297 results for tag: Quote for today

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

August 13, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Brainwashing does not depend on the overt imposition of physical restrictions, because it is subtle and covert.  Those whose spiritual beliefs and values are subverted over a long period of time are often unaware of their plight – their predicament is somewhat like the proverbial frog in a kettle.  They are oblivious of the dangers confronting them and are content to remain in a pot of water while the heat gradually increases until they are boiled alive. People who are brainwashed and indoctrinated often experience a methodical process during which their values are sabotaged and corrupted ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

August 10, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “The most important spiritual need in our world today is for the image of God most people believe is true and authentic to be healed and transformed – so that they know who God really is, and who he is not.” Originally published in: Christianity Without the Religion magazine, June 2022 ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

August 8, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “According to religious expectations and definitions, many of the parables of Jesus make the wrong person the hero.  Who stars in the parables of Jesus?  Who shines?  The wasteful prodigal son, not the obedient elder brother – the good Samaritan (despised by religion) rather than Jewish rabbis (admired and honored by religion) – the scorned and reviled tax collector who did not even look up to heaven as he prayed rather than the righteous Pharisee – the poor, homeless beggar named Lazarus and not the rich man.”  Originally published in: Wonders of His Grace --------------...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

August 6, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “During a recent visit to a local university campus, I happened to pick up the Borzoi College Reader published in 1966.  I discovered the volume was a collection of short essays and stories, by distinguished and recognized authors, separated into sections designed to acquaint college students with important issues of their world, as well as introduce them to superb examples of writing and thinking. One of the essays was titled ‘The Morning They Did It’ by E.B. White – first published in The New Yorker in 1950.  White was a prolific writer who contributed a regular column for Harpers ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

August 3, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Many sources contribute to what we know and what we think we know about God. If you’re like me, you were taught what to think about God from sources you trusted as unimpeachable, like religious authorities and their churches.  Sadly, in some cases we found out later we had been bamboozled. Don’t you just hate it when you have been bamboozled? So when you want to know more about God, as that great line from the 1984 movie Ghostbusters plaintively asked, ‘Who you gonna’ call?’ After reviewing the spiritual adventures, detours and wild goose chases I have taken thus far in life, I have ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

August 1, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Should we do good things? Of course. Should we exhort and encourage one another to do the right things? Yes. Should we browbeat and threaten one another about the consequences of not doing the right things? No. Should we imply that doing right things gains us some standing with God that we would otherwise not have enjoyed? No. Do many in Christendom promise that our reward, our standing with God and God’s opinion of us will increase if we do more of the right things? Yes. Should they, according to the gospel? No.” Originally published in: Between Religious Rocks and Life’s Hard ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

July 30, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “As Luther studied the book of Romans, God enlightened him, and Martin Luther came to see that the Cross of Christ had set him free from trying to make himself worthy and acceptable to God.  Luther came to see that Jesus made him worthy and acceptable, and that he, Martin Luther, was free to rest in the mercy, favor and grace of God – because of the work of Jesus on the Cross. In the aftermath of religion, Martin Luther discovered Jesus, and as it turned out, so did tens of millions of others who followed him.  Martin Luther and so many others, by God’s grace have discovered the good news ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

July 27, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Legalism infects every human being.  We default to legalism.  We resist grace, and, like iron filings to a magnet or moths to a light bulb we find ourselves fatally attracted to religious pills, potions and prescriptions.  Legalism is a virus.  It is a particular weakness of anyone who has been previously weakened by its relentless attacks – like an alcoholic or malaria survivor.  Legalism leaves scar tissue.”  Originally published in: Bad News Religion ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

July 25, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “The dressing room door opens, and Karen walks out. She is just as beautiful as she was when I waited for her to walk down the aisle on a summer day in England just over 41 years ago. But, now, the summer of 2010, she is wearing a hospital-provided blue smock.  As our eyes meet, the technicians say they are ready. We walk through a massive, one-foot-thick steel door into the radiation chamber. It’s a large room, about the size of a handball or squash court, dominated by the overwhelming presence of a Trilogy Linear Accelerator. The Trilogy is a state-of-the-art machine used by radiation oncolog...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

July 23, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Jesus threw huge parties when people came to listen to him teach and preach.  On several occasions those who turned out to hear Jesus became hungry.  So Jesus created, with a few fish and loaves of bread, a huge picnic for thousands of people (John 6:1-15).  And of course, we read in the book of Revelation about the wedding supper of the Lamb, the splendid celebration thrown by the groom for his bride (Revelation 19:5-9). …I believe that life lived in the presence of God is pure joy, not frugal obligation, not dour requirements, but joy without end.  This is not to say we don’t ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

July 20, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Legalism is the ‘foundation’ of spiritual cosmetics.  It compels us to put on an act to impress others who are themselves putting on an act to impress us.  The act we put on may be good – the actions and behaviors may be good things to do, but we are doing them for the wrong reasons – and in the process we become spiritual imposters.” Originally published in: Bad News Religion ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

July 18, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Grace is like water and rain, but it is also like the wind.  We have no idea where wind comes from but there is no doubt that wind is also a metaphor of God’s grace – The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit (John 3:8)…The grace of God is like pollen carried by the wind, spreading life.  The grace of God is like the wind filling our sails.”  Originally published in: Wonders of His Grace ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

July 16, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “There’s an old story about the latest group of new arrivals in heaven who were huddled together in front of the pearly gates, waiting for St. Peter to greet them and welcome them inside. A few adventurous ones climbed up on the wrought iron fence, peering through, trying to see what heaven was really like. Suddenly, those who were looking through the fence saw someone who they all remembered as a great sinner on earth. The new arrivals were scandalized. One person demanded, ‘What’s he doing here?’ Another new arrival said, ‘After all I went through to get here and after all my hard work, now ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

July 13, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “The Bible does not guarantee that our lives in this flesh will consist of us skipping through some idyllic park, ice cream cones in hand. God’s plan for us is not centered on the here and now. This life is not all there is. There is more to life than what we see and understand and experience. God’s plan is primarily concerned with eternity, not the earthly days and daze of our lives.”  Originally published in: Between Religious Rocks and Life’s Hard Places ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

July 11, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “The real Jesus, and the authentic Christianity he gives, are buried, like barnacles on a boat, by layers of religious rituals, rules and regulations.”  Originally published in: Bad News Religion ------------------------------------- Help Us Help Others - Give Now

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

July 9, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Christ-less religions that fly the flag of Christ… are themselves guilty of massive attacks, savagery and brutalities of others – simply because ‘others’ do not appear to be Christians. We must not forget the Crusades, the Inquisitions, the bloody wars in Europe centering on the Reformation and afterwards. We must not forget the attempt to ‘evangelize’ pagans by the various Christian empires of Europe as they attempted to colonize the not-so-advanced areas of the world – like Africa, India, Asia, North and South America. Several centuries ago the largest church within Christendom felt ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

July 6, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “When I was a young boy, I loved sports (still do). Sports fascinated me. I wanted to make either participation in or reporting about athletic endeavors my life. My mother, though she and my stepfather were often hard pressed to pay all their bills, recognized my desire and purchased a subscription to Sports Illustrated (SI) for me... Over the years SI apparently determined to grow its circulation and demographic appeal by catering to a wider audience than simply sports fans who wish to read unembellished accounts of athletic endeavors. In a thinly veiled (pun intended) attempt to increase circulation, SI ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

July 4, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “One of the major lessons of the book of Revelation is that religion and the state often combine as enemies of the true gospel, so much so that Revelation 18:4 calls to the people of God, who follow Christ alone, to Come out of her, my people. The book of Revelation provides a warning and chronicle of what happens when those who profess Christ jump into bed with either Christ-less religion or the idolatry of Caesar worship – the worship of a nationalistic human empire – or a combination of both.  Just as there have been religious institutions in the past that were merely pawns of a nationalistic ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

July 2, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Sadly, many within Christendom see ‘God’s justice’ through the prism of human experience and limitations.  They attribute human definitions and desires to God.  God’s justice conforms, as they perceive it, to their own sense and definition of justice… Christ-less religion places the focus on the need for humans to reimburse and repay, to compensate and remunerate for damages inflicts whereas the grace of God we find in Christ-centered faith is all about forgiveness – writing off the debt – as Jesus said on his cross, ‘It is done,’ once and for all.”  Originally ...

Reflections Along the Jesus Way

June 29, 2023 - Quote for the Day: “Many Christians are missing the point of Revelation because they’re reading it as though it were a newspaper, with verses lined up and seemingly corresponding to an event in today’s news, or the news they’ve been told will almost certainly be printed in the newspaper in the next month or next year. Reading the book of Revelation as if it were an advance copy of next week’s or next month’s newspaper has resulted in many people losing faith in God when world events don’t work out the way they were told they would.  Whose fault is that?  Is it God’s fault, or the bogus interpreta...