Quotes about Salvation

Grace is shockingly personal. As Henri Nouwen points out, 'God rejoices. Not because the problems of the world have been solved, not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end, nor because thousands of people have been converted and are now praising him for his goodness. No, God rejoices because one of his children who was lost has been found.

In my lifelong study of the Bible I have looked for an overarching theme, a summary statement of what the whole sprawling book is about. I have settled on this: "God gets his family back." From the first book to the last the Bible tells of wayward children and the tortuous lengths to which God will go to bring them home. Indeed, the entire biblical drama ends with a huge family reunion in the book of Revelation.

Jesus, who did not sin, also felt pain.

Could it be that Christians, eager to point out how good we are, neglect the basic fact that the gospel sounds like good news only to bad people?

According to Jesus, what I think about him and how I respond will determine my destiny for all eternity.

Dependence, sorrow, repentance, a longing to change—these are the gates to God's kingdom.

Some of us seem so anxious about avoiding hell that we forget to celebrate our journey toward heaven.

by denying forgiveness to others, we are in effect determining them unworthy of God's forgiveness, and thus so are we.

Suffering offers a general message of warning to all humanity that something is wrong with this planet, and that we need radical outside intervention

Grace comes from outside, as a gift and not an achievement.

I can never figure out how to have a friendly conversation with someone when my main point is that they are going to Hell.

Somehow we need to reclaim the "goodnewsness" of the gospel