#priest

Human beings seem to have a perpetual tendency to have somebody else talk to God for them. We are content to have the message second-hand. One of Israel's fatal mistakes was their insistence on having a human king rather than resting on the theocratic rule of God over them. We can detect a note of sadness in the word of the Lord, 'they have rejected me from being king over them' (1 Sam. 8:7). The history of religion is the story of an almost desperate scramble to have a king, a mediator, a priest, a pastor, a go-between. In this way we do not need to go to God ourselves. Such an approach saves us from the need to change, for to be in the presence of God is to change. ↗

— Richard J. Foster

#god #old-testament #pastor #priest #spiritual-mediation

In medieval times, contrary to popular belief, most knights were bandits, mercenaries, lawless brigands, skinners, highwaymen, and thieves. The supposed chivalry of Charlemagne and Roland had as much to do with the majority of medieval knights as the historical Jesus with the temporal riches and hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, or any church for that matter. Generally accompanied by their immoral entourage or servants, priests, and whores, they went from tourney to tourney like a touring rock and roll band, sports team, or gang of South Sea pirates. Court to court, skirmish to skirmish, rape to rape. Fighting as the noble's substitution for work. ↗

— Tod Wodicka

#brigands #catholic-church #charlemagne #chivalry #highwaymen

Tom looked more and more like a rabbi. As is the way of men of character in provincial towns, he tended to become a collection of mannerisms, a caricature of himself. ↗

— Frank O'Connor

#priest #rabbis #men

While we are under the tyranny of Priests, it will ever be their interest, to invalidate the law of nature and reason, in order to establish systems incompatible therewith. ↗

— Ethan Allen

#ever #incompatible #interest #law #nature

There exist only three beings worthy of respect: the priest, the soldier, the poet. To know, to kill, to create. ↗

— Charles Baudelaire

#beings #create #exist #kill #know

Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest. ↗

— Denis Diderot

#free #king #last #man #never

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has killed a great many philosophers. ↗

— Denis Diderot

#great #killed #many #never #philosopher

The PhD system is the real root of the evil of academic snobbery. People who have PhDs consider themselves a priesthood, and inventors generally don't have PhDs. ↗

— Freeman Dyson

#consider #evil #generally #inventors #people

My parents and grandparents have always been engaged in teaching or the medical profession or the priesthood, so I've sort of grown up with a sense of complicity in the lives of other people, so there's no virtue in that; it's the way one is raised. ↗

— Colin Firth

#been #complicity #engaged #grandparents #grown

Let judges secretly despair of justice: their verdicts will be more acute. Let generals secretly despair of triumph; killing will be defamed. Let priests secretly despair of faith: their compassion will be true. ↗

— Leonard Cohen

#be true #compassion #despair #faith #generals