Here are some quotes that I sent out to get my group to get ready for what we’re doing.
“Throughout history, an authentic faith has been marked by a compassionate response towards those the world tends to forget” (Thomas 103).
“In a self-based Christianity, faith is almost entirely about how we learn to overcome our sins, grow in the spiritual disciplines, and build healthier, happier families” (Thomas 106).
“…Jesus stresses that our parties need to be the kind that will reap heavenly rewards” (Thomas 110).
“There is an increasing interest in Christian spirituality today, including the prayer life, but any growth in prayer without a corresponding concern and demonstrated compassion for the down-and-out is a sham, according to the teachings of Jesus” (Thomas 111).
“Yet in the midst of all of this, Lewis still took time out to spend many hours trying to teach a mentally retarded boy to read and write” (Thomas 113).
“The poor, diseased, and dispossessed can be as arrogant, ungrateful, bitter, and cruel as anyone else” (Thomas 116).
“If there is no evidence of social mercy in your life, if there isn’t a single poor person, prisoner, man or woman with a disability, or refugee who can stand up and testify that you have lived out and continue to live out your faith with compassionate care, then know this: Scripture, the Christian classics, and contemporary faith all stand in one accord to challenge the sub-Christian religion that you have adopted” (Thomas 120).
“Their income is limited and many of them can’t make it to church because of physical constraints, but they still need spiritual and sometimes physical care” (Thomas 121).
“…And the difference that makes helps you understand why God hates injustice so much. If you had to be there, day in and day out, and sit and watch it and hear it and smell it, you would hate it, and you would want it to stop” (Thomas 123).Who have you personally forgotten?
Simple question, right?
“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:17-18)
“‘It’s the thing that breaks [God's] heart. And then we have to ask, why is something that is so passionately important to God only mildly interesting to us’” (Thomas 123)?
I hope that we can
know God more through our actions
for just knowing him.
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