#easter

If man had his way, the plan of redemption would be an endless and bloody conflict. In reality, salvation was bought not by Jesus' fist, but by His nail-pierced hands; not by muscle but by love; not by vengeance but by forgiveness; not by force but by sacrifice. Jesus Christ our Lord surrendered in order that He might win; He destroyed His enemies by dying for them and conquered death by allowing death to conquer Him. ↗

— A.W. Tozer

#jesus-christ #redemption #salvation #death

Righteousness acts never in its own interest, but in the interest of fellow men. ↗

— Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

#eastern-orthodoxy #righteousness #life

We in the West regard the universe as a creation of God; like an invention or a product. After he created the universe, God set himself to oversee it and manage it. We see God as our boss. He created the universe, he is present in it, he manages every part of it, but he is still separate from it. It's like he installed video cameras all over the universe, so he can see everything that happens, and he can cause this or that to happen, but he is not a part of what happens. The Eastern view is very different. To the Hindu, for example, God didn't create the universe, but God became the universe. Then he forgot that he became the universe. Why would God do this? Basically, for entertainment. You create a universe, and that in itself is very exciting. But then what? Should you sit back and watch this universe of yours having all the fun? No, you should have all the fun yourself. To accomplish this, God transformed into the whole universe. God is the Universe, and everything in it. But the universe doesn't know that because that would ruin the suspense. The universe is God's great drama, and God is the stage, the actors, and the audience all at once. The title of this epic drama is "The Great Unknown Outcome." Throw in potent elements like passion, love, hate, good, evil, free will; and who knows what will happen? No one knows, and that is what keeps the universe interesting. But everyone will have a good time. And there is never really any danger, because everyone is really God, and God is really just playing around. ↗

— Warren Sharpe

#mysticism #pandeism #philosophy-of-religion #religion #spirituality

There is a fragrance in the air, a certain passage of a song, an old photograph falling out from the pages of a book, the sound of somebody's voice in the hall that makes your heart leap and fills your eyes with tears. Who can say when or how it will be that something easters up out of the dimness to remind us of a time before we were born and after we will die? ↗

— Frederick Buechner

#dimness #easter #fragrance #photograph #song

But unlike European countries, America has never finished a map of the United States, only the eastern United States is covered and a few spots here and there. ↗

— William Labov

#countries #covered #eastern #european #european countries

It is difficult to violently suppress people in the long run, as the example of the Soviet Union and the Eastern European countries has shown. ↗

— Dalai Lama

#difficult #eastern #european #european countries #example

Passover and Easter are the only Jewish and Christian holidays that move in sync, like the ice skating pairs we saw during the winter Olympics. ↗

— Marvin Olasky

#during #easter #holidays #ice #jewish

However, as the Eastern churches have always maintained, through Christ creation is intended eventually to share in the life of God, the life of divine nature. ↗

— John Polkinghorne

#christ #churches #creation #divine #divine nature

The trouble with the Labour Party leadership and the trade union leadership, they're quite willing to applaud millions on the streets of the Philippines or in Eastern Europe, without understanding the need to also produce millions of people on the streets of Britain. ↗

— Arthur Scargill

#applaud #britain #eastern #eastern europe #europe

I play basketball on Sundays and I'm a very spiritual guy; I read a lot of Eastern philosophy and I meditate. ↗

— Garry Shandling

#eastern #guy #i #lot #meditate