Jana Wrenn’s Reviews > On Asking God Why: And Other Reflections on Trusting God in a Twisted World > Status Update

“‘I have to do what’s right for me,’ they whine, as though selfishness may be destructive for one man and constructive for another”

Analysis not only exonerates us of full responsibility for bad behavior but even lends dignity. Sin…is highly undignified. We dignify it by calling it something else. Trauma, hurts, "syndromes," and the whole pattern of ordinary human reaction to them are respectable. We would far rather discuss processes and symptoms than make the radical turnaround that means repentance. It is nicer to be soothed than summoned“

“We have insulated ourselves… from having to watch others suffer by putting them where somebody else will do the watching… responsibility for others we’d rather delegate to institutions, including the government, which are supposed to make it their business to handle it.”

“God‘s purpose for us is holiness—his own holiness which we are to share— the sole route to that end is discipline… diminishments being the only way we can finally be enlarged, that is, conformed in the image of Christ.”

“Writing is almost entirely a matter of self-discipline.”