Christ is the kind of person who is not ashamed of sinners - in fact, he even puts them in his family tree! Now if the Lord does that here, so ought we to despise no one… but put ourselves right in the middle of the fight for sinners and help them.
(Martin Luther)
The early Christians did not say in dismay, 'Look what the world has come to,' but in delight, 'Look what has come to the world.'
(Carl F.H.Henry)
There is no way to have a real relationship without becoming vulnerable to hurt. Christmas tells us that God became breakable and fragile. God became someone we could hurt. Why? To get us back … . No other religion - whether secularism, Greco-Roman paganism, Eastern religion, Judaism, or Islam - believes God became breakable or suffered or had a body.
(Tim Keller)
I think a defining question for a Christian is: Who was Christ? And I don't think you're let off easily by saying a great thinker or a great philosopher, because actually he went around saying he was the Messiah. That's why he was crucified. He was crucified because he said he was the Son of God. So, he either, in my view, was the Son of God, or he was … nuts. Forget rock 'n roll messianic complexes, this is like Charlie Manson type delirium. And, I find it hard to accept that a whole millions and millions of lives, half the earth, for two thousand years have been touched, have felt their lives touched and inspired by some nutter.
(Bono, U2)
