Monday, July 12, 2010

Bonhoeffer, Do I have a faith that motivates martyrs?

I don't know a great deal about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I read his book on discipleship quite some time ago. I know that he was opposed to what Adolf Hitler was doing to his nation, Germany, so much so that he joined a plot to assassinate the Fuhrer. I suppose more than anything I admire the preacher/Theologian because he stood against the compromise of most of the church leaders in his time. He was executed by Hitler's regime shortly before the fall of the Reich. There are two sides to our devotion the Lord. A friend of mine used to call it software and hardware. Getting it right Theologically and exegetically is what he called "hardware," but, he used to remind me, we need software-feeling right in addition to thinking right. Some talk about the difference between head and heart. The New Testament talks about the "splangkhnon," bowels, at least in part, the place where you feel emotion. I read recently about Bonhoeffer, that when he made a trip "to Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem [it] changed everything [for him]. He saw the full-throated gospel of Christ for perhaps the first time in his life. The worship and sermons stunned him. He'd seen the real thing, a Christianity based on wholehearted devotion to Jesus. When he returned to Germany, everyone could see that he was different. The experience deepened his faith quite dramatically." (From a book I need to read by Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy)Lord, may have the real thing, the kind of faith that will motivate others to go out and die for You, if need be.It's STTA

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