David Flowers

“Our Living School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is trying to reintroduce the West to what we call the Perennial Tradition, the underground stream that we all share. That does not mean I encourage you to abandon your own mother tradition. You have to know the rules before you can know how to break the rules properly. You have to be surrendered and accountable to one Tradition, as even the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa both insisted. Otherwise, your ego self is always the decider, and you operate outside the living Body of Christ.”
― Richard Rohr, Silent Compassion: Finding God in Contemplation

“Our best hope is not found in correct theology, the Bible or any other book, but in the love we express through action rather than words. Our best hope is that love predates creation and thus that the Creator sees us as ever young. Our hope is that when we look at God through the eyes of the loving Christ we will see who God really is. Our ultimate hope is that God will be looking back at us as we’d like to be seen.”
― Frank Schaeffer, Why I am an Atheist Who Believes in God: How to give love, create beauty and find peace

“When you say you love God, you are saying you love everything. Immature religion becomes an excuse for not loving a whole bunch of things and reveals that you have not had an authentic God experience yet. Rigid religion and compulsive religiosity, all unloving religion, is a rather clear sign that you have not met God! Once you have had a unitive experience with God, reality, or even yourself, your life invariably shows two things: quiet confidence and joyous gratitude.”
― Richard Rohr, Silent Compassion: Finding God in Contemplation

“Dad and Mom had a lesbian couple living in our chalet for several years in the early 1970s. One was Dad’s secretary, the other Mom’s helper. They shared a room. Fortunately, my parents were hypocritical and acted as if, no matter their official religious absolutes, the higher call was to ignore what the Bible said in favor of what they hoped it meant. Thus, without ever saying it, it seems to me my parents were affirming that the Bible should be read as if Jesus was the only lens through which to see God. The result was that Francis and Edith Schaeffer were nicer than their official theology.”
― Frank Schaeffer, Why I am an Atheist Who Believes in God: How to give love, create beauty and find peace