Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quotes - Page 17

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Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it had sprung from a wish dream… Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Christian, Dream, Broken

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The proclamation of grace has its limits. Grace may not be proclaimed to anyone who does not recognize or distinguish or desire it... The world upon whom grace is thrust as a bargain will grow tired of it, and it will not only trample upon the Holy, but also will tear apart those who force it on them.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Tired, Grace, Tears

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

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Man has learned to cope with all questions of importance without recourse to God as a working hypothesis.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Men, Atheism, Hypothesis

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Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy's hatred, the greater his need of love. Be his enmity political or religious, he has nothing to expect from a follower of Jesus but unqualified love. In such love there is not inner discord between the private person and official capacity. In both we are disciples of Christ, or we are not Christians at all.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Christian, Religious, Jesus

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2015). “The Cost of Discipleship”, p.97, SCM Press

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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.

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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.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Christian, Men, World

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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”

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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

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

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Grace, Christianity, Monastic Life

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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

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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

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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”

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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

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... 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Born: February 4, 1906
Died: April 9, 1945
Occupation: Pastor
Cite this Page: Citation

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