#sinner

Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. ↗

— Oscar Wilde

#past

At Sunday worship, as in every dimension of our existence, many of us pretend to believe we are sinners. Consequently, all we can do is pretend we have been forgiven. As a result, our whole spiritual life is pseudo-repentance and pseudo-bliss. ↗

— Brennan Manning

#jesus #sinner #the-ragamuffin-gospel #life

Far better it is for you to say: "I am a sinner," than to say: "I have no need of religion." The empty can be filled, but the self-intoxicated have no room for God. ↗

— Fulton J. Sheen

#catholicism #christianity #god #religion #sinners

Being a “friend of sinners” is an accusation that Christians should wear as a badge of honor, for nothing could honor Jesus more, and nothing is more revealing of who God actually is. ↗

— Ronnie McBrayer

#sinners #welcome #religion

I plan to be a sinner tonight. Could've been something else, but looked way too good in my red dress to be anything Christian. ↗

— Alysia Harris

#dress #poem #poet #poetry #religion

But the issue is not only life and death but our existence before God and our being judged by him. All of us were sinners before him and worthy of condemnation. ↗

— Hans Urs von Balthasar

#being #being judged #condemnation #death #existence

Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence, or learning. ↗

— Frederick William Faber

#eloquence #kindness #learning #more #sinners

As sinners we are like addicts - addicted to ourselves and our own projects. The theology of glory simply seeks to give those projects eternal legitimacy. The remedy for the theology of glory, therefore, cannot be encouragement and positive thinking, but rather the end of the addictive desire. Luther says it directly: "The remedy for curing desire does not lie in satisfying it, but in extinguishing it." So we are back to the cross, the radical intervention, end of the life of the old and the beginning of the new. Since the theology of glory is like addiction and not abstract doctrine, it is a temptation over which we have no control in and of ourselves, and from which we must be saved. As with the addict, mere exhortation and optimistic encouragement will do no good. It may be intended to build up character and self-esteem, but when the addict realizes the impossibility of quitting, self-esteem degenerates all the more. The alcoholic will only take to drinking in secret, trying to put on the facade of sobriety. As theologians of glory we do much the same. We put on a facade of religious propriety and piety and try to hide or explain away or coddle our sins.... As with the addict there has to be an intervention, an act from without. In treatment of alcoholics some would speak of the necessity of 'bottoming out,' reaching the absolute bottom where one can no longer escape the need for help. Then it is finally evident that the desire can never be satisfied, but must be extinguished. In matters of faith, the preaching of the cross is analogous to that intervention. It is an act of God, entirely from without. It does not come to feed the religious desires of the Old Adam and Eve but to extinguish them. They are crucified with Christ to be made new. ↗

— Gerhard O. Forde

#cross #glory #gospel #piety #sinner

A sinner once passed away will never return, but sins will never vanish and the love will never die. ↗

— Les Soldats Noir

#death #les-soldats #love #manga #noir

The natural response of the old-timers is to build a strong moral wall against the outside. This is where the world starts to be painted in black and white, saints inside, and sinners outside the wall. ↗

— Mary Douglas

#black #black and white #build #inside #moral