Our hearts are so often captivated by paltry God-replacements that matter to us more than the true God. When we start to see this, it is the beginning of change and the pathway to freedom.

America was never officially a Christian nation, since neither Jesus Christ nor the Bible are mentioned in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. But there's no denying the influence Christianity has had on our country.

I think it's an okay thing to express yourself.

Everything I write has to be connected to my life. One of the things that always comes up in my writing is the search for freedom, especially in women.

When we walk onto that stage I'm not feeling like I'm ruled by any other band.

I never saw a man who looked With such a wistful eye Upon that little tent of blue Which prisoners call the sky

Learn the rule like a pro so you can break them like an artist.

The intention of God is that we should each become the kind of person whom he can set free in his universe, empowered to do what we want to do. Just as we desire and intend this, so far as possible, for our children and others we love, so God desires and intends it for his children. But character, the inner directedness of the self, must develop to the point where that is possible.

The "Western" segment of the church today lives in a bubble of historical illusion about the meaning of discipleship and the gospel. We are dominated by the essentially Enlightenment values that rule American culture: pursuit of happiness, unrestricted freedom of choice, disdain of authority.

Dogma is what you have to believe, whether you believe it or not. And law is what you must do, whether it is good for you or not.

Let go of the past. Let go of the future. Let go of the present. Proceed to the opposite shore with a free mind, leaving behind all conditioned things.

The chains of military despotism, once fastened upon a nation, ages might pass away before they could be shaken off.