#log

I hold the hands of people I never touch. I provide comfort to people I never embrace. I watch people walk into brick walls, the same ones over and over again, and I coax them to turn around and try to walk in a different direction. People rarely see me gladly. As a rule, I catch the residue of their despair. I see people who are broken, and people who only think they are broken. I see people who have had their faces rubbed in their failures. I see weak people wanting anesthesia and strong people who wonder what they have done to make such an enemy of fate. I am often the final pit stop people take before they crawl across the finish line that is marked: I give up. Some people beg me to help. Some people dare me to help. Sometimes the beggars and the dare-ers look the same. Absolutely the same. I'm supposed to know how to tell them apart. Some people who visit me need scar tissue to cover their wounds. Some people who visit me need their wounds opened further, explored for signs of infection and contamination. I make those calls, too. Some days I'm invigorated by it all. Some days I'm numbed. Always, I'm humbled by the role of helper. And, occasionally, I'm ambushed. ~ Stephen White "Critical Conditions ↗

— Stephen White

#life #psychology #traumatic-experiences #understanding #wisdom

The theology of the cross is not a cerebral thing; it profoundly affects our Christian experience and existence, making demands upon our whole lives and turning theology into something which controls not just our thoughts, but the very way in which we experience the world around and taste the blessing and fellowship of God himself. pp.48-49 ↗

— Carl R. Trueman

#theology #experience

Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable. ↗

— H. L. Mencken

#briefly #defined #faith #illogical #improbable

Where both reason and experience fall short, there occurs a vacuum that can be filled by faith. ↗

— Jostein Gaarder

#experience

You weren't able to talk sense into him?" Well, we kind of tried to kill each other in a duel to the death." I see. You tried the diplomatic approach. ↗

— Rick Riordan

#hermes #percy-jackson #death

The majority of my patients consisted not of believers but of those who had lost their faith. ↗

— C.G. Jung

#despair #faith #jung #psychology #faith

Indeed, a quick glance around this broken world makes it painfully obvious that we don't need more arguments on behalf of God; we need more people who live as if they are in covenant with Unconditional Love, which is our best definition of God. (p. 21) ↗

— Robin R. Meyers

#faith #love #theology #unconditional-love #faith

Humour is, in fact, a prelude to faith; and laughter is the beginning of prayer … Laughter is swallowed up in prayer and humour is fulfilled by faith. ↗

— Reinhold Niebuhr

#faith

The lust of the flesh directs these desires [of personal union], however, to satisfaction of the body, often at the cost of a real and full communion of persons. ↗

— John Paul II

#human-sexuality #theology #theology-of-the-body #faith

Postulates are based on assumption and adhered to by faith. Nothing in the Universe can shake them. ↗

— Isaac Asimov

#faith