The greatest cause of atheism is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny him with their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.

Brennan Manning

After two thousand years of church history, why is our world's population less than one-third Christian? Why are the personalities of many pious Christians so opaque? Why did Friedrich Nietzsche reproach Christians for "not looking like they are saved"? Why do we so seldom hear in our day what the old lawyer said of John Vianney, "An extraordinary thing happened to me today: I saw Christ in a man"? Why don't our contagious joy, enthusiasm and gratitude infect others with a longing for Christ? Why are the fire and spirit of Peter and Paul so conspicuously absent from our pallid existence?

Perhaps because so few of us have undertaken the journey of faith across the chasm between knowledge and experience. We prefer to read the map rather than visit the place.

Brennan Manning from his book The Signature of Jesus

"My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it."
— Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel)

"In living out our union with Jesus one day at a time, the most decisive issue is believing.  In contrast to the domesticated, feel-good Jesus of TV evangelism, who is committed to our financial prosperity, the Christ of John's gospel who has made His home in us invites us to walk with Him daily in humble service even unto death."

From The Furious Longing of God by Brennan Manning

The church and the Bible are not substitutes for God; they are means through which we make conscious contact with Jesus Christ. They are the place of encounter with the Compassionate One, who reveals himself in sundry ways and diverse temperaments. The sinfulness and vulnerability of the disciples are no stumbling block, because "(his) power is at its best in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).

Brennan Manning

Compassion

"What would the church be like if we erred from an excess of compassion rather than from a stingy and legalistic lack of it?"

Brennan Manning

God's love

My dad sent us Brennan Manning's book called A Glimpse of Jesus and it's pretty strong.

Here's a quote from Jesuit Bernard Bush found in the first chapter:

"It takes a profound conversion to accept the belief that God is tender and loves us just as we are, not in spite of our sins and faults, but with them. God does not condone or saction evil, but he does not withhold his love because there is evil in us."