More on
The Irresistible Revolution
by Shane
Claiborne.
All around you, people will be tiptoeing through life,
just to arrive at death safely. Do not
tiptoe. Run, hop, skip or dance, just
don’t tiptoe.
Too many wild would-be Jesus radicals fall by the
wayside because they have never been trusted with the adventure of
revolutionary living.
Kierkegaard puts it well, “To want to admire, instead of follow, Christ
is not an invention of bad people; no it is more an invention of those who
spinelessly want to keep themselves detached at a safe distance from Jesus.”
Some Christians take so few risks, it’s no wonder
folks have a hard time believing in heaven.
The suburbs are the home of the more subtle demonic
forces – numbness, complacency, comfort – and it is these that can eat away at
our souls.
The church gets sick during periods of comfort and
ease and power.
Whenever someone tells me they have rejected God, I
say, “Tell me about the God you’ve rejected.”
And as they describe a God of condemnation, of laws and lightning bolts,
of frowning gray-haired people and boring meetings, I usually confess, “I too
have rejected that God.”
What we Christians lack is not psychology or
literature…we lack a holy rage.
We live in a world of zombies, amid a deadness that
has infected even the church.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
“The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community,
but the person who loves those around them will create community.”
Seth, you should be a preacher…you’ve got the fire,
great quotes, thank you,
lisa
“The church gets sick during periods of comfort and ease and power.”
I think that most all of the sickness and weakness of faith in our country can be attributed to the comfort and safety of our “free” nation, our “religious freedom”. We can “freely worship” and “freely praise”, yet the endurance of persecution that so strengthened the early church is nothing more than a myth and a tale to many American admirers because of this “religious freedom” that is so blindly “enjoyed”.
james
wow dad – that’s great stuff! good good good.
I read this book last summer – it makes you look hard at yourself as a Christian and lets you see where you fall short.
I am working hard to make sure I am not tip-toeing down my path in life. I may not be running full speed yet, but I am at least up to a jog!