The atonement chapter [from the book Saving Calvinism] shows how there are real riches in Reformed theology that most Christians today have no idea about.
No confession is inerrant; Reformed Christians are supposed to be those who seek to be constantly reformed according to the Word of God - and that includes our confessions as well.
The best Reformed theology isn't just about careful arguments for theologically sophisticated conclusions. It is about how to live the Christian life.
I had a great time in high school. I really did. I went to a private Christian high school and I graduated in a class of 67 kids, so it was pretty small, and I knew and loved everybody.
Christian Louboutin, I love you, but honey, please! But when you have this much weight, you've got to give us a little platform. Sorry! The shoes are stunning though. An ounce of pain, it's worth it.
Real Christianity is lovely. There is a quality about a Spirit-filled, radiant Christian that draws and attracts others and causes them to enjoy favor with all the people. The truth is that the gospel is not nearly as offensive as some of its proponents!
... For all our alarm, it is clear that the religious right is responding to a real hunger in our society... a deep-seated yearning for stable values... When conservative Christian groups talk of failures in our educational system, the erosion of our moral standards, and the waste of young lives, they are addressing real and legitimate concerns... Among secularists, the aversion toward discussion of moral values, let alone religion, can reach absurd extremes.
Put yourself in the position of a person, sort of an ordinary American, "I'm a hard-working, god-fearing Christian. I take care of my family, I go to church, I, you know, do everything 'right'. And I'm getting shafted. For the last thirty years, my income has stagnated, my working hours are going up, my benefits are going down. My wife has to work two [jobs] to, you know, put food on the table. The children, God, there's no care for the children, the schools are rotten, and so on. What did I do wrong? I did everything you're supposed to do, but something's going wrong to me.
I think the Christian Coalition could be extremely dangerous. We should always be concerned when any group wants to impose their doctrinal concerns on all. To an extent that's what they are trying to do.
There are many concepts of spirituality, among them, various notions of divinity developed in the Judaeo-Christian-Islamic religions. Within these the concepts vary greatly.
I've never seen a study, but my sense is that these are people who feel really aggrieved. These people think, "I've done everything right all my life, I'm a god-fearing Christian, I'm white, I'm male, I've worked hard, and I carry a gun. I do everything I'm supposed to do. And I'm getting shafted." And in fact they are getting shafted. For 30 years their wages have stagnated or declined, the social conditions have worsened, the children are going crazy, there are no schools, there's nothing, so somebody must be doing something to them, and they want to know who it is.
I'll just be out in the shed.
I think the Buddhist ethic is clearer and more systematic in some ways. The Buddhist notion is that our chief problems are greed, hatred and delusion. Well, delusion is not much mentioned in the Christian tradition. In the West, we have underplayed the idea that our moral and spiritual troubles have to do with a lack of clarity or insight because original sin has dominated so much of our thinking. We tend to think that our troubles are caused by insufficient will power.
We really have a close friendship with Christian Petzold, which means we can be more frank and open towards each other, always with total respect. But, we push each other a bit further and further always, and we're always still curious about each other. And when he talks about a story he's thinking of doing, then the whole process is so special because I'm involved in a very early stage and I have the feeling I can, and not only, influence anything about my character, but about the whole story that my character's in.
That is an amazing experience, because we with director Christian Petzold know whenever we criticize each other, it's for the best, and you don't find that very often, that you trust each other so much. That's a special thing.
... courage is accompanied by patience and firm resolution? God sets courage like a sea around the weakness of our nature, enabling us to undermine the strongholds and citadels of the enemy.
What brings us to perfection? An ingrained faith in God, the 'faith that makes real the things for which we hope' (Heb. 11:1), the faith whereby Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain and was commended as righteous (cf. Heb 11:4). It is such faith that fills those assiduous in the search for truth with great aspiration for the exalted gifts of God, and leads them to the spiritual knowledge of created beings; and it pours into their hearts the inexhaustible treasures of the Spirit.
I had a battle going on in my head: shall I just enjoy my life and then convert on my deathbed? But I felt I couldn't do that - it was now or never - so I took a step of faith and became a Christian.
This may sound pernickety but I wouldn't describe myself as an evangelical. These are labels, which I don't think are helpful. If I was going to use any label it would be Christian, and if you push me any further I'd say I'm an Anglican - that's the family of the Church that I belong to. There's nothing wrong with any of the other labels, but if you have any of them I want them all. If you're going to say, 'I'm Catholic, liberal, evangelical...' let's have them all.
The only label I would choose for myself is Christian, but if you pushed me and you say, 'What sort of Christian are you?' I'm an Anglican.
I'm a Christian. I'm committed to Jesus Christ and I want people to know about Christ, because it's the most wonderful thing. People can say, 'I'll try and give up drugs,' or 'I'll try and live a better life,' but actually, if you're trapped in that lifestyle, you need, I think, some supernatural power to get you out of it. It's not easy to get out of the kind of lifestyles those people are in where all your family are criminals and all your friends are criminals - that is not an easy break to make, and it is a hard thing for a lot of these people.
My position on the issue of homosexuality is no different from the position of the Anglican Church and all the major denominations around the world. I know that it's different from the secular culture in the western world, but it's no different from the teaching of the church globally. We're Christians basically.
Things are changed by a faith that defies obstacles and laughs at impossibilities.
Contrary to popular belief, there are actually quite a few guys in the action sports community that have faith and are Christians.
Jesus Christ was the biggest blight on the human race, he was. And all them socialists and communists - second rate Christianity.