Brian D. McLaren Professions : Pastor Born : 1956 Browse All Authors Top 58 quotes by Brian D. McLaren A lot of arguments happen among religious and non religious people about the question of who's going to hell and who's going to heaven and uh, a lot of times Christians get into this argument by saying 'we have the only way to heaven.' And uh, people often ask me what do I think is the way to heaven. I have a problem when they ask me this question because it assumes that the primary purpose of Jesus' coming and the primary message of Jesus was a message about how to get to heaven. Brian D. McLaren religious christian jesus Scripture is something God had ‘let be,’ and so it is at once God’s creation and the creation of the dozens of people and communities and cultures who produced it. Brian D. McLaren gods-creation community people Tony [Campolo] and I might disagree on the details, but I think we are both trying to find an alternative to both traditional Universalism and the narrow, exclusivist understanding of hell [that unless you explicitly accept and follow Jesus, you are excluded from eternal life with God and destined for hell]. Brian D. McLaren understanding jesus thinking I was relaxing in my parents' swimming pool with my brother, Peter. I asked him how the engineering business was going, and he reciprocated: 'How's the ministry world going?' 'Okay,' I said, 'except that a couple of weeks ago I realized that I don't know why Jesus had to die.' Then Peter, without skipping a beat, without even a moment's hesitation, said, 'Well, neither did Jesus.' Brian D. McLaren swimming couple jesus I love writers who are insightful enough to be cynical but choose not to be. Brian D. McLaren cynical insightful enough If your goal is to produce firefighters and rescue workers, you have to produce people willing to enter burning buildings. Brian D. McLaren firefighter goal people The cross is almost a distraction and false advertisement for God. Brian D. McLaren advertisements distraction crosses So we must realize this: the suicidal framing story that dominates our world today has no power except the power we give it by believing it. Similarly, believing an alternative and transforming framing story may turn out to be the most radical thing any of us can ever do. Brian D. McLaren suicidal our-world believe That in itself is an act of peacemaking, because we're seeking to align our wills with God's will, our dreams with God's dream. Brian D. McLaren peacemaking seeking dream In the tradition of Julian of Norwich and St. Teresa of Avila and all the other mystics, we can learn to render ourselves vulnerable to the "favors of God" - those indescribable experiences that mock our dualisms and so saturate our imagination with abundance that they transcend our ability to convey joy and wonder. In the tradition of St. John of the Cross, we can learn to survive and derive benefits from the soul's dark night. Brian D. McLaren imagination dark night Our message and methodology have changed, do change, and must change if we are faithful to the ongoing and unchanging mission of Jesus Christ. Brian D. McLaren faithful ongoing jesus Through its appropriation of "texts of terror" and especially through the application of those texts to the Jews, the Christian religion created the conditions for the oppression of Palestinians. Brian D. McLaren oppression palestinian christian We should consider the possibility that many, and perhaps even all of Jesus' hell-fire or end-of-the-universe statements refer not to postmortem [after death] judgment but to the very historic consequences of rejecting his kingdom message of reconciliation and peacemaking. The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 67-70 seems to many people to fulfill much of what we have traditionally understood as hell. Brian D. McLaren fire people jesus You know what, the thing that breaks my heart is that there's no way I can answer it without hurting someone on either side. Brian D. McLaren hurt answers heart I tried to read The Dubliners, when I went to Dublin a couple of years ago. I think I only go thurogh the first story. Gnomon is such an interesting word. So many different uses for a word nooone has heard of, or uses these days. I googled some pictures of sundials to check that it was the tall shadow casting bit (it is) and then discovered that Saint Sulpice in Paris has a rather fascinating large gnomon- which I shall endeavour to see on my next visit to that fair city. Thanks for such a great word, which I shall try to remember. Brian D. McLaren couple years thinking About the book of Job: If it were today, God might be asking "How does DNA carry traits? How are instincts passed on in animals? How does consciousness arise in the human body and brain, and what is consciousness? What is dark matter? How did the big bang happen? Why does the speed of light appear to be absolute? Is cold fusion possible? How do you program a TV remote control? Brian D. McLaren fun jobs book Accumulating orthodoxy makes it harder year-by-year to be a Christian than it was in Jesus' day. Brian D. McLaren christian years jesus This is why I believe that many of our current eschatologies, intoxicated by dubious interpretations of John’s Apocalypse are not only ignorant and wrong, but dangerous and immoral. Brian D. McLaren dubious ignorant believe Similar Authors Brian Houston pastor Andy Stanley pastor Alistair Begg pastor Bob Sorge pastor Bob Enyart pastor Bob Coy pastor All Authors
