A Gentle Answer Quotes

“While true faith is filled with holy fire, it is a fire that is meant for refining and healing, as opposed to dividing and destroying. If our faith ignites hurt rather than healing upon the bodies, hearts, and souls of other people—even those who treat us unkindly—then something has gone terribly wrong with our faith.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“Leader: What right do we have to dine at the Table of Jesus? Family: We have every right to dine at his Table. Leader: What gives us this right? Family: We have this right because Jesus came not for the strong, but for the weak; not for the righteous, but for sinners; not for the self-sufficient, but for those who know they need rescue. To all who are weary and need rest; to all who mourn and long for comfort; to all who feel worthless and wonder if God even cares; to all who are weak and frail and desire strength; to all who sin and need a Savior—Jesus welcomes into his circle, adopts into his family, and reserves a place at his Table. For he is the mighty friend of sinners, the ally of his enemies, the defender of the indefensible, and the justifier of those who have no excuses left.7”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“Jesus’ gentle answer was bold and costly. His gentle answer included pouring out his lifeblood and dying on the cross. Our gentle answer will be costly as well. We must die to ourselves, to our self-righteousness, to our indignation, and to our outrage.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“Outrage sells. For our generation, hate has been commodified. It has been turned into an asset.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“In our current cultural moment, outrage has become more expected than surprising, more normative than odd, more encouraged than discouraged, more rewarded than rejected.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“Jesus is a God of reconciliation and peace, not a God of hate or division or us-against-them (Eph. 2:14–22). He is the God of the gentle answer.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“Those of us who identify as Christian have been given a resource that enables us to respond to outrage and wrath in a healing, productive, and life-giving way. Because Jesus Christ has loved us at our worst, we can love others at their worst. Because Jesus Christ has forgiven us for all of our wrongs, we can forgive others who have wronged us. Because Jesus Christ offered a gentle answer instead of pouring out punishment and rejection for our offensive and sinful ways, we can offer gentle answers to those who behave offensively and sinfully toward us.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“Christians are a light to the world only to the degree that they stand out as different from the world. The world does not thirst for a religious imitation of its often-outraged self.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“A careful reading of Scripture reveals that this is God's preferred way to make his presence known on earth - not chiefly through movers, shakers, and A-listers, but rather through out-casts, losers, those of ill repute, and those who were held in low esteem. If we examine Jesus' friendships, for example, we will notice a disproportionately low number of celebrities, powerful politicians, affluent business people, high-society people, prominent leaders, and the like. But if you were a known prostitute or a tax collector, an addict or an alcoholic, a no-name, a leper or a paralytic, or a despised and rejected sinner, your chance of being invited into Jesus' inner circle of friends would increase. So scandalous and unexpected were Jesus' associations that he was accused of being a glutton, a drunk, and a friend of tax collectors and sinners (Luke 7:34). The scribes and Pharisees shamed, scolded, and excluded such sinners for their failure to measure up. Yet these strugglers experienced Jesus as humble, gentle, and kind - attributes the scribes and Pharisees knew little to nothing about, because they were too busy separating the world between the good people and the bad people, the saints and the sinners, the virtuous and the scumbags, the insiders and the outsiders, the worthy and the unworthy. Meanwhile, Jesus was hanging out with, befriending, and welcoming religious society's choice rejects, thereby separating the world between the proud and the humble.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“Those of us who measure a person's worth by dollars instead of dignity would do well to remember that Jesus couldn't afford a place to live (Matt. 8:20). Those of us who measure a person's potential by where she went to college should note that Jesus didn't go to college or to school at all (John 7:15). Those of us who measure a person's significance by their line of work ought to recall that Jesus worked with his hands (Mark 6:3). Those of us who measure a person's beauty by his external appearance should observe that Jesus was average looking at best, if not outright unattractive (Isa. 53:2). Those of us who determine whether or not we want to befriend a person on the basis of his popularity or the types of associations that he keeps should remember that Jesus was a man of no reputation, even his own people did not receive him, and he was chiefly seen as a friend to sinners (John 1:11; Matt 11:16-19). And those of us who measure a person's desirability by his marital and familial status ought not forget that Jesus had no wife and no children.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“Whether conservative or progressive, whether religious or nonreligious, we must be careful, in our passionate zeal against the spirit of the unloving Pharisee, that we do not become unloving Pharisees ourselves—a hate group who is harsh, manipulative, and condemning with anyone who disagrees with us. This truth applies not only along ideological and doctrinal lines but also along economic and cultural and moral ones.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“The gentle answer that comes from Jesus defuses wrath instead of fanning its flame (Prov. 15:1). Within it resides the power to subdue fruitless arguments, break vicious cycles, turn enemies into friends, end wars, and change history. Within it resides the power of a future where wolves dwell in harmony with lambs, leopards with young goats, and lions with fattened cows (Isa. 11:6).”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“Jesus did not single out the disciple Judas as the betrayer or as the infamous “son of perdition” (John 17:12 NKJV). Instead, he used the second-person plural, indicating that any of the twelve could feasibly betray him. Knowing this to be true—knowing that the line dividing good and evil cuts through every human heart—none of the disciples responded with an accusation toward another. None said, “Lord, we’ve all been suspecting this for some time and we’re glad you are finally confirming our suspicion. It is Judas, of course! It’s so obvious!” Instead, each disciple became sorrowful and introspective, and each one took his turn asking Jesus, “Is it I?” (Mark 14:19). This “Is it I?” response to the Lord, as opposed to an “It is he!” response, is a key indicator of a healthy, self-aware, non-presumptuous, gentle posture of faith. Sorrow mixed with introspection is, even for the most faithful disciples among us, the most appropriate response when the subject of evil and betrayal is raised.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“beneath most distorted human behavior are wounds that influence it—wounds that can heal when met with a gentle answer from Christ and from his people, as opposed to bitter, retaliatory responses. Nowhere in scripture does it say that it is repentance that causes God to be kind.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“We must learn to love the light, even when it exposes the darkness in us, as opposed to hiding from the light and shielding ourselves from exposure.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“Sin is absurd and futile, especially for Christians who are aware of the love and redeeming grace of God through Jesus. It is absurd and futile because sin is not only an act of rebellion against the law of God; it is also an act of hatred against the love of God.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“What would compel a man to give up so much for the cause of the gospel? Some years later, Lloyd-Jones answered that question in an interview, saying, “I gave up nothing; I received everything. I count it the highest honor that God can confer on any man to call him to be a herald of the gospel.”14”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“If being opposed, criticized, or mistreated because of our “message and works” is foreign to our experience as Christians, it is wise to ask ourselves who (or what) is truly shaping and discipling us.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“Jesus and Christianity do not discriminate between good people and bad people. Instead, Jesus and Christianity discriminate between humble people and proud people.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“Because Jesus has covered all of our offenses, we can be among the least offensive and least offended people in the world. This is the way of the gentle answer.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“This generation is the first to turn hate into an asset.” When Dr. John Perkins, the eighty-nine-year-old Christian minister and civil rights icon/activist, said these words at a recent leaders’ gathering in Nashville, things I’ve been feeling about the current state of Western society came into sharper focus. For many years now, I’ve grown increasingly perplexed over what feels like a culture of suspicion, mistrust, and us-against-them.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them

“When Jesus spent time with humble and/or hurting people, they would feel seen, dignified, esteemed, loved, and hopeful.”
― Scott Sauls, A Gentle Answer: Our 'Secret Weapon' in an Age of Us Against Them