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It is much easier for me to imagine a praying murderer, a praying prostitute, than a vain person praying. Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Age: 39 †
Born: 1906
Born: February 4
Died: 1945
Died: April 8
Pastor
Philosopher
Poet
Resistance Fighter
Theologian
Breslau
Bonhoeffer
Much
Vain
Praying
Easier
Prayer
Imagine
Prostitute
Persons
Murderer
Person
Odds
Nothing
Vanity

More quotes by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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It is a blessed thing to know that no power on earth, no temptation, no human frailty can dissolve what God holds together.
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The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them.
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A person who loves community tends to destroy it. But a person who loves people creates community wherever he goes.
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While it is good that we seek to know the Holy One, it is probably not so good to presume that we ever complete the task.
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Sanctification means that the Christians have been judged already, and that they are being preserved until the coming of Christ and are ever advancing towards it.
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Only the suffering God can help.
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As brother stands by brother in distress, binding up his wounds and soothing his pain, so let us show our love towards our enemy. There is no deeper distress to be found in the world, no pain more bitter than our enemy's. Nowhere is service more necessary or more blessed than when we serve our enemies.
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Sometimes we just need a firm kick in the pants. An unsmiling expectation that if we mean all these wonderful things we talk about and sing about, then let’s see something to prove it.
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Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy.
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The disciple simply burns his boats and goes ahead. He is called out... The old life is left behind, and completely surrendered. The disciple is dragged out of his relative security into a life of absolute insecurity... out of the realm of the finite...into the realm of infinite possibilities.
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To be sure, God shall call you, and us, only at the hour that God has chosen. Until that hour, which lies in God's hand alone, we shall be protected even in the greatest danger and from our gratitude for such protection ever new readiness surely arises for the final call
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Thus the call to follow Christ always means a call to share the work of forgiving men their sins. Forgiveness is the Christlike suffering which it is the Christian's duty to bear.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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The cross is God's truth about us, and therefore it is the only power thatcanmakeustruthful.Whenwe know the cross we are no longer afraid of the truth.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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When a man really gives up trying to make something out of himself - a saint, or a converted sinner, or a churchman (a so-called clerical somebody), a righteous or unrighteous man,...and throws himself into the arms of God...then he wakes with Christ in Gethsemane. That is faith, that is metanoia and it is thus that he becomes a man and Christian.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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It is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Discipleship is not an offer that man makes to Christ.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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If any want to become my followers, Jesus says. Following him is not something that is self-evident, even among the disciples. No one can be forced, no one can be expected to follow him. ... If any want to follow me, they must deny themselves ... and take up their cross.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, l honor, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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The heart clings to collected treasure. Stored-up possessions get between me and God. Where my treasure is, there is my trust, my security, my comfort, my God. Treasure means idolatry.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer