Grace is not about finishing last or first; it is about not couting. We receive grace as a gift from God, not as something we toil to earn... -- p.61, Chapter Five
Forgiveness is achingly difficult, and long after you've forgiven, the wound -- [the] dastardly deed -- lives on in memory. --p. 84, Chapter Seven
A cease-fire between human beings depends upon a cease-fire with God. --p. 93, Chapter Seven
Some Christians say, " Yes, we should treat gays with compassion but at the same time we must give them a message of judgment." ...I began to understand that every gay person has heard the message of jugement from the church -- again and again, nothing but judgment. --p. 166, Chapter Thirteen
"As a gay man, I've found it easier for me to get sex on the streets than to get a hug in church." --p. 168, Chapter Thirteen
Grace dies when it becomes us versus them. --p. 172, Chapter Thirteen
"...a man who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness." --C.S. Lewis, p.180, Chapter Fourteen
The Pharisees had much in common with those whom the press might call Bible-belt fundamentalits today. They devoted their lives to followign God, gave away an exact tithe, obeyed every minute law in the Torah, and sent out missionaries to gain new converts...they held firm to traditional values. Rarely involved in sexual sin or vilent crime, the Pharisess made model citizens. --p. 196, Chapter Fifteen
...the proof of spiritual maturity is not how "pure" you are but awareness of your impurity. -- p.198, Chapter Fifteen
Whatever Moses had said, the Pharisees could improve on. The third commandment,"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord," became a ban against using the Lord's name at all, and thus to this day devout Jews write "G-d" instead of "God," and never speak the word. Just to be on the safe side the scholars interpreted the law "Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk" as forbidding the mixture of meat and dairy products, and for this reason kosher apartments, hospitals, and nursing homes still come equipped with two kitchens, one for meat and one for dairy. -- p.198-199, Chapter Fifteen
"The United Nations reports that over ten thousand people starve to death each day, and most of you don't give a shit. However, what is even more tragic is that most of you are more concerned about the fact that I just said a bad word than you are about the fact that ten thousand people are going to die today." --Tony Campolo, p.201, Chapter Fifteen
"The finer the net is woven, the more numerous are the holes." --Hans Kung, p.206, Chapter Fifteen
Having sworn allegience to the 2,414 canons in the Roman Code of Canon Law, one day he realized his energy was going toward either keeping or getting around those canons, rather than accomplishing the work of the gospel. -- p.206-207, Chapter Fifteen
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst/ Are full of passionate intensity." --W.B. Yeats, p. 224
The church has allowed itself to get so swept up in political issues that it plays by the rules of power, which are rules of ungrace. In no other arena is the church at great risk of losing its calling than in the public square. --p.229, Chapter Seventeen
C. S. Lewis observed that almost all crimes of Christian history have come about when religion is confused with politics. --p.233, Chapter Seventeen
"Attempts to perfect Chrisitan societies in this world, whether conducted by popes or revolutionaries, have tended to degenerate into red terrors." --Paul Johnson, p.234, Chapter Seventeen
"The project of bringing heaven down to earth always results in bringing hell up from below." --Lesslie Newbigin, p.234, Chapter Seventeen
Jesus did not let any institution interfere with his love for individuals. -- p.242, Chapter Eighteen
If my activism, however well-motivated, drives out love, then I have misunderstood Jesus' gospel. I am stuck with law, not the gospel of grace. -- p.242, Chapter Eighteen
"Think of the impact if the first think the homosexual community thought of when someone mentioned evangelicals was that they were the people who lovingly ran to the AIDS shelters and tenderly cared for [AIDS patients] down to the last gasp. A little consistent wholesome modeling and costly servanthood are worth millions of true words harshly spoken." -- Ron Sider, p.265, Chapter Nineteen
"Power without love is reckless and abusive. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice." -- Martin Luther King Jr., p.265, Chapter Nineteen
As C. S. Lewis has noted, those most conscious of another world have made the most effective Christians in this one. -- p.269, Chapter Nineteen
"Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will say to them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers." --Matthew 7, p.272, Chapter Twenty
...I realize that imperfection is the prerequisite for grace. Light only gets in through the cracks. --p. 273, Chapter Twenty
Grace teaches us that God loves us because of who God is, not because of who we are. Categories of worthiness do not apply. -- p.280, Chapter Twenty