Jesus' Alternative Plan Quotes

“Our notion of freedom as options and movement is a pleasant luxury, but not what Jesus is seeking when he goes into the desert; when he seems to limit himself in terms of family, marriage, and a place to “lay his head”; or when he even accepts the limitations of a short ministry among uneducated people at a low period of religion in a country occupied by a foreign oppressor. That’s not much freedom by our definition, but more than enough for him to say, “the Reign of God is among you” (Luke 17:21).”
― Richard Rohr, Jesus' Alternative Plan: The Sermon on the Mount

“We know everything today and believe almost nothing.

It is not reason that drives our lives, but passion or the search for it. It is not words and concepts, but living images that grab our souls. It is not what we know that haunts us at the end, but what we did not know and don't know yet.

We must make friends with the unknowing. What you know is just ten thousand different things.

But what you believe is what you pay attention to, what you care about, what finally lives and matters in you.

What you believe is not one of ten thousand things, it is that which sees ten thousand things.

It is not what you know that matters, or changes anything: It is what you believe and believe all the way through.”
― Richard Rohr, Jesus' Alternative Plan: The Sermon on the Mount

“The motivation for all morality and religion is the imitation of God, who is love. When religion bases itself in fear, duty, honor, a need for law and order, a need for a superior self-image, or group cohesiveness, it is corrupt. It looks good and will have many defenders, but it is actually at the heart of the problem. The real God is no longer needed or even wanted, and such religion usually becomes the actual enemy of God. The crucifixion of Jesus speaks to this.”
― Richard Rohr, Jesus' Alternative Plan: The Sermon on the Mount