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Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes - Page 17

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Wherever it pleases God to put man in this world, the Christian must be ready for martyrdom and death. It is only in this way that man learns faith.

Wherever it pleases God to put man in this world, the Christian must be ready for martyrdom and death. It is only in this way that man learns faith.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Christian, Men, World
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2015). “The Cost of Discipleship”, p.22, SCM Press

The deceit, the lie of the devil consists of this, that he wishes to make man believe that he can live without God's Word. Thus he dangles before man's fantasy a kingdom of faith, of power, and of peace, into which only he can enter who consents to the temptations; and conceals from men that he, as the devil, is the most unfortunate and unhappy of beings, since he is finally and eternally rejected by God.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Bible, Christian, Lying

God honors some with great suffering and grants them the grace of martyrdom, while other are not tempted beyond their strength. But in every case it is one cross.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Grace, Honor, Suffering
"Discipleship". Book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, p. 87, 1937.

Originally man was made in the image of God, but now his likeness to God is a stolen one. As the image of God man draws his life entirely from his origin in God, but the man who has become like God has forgotten how he was at his origin and has made himself his own creator and judge.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Men, Origin Of Life, Judging
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2012). “Ethics”, p.22, Simon and Schuster

No one has yet believed in God and the kingdom of heaven, no one has heard about his realm of the resurrected, and not been homesick from that hour, waiting and looking forward joyfully to being released from bodily existenceDeath is hell and night and cold, if it is not transformed by our faith. But that is just what is so marvelous, that we can transform death.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Night, Waiting, Heaven

Anything I cannot thank God for for the sake of Christ, I may not thank God for at all; to do so would be sin. ... We cannot rightly acknowledge the gifts of God unless we acknowledge the Mediator for whose sake alone they are given to us.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Thanksgiving, Thank God, Would Be
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2015). “The Cost of Discipleship”, p.51, SCM Press

Principles are only tools in the hands of God; they will soon be thrown away when they are no longer useful.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Hands, Principles, Tools
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2005). “Centenary Reflections”

Monastic life thus became a living protest against the secularization of Christianity, against the cheapening of grace.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Grace, Christianity, Monastic Life

The world upon whom grace is thrust as a bargain will grow tired of it.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Tired, Grace, World
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1966). “The Way to Freedom: 1935-1939, from the Collected Works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer”, New York : Harper & Row

Consequently there is a need for spiritual vitality. What protection is there against the danger of organisation? Man is once more faced with the problem of himself. He can cope with every danger except the danger of human nature itself. In the last resort it all turns upon man.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Spiritual, Men, Lasts

There is not a place to which the Christian can withdraw from the world, whether it be outwardly or in the sphere of the inner life. Any attempt to escape from the world must sooner or later be paid for with a sinful surrender to the world.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Christian, Spheres, World
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1965). “Ethics”

But discipleship never consists in this or that specific action: it is always a decision, either for or against Jesus Christ...Christ speaks to us exactly as he spoke to them. It was not as though they first recognized him as the Christ and then received his command. They believed his word and command and recognized him as the Christ--in that order.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Jesus, Order, Decision

The Psalter is the prayer book of Jesus Christ in the truest sense of the word. He prayed the Psalter and now it has become his prayer for all time...we understand how the Psalter can be prayer to God and yet God's own Word, precisely because here we encounter the praying Christ...because those who pray the psalms are joining in with the prayer of Jesus Christ, their prayer reaches the ears of God. Christ has become their intercessor.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Jesus, Prayer, Book

The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Christian, Joy, Source
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Samuel Wells (2015). “Life Together”, p.8, SCM Press

No one should be surprised at the difficulty of faith, if there is some part of his life where he is consciously resisting or disobeying the commandment of Jesus. Is there some part of your life which you are refusing to surrender at his behest, some sinful passion, maybe, or some animosity, some hope, perhaps your ambition or your reason? ... How can you hope to enter into communion with him when at some point in your life you are running away from him?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Running, Jesus, Passion

... there are not two realities, but only one reality, and that is the reality of God, which has become manifest in the Christ event/redemption and creation.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Reality, Two, Events

As God adds his 'Yes' to your 'Yes,' as he confirms your will with his will, and as he allows you, and approves of, your triumph and rejoicing and pride, he makes you at the same time instruments of his will and purpose both for yourselves and for others. In his unfathomable condescension God does add his 'Yes' to yours; but by doing so, he creates out of your love something quite new - the holy estate of matrimony.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Pride, Triumph, Doe
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2011). “Letters Papers from Prison”, p.25, Simon and Schuster

We ought not to be in too much of a hurry here to speak piously of God's will and guidance. It is obvious, and it should not be ignored, that it is your own very human wills that are at work here, celebrating their triumph; the course that you are taking at the outset is one that you have chosen for yourselves.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Triumph, Too Much, Ignored
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2011). “Letters Papers from Prison”, p.25, Simon and Schuster

Christ became our Brother in order to help us. Through him our brother has become Christ for us in the power and authority of the commission Christ has given him. Our brother stands before us the sign of the truth and the grace of God. He has been given to us to help us. He hears the confession of our sins in Christ's stead and he forgives our sins in Christ's name. He keeps the secret of our confession as God keeps it. When I go to my brother to confess, I am going to God.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Brother, Order, Names

Oh, give our frightened souls the sure salvation for which, O Lord, You taught us to prepare. And when this cup You give is filled to brimming with bitter suffering, hard to understand, we take it thankfully and without trembling, out of so good and so beloved a hand. Yet when again in this same world You give us the joy we had, the brightness of Your Sun, we shall remember all the days we lived through, and our whole life shall then be Yours alone.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Hands, Taught Us, Giving

Struggling against the legalism of simple obedience, we end by setting up the most dangerous law of all, the law of the world and the law of grace. In our effort to combat legalism we land ourselves in the worst kind of legalism. The only way of overcoming this legalism is by real obedience to Christ when he calls us to follow him; for in Jesus the law is at once fulfilled and cancelled.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Jesus, Real, Struggle
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2012). “The Cost of Discipleship”, p.83, Simon and Schuster

But to procrastinate and prevaricate simply because you're afraid of erring, when others - I mean our brethren in Germany - must make infinitely more difficult decisions every day, seems to me almost to run counter to love. To delay or fail to make decisions may be more sinful than to make wrong decisions out of faith and love.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Running, Mean, Decision

It is remarkable how I am never quite clear about the motives for any of my decisions. Is that a sign of confusion or inner dishonesty or is it a sign that we are guided without our knowing or is it both ...The reasons one gives for an action to others and to one's self are certainly inadequate. One can give a reason for everything. In the last resort one acts from a level which remains hidden from us. So one can only ask God to judge us and to forgive us.... At the end of the day I can only ask God to give a merciful judgement on today and all its decisions. It is now in his hand.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Hands, Knowing, Self

Thinking in terms of two realms understands the paired concepts worldy-Christia n, natural-superna tural, profane-sacred, rational-revela tions, as ultimate static opposites...and fails to recognize the original unity of these opposites in the Christ-reality.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Reality, Thinking, Opposites

The cross is God's truth about us, and therefore it is the only power thatcanmakeustruthful.Whenwe know the cross we are no longer afraid of the truth.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Crosses, Knows

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