These are quotes which stood out to me, possibly for use in a sermon someday. Their presence here does not mean I agree with them, it merely shows that I might want to reference them later. The default view is five random selections. Use the tag list on the right to view all quotes relevant to that theme.
A writer, whose name I have forgotten, once said that the true religions of America are optimism and denial.
“If you’re doing what you see everyone else doing, you’re not right with God. Does that surprise you? Our missionaries are a cross-section of our pastors, and our pastors are a cross-section of our society. That means whatever’s wrong with our society is in our church, too.”
I use a small personal size spiral note pad, not a clipboard. Clipboards are associated with political campaigns. I write the questions down so that if (when?) my mind goes blank, I don't end up asking an inappropriate question.
To start an interview I normally approach someone that’s walking (at first I didn't do this but I learned that it’s probably best). People are less defensive when I offer to walk along with them wherever they’re going. If they’re in a hurry or feeling pressured it’s easy for them to say so without feeling awkward or mean. I ask if they would mind giving their personal opinion on a few things and I tell them that 'm not going to comment on their answers. This is is really just an interview.
I usually begin by asking "Do you normally feel comfortable talking to people you don't know about spiritual or religious matters?" After that question I usually ask 2 or 3 more. Some of the questions I've asked are:
Do you think ghosts (or spirits) are real?
How do you feel when the subject of Jesus comes up in a conversation?
Do you think the church has a positive influence on society?
How do you feel when someone invites you to a religious event?
Have you ever had someone try to convert or “save” you?
Does Christianity have a positive influence on society?
Is there a religious or spiritual person that you admire?
Do you think there are messages for you in your dreams?
Do you think that Christians in general are a good representation of Jesus?
What are the four degrees of love? First, we love ourselves for our own sake; since we are unspiritual and of the flesh we cannot have an interest in anything that does not relate to ourselves. When we begin to see that we cannot subsist by ourselves, we begin to seek God for our own sakes. This is the second degree of love; we love God, but only for our own interests. But if we begin to worship and come to God again and again by meditating, by reading, by prayer, and by obedience, little by little God becomes known to us through experience. We enter into a sweet familiarity with God, and by tasting how sweet the Lord is we pass into the third degree of love so that now we love God, not for our own sake, but for himself. It should be noted that in this third degree we will stand still for a very long time ...
Blessed are we who experience the fourth degree of love wherein we love ourselves for God's sake. Such experiences are rare and come only for a moment. In a manner of speaking, we lose ourselves as though we did not exist, utterly unconscious of ourselves and emptied of ourselves.
If for even a moment we experience this kind of love, we will then know the pain of having to return to this world and its obligations as we are recalled from the state of contemplation. In turning back to ourselves we will feel as if we are suffering as we return into the mortal state in which we were called to live.
But during those moments we will be of one mind with God, and our wills in one accord with God. The prayer, 'Thy will be done', will be our prayer and our delight. Just as a little drop of water mixed with a lot of wine seems to entirely lose identity as it takes on the taste and colour of wine; just as iron, heated and glowing, looks very much like fire, having lost its original appearance; just as air flooded with the light of the sun is transformed into the same splendour of the light so that it appears to be light itself, so it is like for those who melt away from themselves and are entirely transfused into the will of God.
This perfect love of God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength will not happen until we are no longer compelled to think about ourselves…. Only then can the soul attend to God completely… it is within God's power to give such an experience to whom he wills, and it is not attained by our own efforts.
--From On the Love of God
St Bernard of Clairvaux
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/TX-CadillacRanch2.htm
Marsh's eccentric public art vision extends south, to the junction of I-27 and Sundown Lane, where a sculpture of a pair of disembodied legs greets passersby. Marsh commissioned sculptor Lightnin' McDuff to build two large, trunkless legs of concrete reinforced with steel, one 24 feet high and the other 34 feet high inspired by the poem: