A Well-Trained Dog

Ideas and Opinions
Albert Einstein

It is not enough to teach man a specialty. Through it he may become a kind of useful machine but not a harmoniously developed personality. It is essential that the student acquire an understanding of and a lively feeling for values. He must acquire a vivid sense of the beautiful and of the morally good. Otherwise he – with his specialized knowledge – more closely resembles a well-trained dog than a harmoniously developed person. He must learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their sufferings in order to acquire a proper relationship to individual fellowmen and to the community.

As a Body

The Bible often speaks of the Christian life as a fight or a war. We are called to fight the good fight and put on the armor of God. When we imagine these kinds of metaphors, we might think of a single gladiator, a mythical hero battling armies on their own. But the Bible is talking more about being members of an enormous army, ordinary soldiers fighting alongside one another in common cause. In the Bible, the Apostles largely write letters to whole churches and the churches of entire regions. This is not because they don’t have time to write letters to individual believers (they did that as well). They do so because it’s important for the people of God to hear, believe, and live out their faith as a body.

Far Beyond All Human Words

Life Together
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Why do Christians sing when they are together?  The reason is, quite simply, because in singing together it is possible for them to speak and pray the same Word at the same time; in other words, because here they can unite in the Word.  All devotion, all attention, should be concentrated upon the Word in the hymn.  The fact that we do not speak it but sing it only expresses the fact that our spoken words are inadequate to express what we want to say, that the burden of our song goes far beyond all human words.

Not by Our Own Words and Deeds

Life Together
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Even when sin and misunderstanding burden the communal life, is not the sinning brother still a brother, with whom I, too, stand under the Word of Christ?  Will not his sin be a constant occasion for me to give thanks that both of us may live in the forgiving love of God in Jesus Christ? …

The very hour of disillusionment with my brother becomes incomparably salutary, because it so thoroughly teaches me that neither of us can ever live by our own words and deeds, but only by that one Word and Deed which really binds us together–the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ.

The Dream or the Actual Community

Life Together
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

One who wants more than what Christ has established does not want Christian brotherhood.  He is looking for some extraordinary social experience which he has not found elsewhere; he is bringing muddled and impure desires into Christian brotherhood…

He who loves his dream of community more than Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial…

God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious.  The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others and by himself.  He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly…

If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ. 

Bringers of the Message

Life Together
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Because he daily hungers and thirsts for righteousness, he daily desires the redeeming Word.  And it can come only from the outside.  In himself he is destitute and dead.  Help must come from the outside, and it has come and comes daily and anew in the Word of Jesus Christ, bringing redemption, righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. But God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men.  When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others.  God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man.  Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him…

And that also clarifies the goal of all Christian community: they meet one another as bringers of the message of salvation…

The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us.

Not to Be Taken for Granted

Life Together
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians..

Not all Christians receive this blessing.  The imprisoned, the sick, the scattered lonely, the proclaimers of the Gospel in heathen lands stand alone.  They know that visible fellowship is a blessing..

It is true, of course, that what is an unspeakable gift of God for the lonely individual is easily disregarded and trodden under foot by those who have the gift every day.  It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the Kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us, that the time that still separates us from utter loneliness may be brief indeed.

Reflection and Remorse

The Church and Its Role in Public Justice
Randy Nabors

If our communities had more local democracy, as Professor Stuntz recommends, so that governing and policing were more intimately and politically tied to neighborhoods, we might not have such taking of sides. When an unarmed young man dies at the hands of the police, even if the police did everything right and there was no breaking of the law or injustice, it is a still a reason for mourning and reflection as to why this happened and what could have been done to prevent it. If the police are more involved with and tied to the community then the police will not walk away from such incidents with impunity, but at least with reflection, if not remorse. The local church, if it is more intimately tied to the community, will also not be able to walk away from such incidents. Some of our own children are policemen, and some of the other children we love seem to get stopped by the police on a regular basis. We don’t want either one of them hurt or shot. No matter what any of us do there will always be “bad guys.” Some of these “bad guys” we have known personally as we tried to reach them, to teach them the Word of God, but they rejected it. Ultimately as they rob or kill others some of the children we raised, who have made godly choices, will have to stop them, if we are to keep our streets and homes safe. When that encounter happens officers need to know they have our support, our prayers, and our comfort even as they might struggle with the trauma of such incidents.

Link: Complete Article

All of Life is Covenant

A Praying Life
Paul Miller

The marketing slogan of Las Vegas – “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” – describes how our secular world views life. You can come to Vegas, have sex anonymously, and return home to your spouse as if nothing happened. There is no link between Vegas and the rest of your life. You have unlimited freedom to pursue feeling good about yourself. Baloney. This is my Father’s world. Everything you do in Vegas is connected to the rest of your life. Everything you do is connected to who you are as a person and, in turn, creates the person you are becoming. Everything you do affects those you love. All of life is covenant.

Using Prayer to Keep God Distant

A Praying Life
Paul Miller

Oddly enough, we can also use prayer to keep God distant. We do that by only talking to God and not to mature believers. I can demonstrate that easily. Which is easier, confessing impure thoughts to a mature friend or to God? The friend is tougher. That feels real. We need to ask the body of Christ, Jesus’ physical presence on earth, the same questions we ask God. If you isolate praying from the rule of Jesus by not involving other Christians, you’ll end up doing your own will. Many Christians isolate their decision making from the body of Christ, then further isolate themselves in their vacation homes. They say something like this: “Well, my husband and I prayed about it, and the Lord seemed to confirm it.” Possibly God did confirm it. It is also possible that you used prayer as a spiritual covering for “doing your own thing.” We can mask our desires even from ourselves.