Danny > Danny's Quotes

“We believe that the Christendom era has bequeathed a form of Christianity that has marginalized, spiritualized, domesticated, and emasculated Jesus. The teaching of Jesus is watered down, privatized, and explained away. Jesus is worshipped as a remote kingly figure or a romanticized personal savior. In”
― Stuart Murray, The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith

“Holy One, there is something I wanted to tell you, but there have been errands to run, bills to pay, meetings to attend, washing to do ... and I forget what it is I wanted to say to you, and forget what I am about or why. Oh God, don't forget me please, for the sake of Jesus Christ.”
― Ruth Haley Barton, Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership: Seeking God in the Crucible of Ministry

“Listen!’ said the White Spirit. ‘Once you were a child. Once you knew what inquiry was for. There was a time when you asked questions because you wanted answers, and were glad when you had found them. Become that child again: even now.’ ‘Ah,”
― C.S. Lewis, The Complete Works of C. S. Lewis: From Narnia to the Space Trilogy and Mere Christianity: Christian allegory, apologetics, criticism, and spiritual memoirs

“Hell is a state of mind—ye never said a truer word. And every state of mind, left to itself, every shutting up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind—is, in the end, Hell. But Heaven is not a state of mind. Heaven is reality itself. All that is fully real is Heavenly. For all that can be shaken will be shaken and only the unshakeable remains.’ ‘But”
― C.S. Lewis, The Complete Works of C. S. Lewis: From Narnia to the Space Trilogy and Mere Christianity: Christian allegory, apologetics, criticism, and spiritual memoirs

“You cannot love a fellow-creature fully till you love God.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Complete Works of C. S. Lewis: From Narnia to the Space Trilogy and Mere Christianity: Christian allegory, apologetics, criticism, and spiritual memoirs

“surely nothing can be farther from the spirit of Christianity than allowing massacres, fights, and transactions of that sort.”32”
― Philip Jenkins, Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years

“In short the problem is this: far too few who believe in the risen Christ actually believe in his revolutionary ideas.”
― Brian Zahnd, A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor's Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace

“Freedom remains a euphemism for the power to kill.”
― Brian Zahnd, A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor's Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace

“At the very least, we ought to take a fresh look and evaluate with new eyes what Jesus of Nazareth actually taught about the dark foundations of human civilization and the alternative he offers in the kingdom of God. Instead of reading the Gospels through the lens of Constantinian Christianity, where Jesus’s prophetic critique of violent power is filtered out, we should try to refamiliarize ourselves with the revolutionary ideas that belong to “that preacher of peace.” The American church especially could benefit greatly from an unvarnished reading of Jesus liberated from the censoring lens of militaristic empire and its chaplaincy religion. This book is my attempt to do that. At”
― Brian Zahnd, A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor's Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace

“(At this point some readers are quite likely to close this book and never open it again … but I hope you will press on.) The”
― Brian Zahnd, A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor's Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace

“I pledge no allegiance to elephants or donkeys, only to the Lamb.”
― Brian Zahnd, A Farewell to Mars: An Evangelical Pastor's Journey Toward the Biblical Gospel of Peace

“As we continue in the story of the Bible after Genesis 3, we read again and again about humankind’s needless struggle to bridge the presumed God gap. But God is patient with us. Over and over, God not only tolerates but actually accommodates and incorporates our various demands for rulers, rituals, temples, and sacrifices—the hallmarks of religion—knowing full well that one day, God will make his message, his love, and his presence exceedingly clear by becoming Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).5 Though”
― Bruxy Cavey, Reunion: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners

“The Bible is not a painting to be looked at, but a window to be looked through, and through that window we see Jesus.”
― Bruxy Cavey, Reunion: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners

“If Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not, politics are not, power is not, economics are not, religion is not, fame is not, fashion is not, appearance is not, food is not, fitness is not, friends are not, and family is not.”
― Bruxy Cavey, Reunion: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners

“Let’s be honest: our world offers us mixed signals about what kind of Force is at work behind the scenes.”
― Bruxy Cavey, Reunion: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners

“if we can list the attributes that cause God to love us, what happens if we lose those attributes?”
― Bruxy Cavey, Reunion: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners

“Jesus-followers should always be ready to die for a cause but never willing to kill for one. THE”
― Bruxy Cavey, Reunion: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners

“The word for religion that James uses here is threskeia, and like our English word religion, it can be used positively or negatively. Threskeia primarily refers to the external behaviors of a religion, including the ceremonies and rituals. So James is saying that the religious rituals of Christ-followers are no longer things like memorizing religious liturgies, attending religious services, going on religious pilgrimages, celebrating religious holidays, or saying specific prayers at specific times while facing a specific direction in a specific posture. Rather, our rituals are acts of mercy and kindness and compassion, and courage not to take our cues from the world around us. In other words, our religion is love. Jesus”
― Bruxy Cavey, Reunion: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners

“being “in Christ” says more about me than my nationality, my ethnicity, my gender, or my status. It is an identity of complete intimacy. Through”
― Bruxy Cavey, Reunion: The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners

“And I think that's what our world is desperately in need of - lovers, people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about.”
― Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

“How can any one become a thinker if he does not spend at least a third part of the day without passions, men, and books?”
― Friedrich Nietzsche, Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche

“It is surely very ironic and tragic if those who speak most loudly about the gifts of the Spirit are themselves failing to show much of the fruit of the Spirit.”
― Christopher J.H. Wright, Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit: Growing in Christlikeness

“What is intuitive to most parents was clarified by biological research: families matter. In the last two decades, scientists in the area of attachment research have shown just how dependent children are on the parents and close extended family for life success.”
― Michael Gurian, The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life

“One of the most painful discoveries I made in the midst of the dark woods of depression was that a part of me wanted to stay depressed. As long as I clung to this living death, life became easier; little was expected of me, certainly not serving others.”
― Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation

“From autunm's profligate seedings to the great spring giveaway, nature teaches a steady lesson: if we want to save our lives, we cannot cling to them but must spend them with abandon. When we are obsessed with bottom lines and productivity, with efficiency of time and motion, with the rational relation of means and ends, with projecting reasonable goals and making a beeline toward them, it seems unlikely that our work will ever bear full fruit, unlikely that we will ever know the fullness of spring in our lives.”
― Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation

“having a healthy spirituality involves feeding our souls in three ways: through prayer, practicing justice, and by having good things that we enjoy (friendships, good food and wine, and healthy leisure that keep our souls mellow and grateful).”
― Ken Shigematsu, God in My Everything: How an Ancient Rhythm Helps Busy People Enjoy God

“When God looks at sin, what he sees is what a violin maker would see if the player were to use his lovely creation as a tennis racquet.”
― N.T. Wright, The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus's Crucifixion

“Sin” is not just “doing things God has forbidden.” It is, as we saw, the failure to be fully functioning, God-reflecting human beings.”
― N.T. Wright, The Day the Revolution Began: Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus's Crucifixion

“The only person you are qualified to pronounce unreasonable is yourself.”
― Arnold Kling, The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides

“My friend Kira always said that life is like an extremely difficult, horribly unbalanced videogame. When you’re born, you’re given a randomly generated character, with a randomly determined name, race, face, and social class. Your body is your avatar, and you spawn in a random geographic location, at a random moment in human history, surrounded by a random group of people, and then you have to try to survive for as long as you can.”
― Ernest Cline, Ready Player Two