Ben Storment

“The mature and well-balanced man, standing firmly with both feet on the earth, who has never been lamed and broken an half-blinded by the scandal of life, is as such the existentially godless man.”
― Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans

“The person who knows only his side of the argument knows little of that.”
― Karl Barth

“Addiction" might be the best word to explain the lostness that so deeply permeates society. Our addiction make us cling to what the world proclaims as the keys to self-fulfillment: accumulation of wealth and power; attainment of status and admiration; lavish consumption of food and drink, and sexual gratification without distinguishing between lust and love. These addictions create expectations that cannot but fail to satisfy our deepest needs. As long as we live within the world's delusions, our addictions condemn us to futile quests in "the distant country," leaving us to face an endless series of disillusionments while our sense of self remains unfulfilled. In these days of increasing addictions, we have wandered far away from our Father's home. The addicted life can aptly be designated a life lived in "a distant country." It is from there that our cry for deliverance rises up.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming

“A God without wrath brought men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross.”
― H. Richard Niebuhr, The Kingdom of God in America