“It seems that under the overwhelming impact of rising power, humans are deprived of their inner independence and, more or less consciously, give up establishing an autonomous position toward the emerging circumstances. The fact that the foolish person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent.
In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with him as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being.
Having thus become a mindless tool, the foolish person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings…
Only the humble believe in Him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that He does wonders where people despair, that He takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly.
God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; He loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken…
In the Incarnation the whole human race recovers the dignity of the image of God. Thereafter, any attack even on the least of men is an attack on Christ, who took on the form of man, and in his own Person restored the image of God in all.
Through our relationship with the Incarnation, we recover our true humanity, and at the same time are delivered from that perverse individualism which is the consequence of sin, and recover our solidarity with all mankind.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
You mean God actually made so many stupid people on purpose? Boggles my mind.
Stupid people are self made.
Romans 1:20 KJV… “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”
Otherwise, very compelling quote. DB was moving in the right direction.
No, God gives everyone the choice to be foolish or not. A lot of our choices are also based on the culture in which we live and the company we keep. John
Using God in a sentence assumes “God” is definable, perceivable, predictable, and describable.
God is none of these things; we all know this. Yet, somehow, the word “God” stubbornly, magically, continues to conjure a common denominator for our Supreme Deity, with thousands of denominations, all claiming the seat on the right of His throne (the one nobody has ever seen).
The great irony of religion is that each has Holy Scriptures that heap shame from “God” onto those who defy His will, while defining heaven as a place with no shame.
God dwells in eternal acceptance of everyone’s shame.
Shame on you.
You seem to be confused about Christianity vs. religion in general, but no matter. No one forces you to believe in God, including God himself, so why not cheerfully indulge Admin his nod to Bonhoeffer this morning after Christmas. Have a nice day.
I don’t know the “Admin” and I don’t know his reasons for posting Bonhoeffer’s ill-founded illusion that God is so wonderful that the most misfortunate among us, in their humility, “rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous…”
Like bloody hell they do. Every downtrodden person I’ve known was more likely to ask why God hates them than to rejoice in His blessings.
If the religious math doesn’t add up, it’s a non-believer’s fault, as though life cannot be sacrosanct without the palliative of “True Belief” to assuage the pains of our reality, which consistently contradict every tenet of theology.
I do know the Admin likes to spur debate and that nobody here takes and “intellectual” holiday just to applaud palaver that requires belief rather than demonstrable outcomes, from Bonehuffer or anyone else. I doubt the Admin needs my silence or your admonition of my “tongue in cheek” ‘Shame on you’ to remain cheerful.
Got shame? It’s your problem, not God’s because He saddled his Son with your shame. You know, as a Christmas present. God lovces irony, too.
Oh, wait, “It seems…” Christianity plucked a “Get out of Irony Free” card from your religion deck.