cheap grace is grace without discipleship."
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"Time is the most precious gift in our possession, for it is the most irrevocable. This is what makes it so disturbing to look back upon the time which we have lost. Time lost is time when we have not lived a full human life, time unenriched by experience, creative endeavor, enjoyment, and suffering. Time lost is time not filled, time left empty."
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"I need the Christ that is in you, and you need the Christ that is in me."
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"There is meaning in every journey that is unknown to the traveler."
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"I believe that nothing that happens to me is meaningless and that it is good for us all that it should be so, even if it runs counter to our own wishes. As I see it, I'm here for some purpose, and I only hope I may fulfill it."
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"God does not love some ideal person, but rather human beings just as we are, not some ideal world, but rather the real world."
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"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."
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"The Church is the Church only when it exists for others...not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others."
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"A god who let us prove his existence would be an idol."
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"A pastor should never complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men."
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"The pursuit of purity is not about the suppression of lust, but about the reorientation of one's life to a larger goal."
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"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."
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"The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present, but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned; it enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy."
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"The word of cheap grace has been the ruin of more Christians than any commandment of works."
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"Must the Christian go around looking for a cross to bear, seeking to suffer? No, insisted Bonhoeffer. Opportunities for bearing crosses will occur along life's way and all that is required is the willingness to act when the time comes. The needs of the neighbor, especially those of the weak and downtrodden, the victimized and the persecuted, the ill and the lonely, will become abundantly evident."
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"Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won where the way leads to the cross."
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"We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts."
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"It matters little what form of prayer we adopt or how many words we use. What matters is the faith which lays hold on God, knowing that He knows our needs before we even ask Him. That is what gives Christian prayer its boundless confidence and its joyous certainty."
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"The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing."
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