Christ's greatest commandment wasn't "convert your neighbor." It was "love your neighbor." If love becomes conditional... If love is reduced to an evangelistic tool... If love becomes just another way of making people be just like us... We've deeply misunderstood the...
While we may need somebody like Dominic to convert the heathen to Christianity, we are in even greater need of somebody like Francis to convert the Christians to Christianity. from St. Thomas Aquinas: The Dumb Ox
Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem; it merely creates new and more complicated ones. Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent...
My mission as a Christian is not "to convert the heathen" as we once asserted; it is rather to assist in the task of helping all people "to live fully, to love wastefully, and to be all that they are capable of being."
The realism of these sayings is simply that life consists of a series of seemingly small opportunities. Most of us will not this week christen a ship, write a book, end a war, appoint a cabinet, dine with the queen, convert a nation, or be burned at the stake. More...
It cost God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost him crucifixion. from Mere Christianity ————————Gender-neutral version: It cost God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills...
Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to...
Mature religion involves changing ourselves and letting ourselves be changed by a mysterious encounter with grace, mercy, and forgiveness. This is the truth that will set us free (John 8:32). Yet much of our history has involved trying to change other people--with our...