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The limitation of the ethical phenomenon to its place and time does not imply its rejection but, on the contrary, its validation. One does not use canons to shoot sparrows.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Deal Gratitude Greatness Hard Life Ordinary Receive Rich
Not to speak is to speak.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Deep One Liner Talk
My past life is abundantly full of God’s mercy, and, above all sin, stands the forgiving love of the Crucified.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Forgiveness God Love Myself Past Religious Sin
If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all. How can I possibly serve another person in unfeigned humility if I seriously regard his sinfulness as worse than my own?
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Appearance Myself Person Possible Recognition Serious Sin Worst
If you believe, take the first step, it leads to Jesus Christ. If you don’t believe, take the first step all the same, for you are bidden to take it.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Believe Hope Religious Yourself
The early morning belongs to the Church of the risen Christ. At the break of light it remembers the morning on which death and sin lay prostrate in defeat and new life and salvation were given to mankind.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Break Death Defeat Human Life Light Morning Remember Rise Sin
Not hero worship, but intimacy with Christ.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

God Worship
Any honours that come our way are only stolen from him to whom alone they really belong, the Lord who sent us.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Alone Himself Ourselves
Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Discipline God Religious
Being free means being free for the other, because the other has bound me to him. Only in relationship with the other am I free.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Freedom Himself Myself Relationship
We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Learning Light People Suffering
Jesus is the only significance. Beside Jesus nothing has any significance. He alone matters.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Alone Himself Religion Worth
A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes – and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Freedom Hope Oneself Photograph Prison Wait
One act of obedience is worth a hundred sermons.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Act Worth
We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Forget Gift Ordinary Prayer Thankful
A pastor should never complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

God Man People
Things do exist that are worth standing up for without compromise. To me it seems that peace and social justice are such things, as is Christ himself.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Existence Himself Justice Myself Peace Worth
I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Hate Himself Myself Prayer
Who can really be faithful in great things if he has not learned to be faithful in the things of daily life?
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Faith Greatness Learning Life Loyalty
The truth of the matter is that the whole world has already been turned upside down by the work of Jesus Christ.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Religious Truth World
Fruit is always the miraculous, the created; it is never the result of willing, but always a growth. The fruit of the Spirit is a gift of God, and only He can produce it. They who bear it know as little about it as the tree knows of its fruit. They know only the power of Him on whom their life depends.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Creation Gift God Growth Himself Miracle Power Result Tree Willing
Strict exercise of self-control is an essential feature of the Christian’s life.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Control Exercise Life
We are torn out of our own existence and set down in the midst of the holy history of God on earth. There God dealt with us, and there he still deals with us, our needs and our sins, in judgment and grace.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Existence God History Judgement Need Sin
Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Darkness Eyes God Leaving Light Ourselves
In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Achievement Easy Gratitude Hard Help Important Life Rich
The fact that we do not speak it but sing it only expresses the fact that our spoken words are inadequate to express what we want to say, that the burden of our song goes far beyond all human words.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Beyond Expression Human Ourselves Sing Talk
If my sinfulness appears to me in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Appearance Myself Recognition Sin

The limitation of the ethical phenomenon to its place and time does not imply its rejection but, on the contrary, its validation. One does not use canons to shoot sparrows.

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The limitation of the ethical phenomenon to its place and time does not imply its rejection but, on the contrary, its validation. One does not use canons to shoot sparrows.

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Popular Authors

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