Highlights of jesus manifesto (the book) - pt. 3

I posted my after-reading summary of Leonard Sweet & Frank Viola's book 'Jesus Manifesto' in a post HERE. Part 1 of my highlights are HERE; post 2 is HERE. This is part 3...

• p. 86 - 'Dunce cap' origin.
• p. 86 - "When truth is encountered as certainty rather than mystery, open spaces of providence and possibility begin to close."
• "Truth is only certain in Jesus; all else is a mystery." (note I wrote in margin)
• p. 87 - "We must know God or perish. But unless we know God as ultimate mystery we do not know God at all." (Oxford scholar G.B. Caird)
• p. 87 - "To the person who walks in the Spirit, paradox, mystery, and uncertainty propel him forward instead of bogging him down. Those who live by faith can live in the presence of mystery and be motivated to rest in God's loving care. The person who walks by the physical senses alone, however, will be tempted to reject mystery - even though it's an essential part of the Christian faith."
• p. 90 - "In vowing to be a disciple of Jesus, your 'vow' is like any other vow of love in all of love's varieties. You pledge your allegiance, not to the vows, but to the person you love. The padlock of wedlock is not the vows; it's the love. The padlock is a 'love-lock.'/ When you vow allegiance to Jesus, you are pledging allegiance to journey together without knowing everything about where you're headed, and without expecting everything to be spelled out in some prenuptial. But you do know with whom you want to travel through life."
• p. 91 - "A religion without mystery must be a religion without God." (Anglican clergyman Jeremy Taylor, 1613-1667)
• p. 92 - "Maybe enough 'battle fatigue' has set in that the body of Christ is finally at the place where it is less interested in fighting those who oppose it and more interested in nurturing the faith it believes in and lives by. Perhaps the time has come for us to focus on the 'real thing.' What do you seek?"
• p. 95 - ***** "This is what we mean when we speak of incarnating Jesus. We're not simply talking about doing the tasks that Jesus would have done when He physically walked in and around Capernaum; or taking up causes He might have taken up if He were still walking planet Earth today. We are talking about living in a unique Christ/you, 'I am' relationship./ That means, for instance, that two different followers of Christ who are both incarnating their living relationship with Christ may be fully in God's will while engaging in causes that may counter one another. For instance, one Christ-follower could be involved in a life of military service while a second Christ-follower could be engaged in aiding the very people the first is fighting..." *****
• p. 96 - "...the question is not 'what would jesus do?' but 'What does Jesus want to do now through me... through us?'"
• p. 97 - "Jesus is God's original thought for humanity."
• p. 100 - "Our problem is this: We have created a narcissistic form of Christianity, in which 'conversion' is less a turning toward Christ than a turning toward success or fame or fortune. Narcissus never had it so good than in best-seller Christianity, which has become self-centeredness wrapped up as 'spirituality,' which has become the latest fashion accessory for the person who has everything..." continues
• p. 100 - "True 'conversion' is directed toward the one to whom we convert, the one to whom we turn. It is a life of 'fulness,' in which the 'fullness' is Christ."
• p. 105 - "The only battering ram that can storm the gates of hell is not the cry of justice, but the name of Jesus."
• p. 105 - *** "Jesus did not come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live."
• p. 106 - "There's a wideness in God's mercy, Like the wideness of the sea; There's a kindness in His justice, Which is more than liberty." (Frederick William Faber)
• p. 108 - "If we start anywhere else but Christ, we lose our way." (continues)
• p. 109 - *****"This reframing of 'the poor' was one of the greatest contributions of Christianity. The pagan world called poor people 'base and shady.' The Christians called them 'sisters and brothers,' and identified them with Christ. The 'needy' and 'afflicted' received more than alms; they also received prayer and affection and relationship. The poor were not a political problem. The poor were 'us,' not 'them.' Care of the poor is a matter of orthodox faith./ The story of redemption is where we begin talking about moral and social issues. Of course, it is one thing to get the meaning of what Jesus said and did; it is another thing to start meaning it. Meaning is meaningless until and unless we start meaning it." *****
• p. 110 - *****"A careful reading of the Scriptures reveals that the kingdom is not something that we bring, or build, or cause, or create. The kingdom is a presence that we enter, a gem-like gift that we receive and treasure, a new creation that engulfs and embraces us. In other words, the kingdom of God is Jesus the Christ, and His righteousness. In seeking Him, 'all these things [are] added' in our lives."***
• p. 111 - "When did the church become part of the prosecution and not the defense?"
• p. 113 - ***"...the 'love of justice' and the 'hunger for justice' betray a misreading of Micah 6:8, where we are to love mercy, do justice, and walk humbly. We have too many people loving justice when they should be loving mercy - and doing justice."***
• p. 116 - "We would be wise to remember that the best we can do is change the world; only Jesus can save the world."
• p. 117 - "The meaning of Christianity does not come from allegiance to principles of justice or complex theological doctrines, but a passionate love for a way of living in the world that revolves around following Jesus, who taught that love is what makes life a success; not wealth or health or anything else. Only love."
• p. 118 - "Too many Christians want to change the world not because they love the world but because they hate the world."
• p. 120 - "If we are going to have a world at peace, we will need more than politics. We will need the Prince of Peace living through a community that embodies His nature."