Saturday, June 07, 2008

JESUS CAN PUT THE PANIC IN CHURCHES

What causes most trouble for Christians of all ages is not legalism or lack of faith or theological controversies; it is Jesus Himself, who bestows freedom so openhandedly and dangerously on those who do not know what to do with it. The church always gets panic-stricken for fear of the turmoil that Christ creates when he comes on the scene; and so it takes His freedom under its own management for the protection of the souls entrusted to it, in order to dispense it in homeopathic doses when it seems necessary. The church claims to represent Jesus on earth, but in fact it often supplants him. It must tremble in all its joints when confronted with His portrait. Ecclesiastical traditions and laws have domesticated Jesus, and today all the churches are living off the success of the attempt.

Ernst Kasemann
German Scripture Scholar

1 comment:

preacherman said...

Wonderful post and thoughts for us today.
Thank you so much for sharing these challenging words for us.
God bless you brother and hope you have a fantastic weekend.