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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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Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Age: 39 †
Born: 1906
Born: February 4
Died: 1945
Died: April 8
Pastor
Philosopher
Poet
Resistance Fighter
Theologian
Breslau
Bonhoeffer
Possibility
Harbor
Enemy
Refuses
Jesus
Harbors
Hostility
Testament
Cherish
Enemies
Refuse
Reckon

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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.
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The Church is her true self only when she exists for humanity. As a fresh start, she should give away all her endowments to the poor and needy. The clergy should live solely on the freewill offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling.
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Every sermon must contain a certain shot of heresy.
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A pastor who does not pray daily for his congregation is not a pastor.
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Comfort the troubled, and trouble the comfortable.
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Disciples will not be weakened by suffering, worn down, and embittered until they are broken. Instead, they bear suffering, by the power of him who supports them. The disciples bear the suffering laid on them only by the power of him who bears all suffering on the cross. As bearers of suffering, they stand in communion with the Crucified.
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Only the believer obeys — obedience follows faith, the way good fruit comes from a good tree. Only the obedient believe.
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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.
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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.
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Jesus' call to bear the cross places all who follow him in the community of the forgiveness of sins. Forgiving sins is the Christ-suffering required of his disciples. It is required of all Christians.
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A Christian fellowship lives and exists by the intercession of its members for one another, or it collapses.
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It is only because he became like us that we can become like him.
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Every Christian community must realize that not only do the weak need the strong, but also that the strong cannot exist without the weak. The elimination of the weak is the death of fellowship.
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The right way to requite evil, according to Jesus, is not to resist it. This saying of Christ removes the Church from the sphere of politics and law.
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We have learnt, rather too late, that action comes, not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.
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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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Politics are not the task of a Christian.
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The church has an unconditional obligation to the victims of any ordering society, even if they do not belong to the Christian community.
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It is very easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements in comparison with what we owe others.
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