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Do not try to make the Bible relevant. Its relevance is axiomatic.

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
Axiomatic
Relevance
Relevant
Bible
Trying
Make

More quotes by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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The child asks of the Father whom he knows. Thus, the essence of Christian prayer is not general adoration, but definite, concrete petition. The right way to approach God is to stretch out our hands and ask of One who we know has the heart of a Father.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Ultimate seriousness in not without a dose of humor.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Prayer does not mean simply to pour out one's heart. It means rather to find the way to God and to speak with him, whether the heart is full or empty.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Not everyone can wait: neither the sated nor the satisfied nor those without respect can wait. The only ones who can wait are people who carry restlessness around with them.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians. Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. … So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Nothing is so at odds with prayer as vanity.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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In the New Testament our enemies are those who harbor hostility against us, not those against whom we cherish hostility, for Jesus refuses to reckon with such a possibility.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Whenever Christ calls us, His call leads us to death.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things?
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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Faith without works is not faith at all, but a simple lack of obedience to God.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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A Christian is someone who shares the sufferings of God in the world.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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The deep meaning of the cross of Christ is that there is no suffering on earth that is not borne by God.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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The limitation of the ethical phenomenon to its place and time does not imply its rejection but, on the contrary, its validation. One does not use canons to shoot sparrows.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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The biggest mistake you can make in your life is to be always afraid of making a mistake.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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So many people come to church with a genuine desire to hear what we have to say, yet they are always going back home with the uncomfortable feeling that we are making it too difficult for them to come to Jesus.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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We should find God in what we do know, not in what we don't not in outstanding problems, but in those we have already solved.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Where God tears great gaps we should not try to fill them with human words.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer