Tom

“When we reach the point where things simply make no sense, when our thinking about God and life no longer line up, when any sense of certainty is gone, and when we can find no reason to trust God but we still do, well that is what trust looks like at its brightest – when all else is dark.”
― Peter Enns, The Sin of Certainty: Why God Desires Our Trust More Than Our "Correct" Beliefs

“The number of books on theology must be reduced and only the best ones published. It is not many books that make people learned or even much reading. It is, rather, a good book frequently read, no matter how small it is, that makes a person learned in the Scriptures and upright. Indeed, the writings of all the holy Fathers should be read only for a time so that through them we may be led into the Scriptures. As it is, however, we only read them these days to avoid going any further and getting into the Bible. We are like people who read the signposts and never travel the road they indicate. Our dear Fathers wanted to lead us to the Scriptures by their writings, but we use their works to get away from the Scriptures. Nevertheless, the Scripture alone is our vineyard in which we must all labor and toil.”
― Martin Luther, To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation

“In order to put to death our works and the [old] Adam, God hangs around our necks many unpleasant burdens that make us angry, much suffering that tries our patience, and finally death and the world’s contempt. By doing these things, God is simply trying to expunge our anger, impatience, and turmoil and replace them with his work, that is, with his peace. As Isaiah says in chapter 28: “God undertakes a strange work” in order to arrive at his proper work.q What does this mean? He means that God sends us suffering and turmoil in order to teach us patience and peace. God permits us to die in order to make us alive until each person is so peaceful and quiet that it does not matter whether things go well or poorly, whether one lives or dies, is honored or dishonored. At that point, God alone dwells there and human works are no more. This is what it means to keep the Sabbath rest and make it holy in the right way. Here there is no human control, delight, or sorrow at all. Instead, God alone leads each human being, and nothing is present but divine delight, joy, and peace along with all the other works and virtues.”
― Martin Luther, A Treatise on Good Works

“While touting radical difference from mainline Protestantism, evangelical Protestantism strikingly parallels mainline Protestantism. In a way, both liberal and conservative modes of American religion are the same tune but played in strikingly different ways. Both evangelicals and mainliners accentuate the subjective dimension of religion. Both seek a therapeutic Jesus, who can heal my psychological pain, in order to issue a socially transformative Christ. For the political right, this Christ liberates an agenda that supports stability for the traditional family but license for the economy (even when that economy is indifferent to the traditional family’s well-being). For the political left, this Christ liberates an agenda that promotes diversity in family structures but seeks to tame an economy run amok.”
― Mark Mattes, Law & Gospel In Action: Foundations, Ethics, Church