This is an open-comment theology blog where I will post various theological musings, mostly in sermon or essay form, for others to read and comment on. If what I say here interests you, you may want to check out some of my books. Feel free to criticize, to critique, to comment, but keep comments to the point and respectful. Many of these posts have been published elsewhere, but I wanted them collected and made available to a wider audience.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Quotable
"In consequence of these perils the need of security is a
basic need of human life. I remember how wonderful was the experience
of my boyhood when we ran to the barn, warned by ominous clouds of an
approaching storm, and then heard the wind and the rain beating outside
while safe and dry under the eaves of the haymow. The experience had
actual religious overtones. The safety and shelter of the haymow were
somehow symbolic of all security against dark and tempestuous powers.
The words of the Psalmist, committed to memory in confirmation class,
achieved a sudden and vivid relevance: "Thou shalt not be afraid for the
terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the
pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that
wasteth at noonday. There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any
plague come nigh thy dwelling." This word of the psalm is, incidentally,
a perfect illustration of all the illusions which may arise from an
ultimate religious faith. When faith in an ultimate security is couched
in symbolic expressions which suggest protection from all immediate
perils, it is easy to be tempted to the illusion that the child of God
will be accorded special protection from the capricious forces of the
natural world or special immunity from the vindictive passions of angry
men. Any such faith is bound to suffer disillusionment. Nor does it
deserve moral respect."- Reinhold Niebuhr
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