Showing posts with label Brennan Manning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brennan Manning. Show all posts

Friday 19 April 2013

Greatest single cause of atheism





The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is
christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips
and walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle.
That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.
[intro track to War of Ages album Fire from the Tomb]

Popularized by the 1995 dc Talk track “What if I stumble?
Brennan Manning

How I treat a brother or sister from day to day,
how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street,
how I respond to interruptions from people I dislike,
how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life
than the antiabortion sticker on the bumper of my car.
Ragamuffin GospelBrennan Manning


In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive the community of our healing gift.  If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light for others.
[Abba's Child]
Brennan Manning

 
“When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes.
I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged,
I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good,
I feel guilty about not feeling guilty.
I am trusting and suspicious.
I am honest and I still play games.
Aristotle said I am a rational animal;
I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.
Brennan Manning

To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark.
In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God’s grace means.
As Thomas Merton put it,
‘A saint is not someone who is good but who experiences the goodness of God.
Brennan Manning


The gospel of grace nullifies our adulation of televangelists, charismatic superstars, and local church heroes.
It obliterates the two-class citizenship theory operative in many American churches.
For grace proclaims the awesome truth that all is gift.
[The Ragamuffin Gospel]
Brennan Manning


We should be astonished at the goodness of God,
stunned that he should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at his love,
bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.
Ragamuffin GospelBrennan Manning


Do you realize that in a profoundly human way – the God of Jesus loves you?
He loves you beyond worthiness and unworthiness;
beyond fidelity and infidelity.
He loves you in the morning sun and the evening rain without caution, regret, boundary or breaking point.
No matter what’s gone down – He can’t stop loving you!
 Brennan Manning
 



Brennan Manning
Brennan Manning (Photo credit: Jordon)
Last Friday at the age of 79 the author, friar and contemplative Richard Francis Xavier (Brennan) Manning gave his last breath.
He was the man who said Jesus loved the people around him and that his Father was willing to take them all up in His Kingdom if they wanted to come to Him.
In his book "The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled Beat-Up and Burnt Out"  Manning takes aim at those “so-called Christians who disfigure the face of God, mutilate the gospel of grace, and intimidate others through fear.” He finds it unthinkable that the church rejects those who are accepted by Jesus. Jesus loves those whom the Father loves. If Jesus accepts sinners then God accepts sinners – and He does. How can any of us enter the Kingdom except that God accepts us in our sinful state? (Romans 5:8)

Manning_sm
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Grootste oorzaak van atheïsme in de wereld zijn de Christenen

Jaap Marinus haalt denkelijk enkele woorden van Richard Francis Xavier (Brennan) Manning aan die vond dat de christenen de grootste oorzaak van atheïsme in de wereld van vandaag  zijn en wij kunnen hem geen ongelijk geven.

Als men ziet hoe de wereld reilt en zeilt valt het niet te verwonderen dat niet gelovigen vreemd opkijken naar mensen die beweren dat er dit of dat bestaat en dat die of diegene dit en dat gezegd heeft, maar er niets mee aanvangen. Lachwekkend wordt her wanneer er zulke gelovigen zijn die dan nog spreken over een hel waar mensen voor eeuwig zouden vervloekt worden en oneindige martelingen zouden moeten ondergaan, dat terwijl langs één kant zij al hun straf zouden gekregen hebben met de dood. Maar dat ter zijde gelaten, zijn diegenen die in zulke een martelplaats geloven dan toch niet bang dat zij er in zouden terecht komen. Dat blijkt namelijk uit velen hun levensstijl, welk in weinig overeen komt met de leer van diegene die zij beweren te volgen, namelijk Jezus Christus.

Brennan Manning vindt dat de grootste oorzaak van atheïsme in de wereld vandaag ligt aan het feit dat christenen die Jezus erkennen met hun lippen, naar buiten gaan en Hem ontkennen met hun levensstijl. Dat, is wat een ongelovige wereld, simpelweg ongelooflijk vindt. De man met een vlotte spraak die vond dat Redding er kwam door door genade door geloof. Hij geloofde dat er onder het ontelbaar aantal mensen die zich voor de troon en voor het Lam hij de hoer van de Kit-Kat ranch in Carson City Nevada zou zien, de vrouw die met tranen in de ogen hem vertelde dat ze geen ander werk kon vinden om haar twee-jarige zoon te ondersteunen. 

Afgelopen vrijdag gaf op 79-jarige leeftijd de auteur, frater en contemplatieve Richard Francis Xavier (Brennan) Manning zijn laatste adem.

Hij was de man die zei dat Jezus hield van de mensen om hem heen en dat zijn vader bereid was om ze allemaal op te nemen in Zijn Koninkrijk als ze naar Hem
wilden komen.


In zijn boek
"The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled Beat-Up and Burnt Out" streeft  Manning er naar die "zogenaamde christenen die het aangezicht van God ontsieren, het evangelie van genade verminken, en anderen intimideren door angst." op hun plaats te zetten. Hij vindt het ondenkbaar dat de kerk hen verwerpt die door Jezus worden geaccepteerd. Jezus houdt van degenen die de Vader liefheeft. Als Jezus zondaars aanvaardt dan accepteert God zondaars - en Hij doet dat wel degelijk. Hoe kan iemand van ons het Koninkrijk binnentreden, behalve wanneer God ons in onze zondige staat aanvaardt ? (Romeinen 5:08)

De kloof tussen vrome woorden vanaf de kansel op zondagochtend en het gekonkel dat bij VatiLeaks aan het licht kwam, is natuurlijk wel heel groot. Dat de paus mede daarom de RKK wil hervormen is een logische stap. Maar in hoeverre is dit door te trekken naar jouw en mijn leven? Paus Franciscus zei: “Als priesters en gelovigen niet consistent zijn in wat ze zeggen en wat ze doen, tussen hun woorden en hun daden, dan ondermijnt dat de geloofwaardigheid van de kerk. Men moet in onze acties zien wat men uit onze monden hoort.” (bron)
Lees verder over dat atheïsme en de Christen houding in:


Christenen zijn de grootste oorzaak van atheïsme

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  • Brennan Manning and the #Ragamuffin Gospel
  • Death of a RagamuffinThe book ‘The Ragamuffin Gospel’ changed the way I viewed God in a lot of ways…
    Now I can’t say I agree with everything Brennan has to say, however I can honestly say that Ragamuffin Gospel gave me the direction I needed, the tools I needed and the breath of life into the Gospel that I needed, and it all happened just when I was getting tired of the same old Church routines.
  • Remembering Brennan ManningHis books reveal just how indescribably much we are loved and pursued by Jesus -  who loves each of us as we are and not as we (or anyone else thinks) we should be.  Of course, that love, which pursues us with such "relentless tenderness", never leaves us where we are - it draws us toward Jesus.  Drawing people toward Jesus was the life's work of Brennan Manning. 
  • A Post About Grace
    Brennan was a monk for a time. He spent time among the poor, hauling water pails with donkeys; he spent time in prison, just so he could sympathize. He struggled with alcoholism throughout his life. He wrote about (and believed in) the matchless grace of God, running out to meet him constantly.




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Monday 18 February 2013

Grace and beloved by God





“My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ
and I have done nothing to earn or deserve it. ..
Define yourself radically as one beloved by God.
This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion. ..
How glorious the splendour of a human heart that trusts that it is loved!”
“To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark.
In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God's grace means.”
“There is a beautiful transparency to honest disciples who never wear a false face
and do not pretend to be anything but who they are.”
all from Brennan Manning


English: Jesus Christ - detail from Deesis mos...
English: Jesus Christ - detail from Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


 God has given His beloved son to the world and was willing to accept the offer by His son. In case Jehovah God had not accepted the action of Christ Jesus as a buy out for humanity, the ransom of Jesus Christ would have been to no use for us. Only because God the Father did want to accept the death of His son Jeshua (Jesus Christ) and was willing to take His son up in heaven as a mediator between Him and man, we are offered the Grace of Saving and have the chance to be redeemed.
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Sunday 1 November 2009

Always set a place in your life for the unexpected guest


"Always set a place in your life for the unexpected guest."
- Unknown

When God turns away from us because of selfishness, it is not rejection.
Rather, it is an invitation to follow Him
to a place we would rather not go.
- Brennan Manning

"Let brotherly love continue.
Do not forget to entertain strangers,
for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels."
Hebrews 13:1-2

Even though I sometimes may be busy in my life,
let me make more time available for unexpected guests.
Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Voorzie steeds een plek in je leven voor de onverwachte gast
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2013 update

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