#jesus

Those who meet Jesus always experience either joy or its opposites, either foretastes of Heaven or foretastes of Hell. Not everyone who meets Jesus is pleased, and not everyone is happy, but everyone is shocked. ↗

— Peter Kreeft

#christ #christianity #heaven #hell #jesus

Whatever the response to loss and tragedy, the experience seems to boil down to one journey--searching for Jesus. ↗

— W. Scott Lineberry

#loss #search #tragedy #experience

Whatever it was that people experience in Jesus has today come to be identified with medieval doctrines based on premodern assumptions that are no longer believable. That identification means that serious theological discussion seems to accomplish little more than to erect a division between the shouters and the disinterested. Jesus becomes the captive of the hysterically religious, the chronically fearful, the insecure and even the neurotic among us, or he becomes little more than a fading memory, the symbol of an age that is no more and a nostalgic reminder of our believing past. To me neither option is worth pursuing. Yet even understanding these things, I am still attracted to this Jesus and I will pursue him both relentlessly and passionately. I will not surrender the truth I believe I find in him either to those who seek to defend the indefensible or to those who want to be freed finally from premodern ideas that no longer make any sense. ↗

— John Shelby Spong

#age

Jesus is compelling in the way the discovery of the stars or the experience of a one-of-a-kind romance is compelling. His presence draws you in to the deep. ↗

— Michael Spencer

#jesus #spirituality #experience

(after asking Christ into his heart) I waited. And then, true to His promise, He came into my heart and my life. The moment was more than remarkable; it was the most realistic experience I'd ever had. I'm not sure what I expected; perhaps my life or my sins or a great white light would flash before my eyes; perhaps I'd feel a shock like being hit by a bolt of lightning. Instead, I felt no tremendous sensation, just a weightlessness and an enveloping calm that let me know that Christ had come into my heart. ↗

— Louis Zamperini

#heart #jesus #experience

He has a plan for everybody here and it’s all a matter of whether you answer it when He calls you. ↗

— Lacey Mosley

#flyleaf #god #inspirational #jesus #life

The Bible is the greatest of all books; to study it is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals. ↗

— Charles C. Ryrie

#faith #god #jesus #religion #faith

It is not easy to convey a sense of wonder, let alone resurrection wonder, to another. It’s the very nature of wonder to catch us off guard, to circumvent expectations and assumptions. Wonder can’t be packaged, and it can’t be worked up. It requires some sense of being there and some sense of engagement. ↗

— Eugene H. Peterson

#god #jesus #resurrection #spirituality #faith

Why couldn't Jesus command us to obsess over everything, to try to control and manipulate people, to try not to breathe at all, or to pay attention, stomp away to brood when people annoy us, and then eat a big bag of Hershey's Kisses in bed? ↗

— Anne Lamott

#jesus #faith

If you don't know that God loves you, he does. He loves his creation. And you're his creation. ↗

— Lacey Mosley

#flyleaf #hope #inspirational #jesus #love