What you present as the gospel will determine what you present as discipleship. If you present as the gospel what is essentially a theory of the atonement, and you say, If you accept this theory of the atonement, your sins are forgiven, and when you die you will be received into heaven, there is no basis for discipleship.

History has brought us to the point where the Christian message is thought to be essential concerned only with how to deal with sin: with wrongdoing or wrong-being and its effects. Life, our actual existence, is not included in what is now presented as the heart of the Christian message, or it is included only marginally.

It's very difficult to be right about something without hurting someone with it.

Almost everything worth doing in human life is very difficult in its early stages and the good we are aiming at is never available at first, to strengthen us when we seem to need it most.

When we pass through what we call death, we do not loose the world. Indeed, we see it for the first time as it really is.

Two ways of thinking: Human kingdom and human cleverness or God's kingdom and God's cleverness

God may not guide us in an obvious way because he wants us to make decisions based on faith and character.