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Criss Jami

Criss Jami Quotes

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Famous Criss Jami Quotes

“God is our final say in who and what's negative and who and what's positive in our lives. It is best not to have this so over-simplified as the illusioned superstitionists have it; an infinite being's tests may not always be so flowery, and the things we may see as positive are in many cases simply desires of our sinful nature. We are to protect our spirit without falling into the narcissistic mistake of trying to protect our selfish emotions, which the latter, in turn, is more than unlikely to bring peace and happiness. But rather guilt and emptiness. When one walks around constantly, in his mind, attempting to separate positive versus negative people, he is already controlled by something even worse than those he calls the 'negative people', and that is before he spots it soon enough to avoid it as he hypocritically tries to avoid them.”

GodSpiritualJudgmentPositivityNegativityDiscernmentSuperstitionApologeticsHypocritical Illusion
Book:Killosophy
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“In my experiences, the common critic of Christianity, when he thinks of Christianity, imagines a sort of elementary, Sunday School blunder of elements: fiery Hell, an angry God, 'try not to sin', 'be good so that you can go to Heaven', absurd miracles, hyper-fundamentalist tales, religious hypocrites, and Jesus telling people not to judge. There is no horse more dead than such. I maintain that understanding Christianity and the Bible is quite like painting a piece of art. Let a toddler paint a puppy; then let an adult who is a long-time painter paint the very same puppy. They are both paintings of the puppy, but one is far more detailed, rational, realistic, and believable than the other. One is distorted and comical; the other is proportional and lively. One can write off Theology if he so pleases, but he might not be very wise in using the toddler's painting when it comes time to identify the real puppy or when trying to confront actual men of the Faith.”

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Book:Healology
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“Excuses will become self-refuting. No man who does not believe that Jesus is the perfect, sinless Son of God can, in his desperation and love for sin, reasonably use and misconstrue Jesus' words that unless a Christian is perfect, then that Christian cannot judge sin. Otherwise this non-believer is unconsciously entertaining a belief that Jesus, unlike any other man to ever live, was indeed perfect and sinless in His judgments and therefore that Christian is supposed to be like Him.”

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Book:Killosophy
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“It is ironic that constructive thinkers are often misunderstood as negative, as they differ from those longing for positivity: constructive thinkers have been conditioned to find positive in negative rather than suffering from the negative in negative. Or as Paul the Apostle wrote, 'I have learned the secret to contentment in any and every circumstance.' He was right. Indeed the Lord is our strength, especially under the commandment to love one another. Otherwise we are nothing and easily thrown about by both our own and other people's mind control in a painful, mental, physical desperation to run from every thought, every thing, and every one not seeming so positive or immediately beneficial to us.”

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Book:Killosophy
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“There was once a very, very proud man who sought, with all of his might, to beat God the Almighty in something...anything. He tried everything imaginable, but always, he failed miserably. His efforts continued to no avail, until one day he heard a voice, and it said, 'God is an awful sinner...' Desperate to win at something, he chose to listen to the voice. He chose sin. He out-sinned God with flying colors, and laughed until his heart stopped beating. Ultimately, his victory against God claimed his life; because sin leads only to Death.”

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Author:Criss Jami
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“We are not as some people like to assume nowadays 'just being real' by embracing passively the sinful, fallen versions of ourselves. Quite the opposite really: our true selves were, from the beginning, intended to resemble the example which was then set by Christ Jesus; hence God wants to restore us to how we would have been had original sin never once befell.”

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Book:Healology
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“I wouldn't think that God is quite as much concerned with whether or not one actually sins as He is with whether or not in one's heart one genuinely wants to turn from sin; and therefore, continues working passionately with Him in doing so. It is not some pleasure of God's, as some might imagine, to stand around critiquing, arms crossed, holding a whip. I suppose that when someone weeps over their sins, He extends His hands; He wants them to lift their head and embrace Him and the mercy He's willing to show. But when someone is proud of their sins, He delivers His justice swiftly and righteously. Sin does not intimidate God - although He takes it very seriously - it does no real harm to Him whatsoever, only to the sinner and to other people: and He loves people.”

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Book:Healology
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“The Christian does not avoid sin to achieve salvation, but rather salvation brings him to a desire not to sin. The closer that one's spirit is synchronized with the holy knowledge of God, the more he comprehends how and why sin is destructive to himself and others in each and every circumstance. The dwindling desire for sin is a premature gift of Heaven - where there will be no sin, where all will, too, possess that full and complete wisdom; all will have perfect reasons not to sin. In this way, free will might still exist, but the shared wisdom of God will simply outwit all desires, impulses, and needs to sin.”

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Book:Killosophy
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“Men often want to be known as gods, or, at the very least, to be their own gods; and indeed, they most definitely act as though they are gods...Which is to say: exigent, sure gods of (mass) confusion. In a political sense the liberal man is like one shouting over the voice of God thus making it difficult to hear God; the conservative man is like one standing in the way of God, making it difficult to see God.”

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Book:Healology
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“Some of the simplest of truths are also some of the most difficult of truths, but such is Christianity: 'If it's not about Christ, it's not about life.”

LoveLifeGodTruthChristianDeathPurposeReligionFaithSpiritualityJesusPeaceChristChristianityGraceLivingForgivenessMercyDifficultySalvationSimplicityLifestyleTheologyRedemptionMeaningComplexityMeaning Of LifeOrthodoxParadoxPeace Of MindTruth Of LifeLiving LifeUnderstandComprehensionAccuracyEverythingLiving Life To The FullestSinsTheismApologeticsChristendomComplicationsSuch Is LifeFundamentalComprehension AccuracyFundamental TruthDifficulty Of Conversion
Book:Healology
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“Of course, if one does not fully trust the promise of God's Kingdom, he will have a hard time taking risks and making sacrifices in this life. A gospel centered around the temporal self - fleeting happiness, earthly success, vain prosperity, things such as these - is the primary ambition of the half-hearted Christian; the one who somewhat believes he is subject to an eternal death; the one who just might believe in men before God, who morbidly fears seeming less than anyone else. The man of this school feels deeply that he has but one life to live, that this must be his only chance, and therefore must have it all in his favor - from glory to comfort to riches - and have it right this instant. He is but hinting that he is overcome because he insists always that he must overcome, that his judgment comes now and by the persons around him. The point is, however, in this sense, that by grace the Christian is indeed free, but only for as long as he wants to be free - the practicality of true freedom: that of God which offers not so much freedom to be like the world as it does freedom from the pressures of having to be like the world. For Divine Law is based solely on love and freedom; whereas secular law, pressure and imitation.”

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Book:Healology
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“That looming feeling of being unloved is but a lie from the demons, from the legions in the deepest pit of Hell, specifically designed to hurt, harm and therefore harden a man's heart. But still, suppositionally, if the entire earth really did despise him for whatever reason (or lack thereof), or rather ignored him or showed a complete and utter indifference toward him, the love which comes from Above reins more than enough to lift him up from even the deepest and darkest of mires. 'For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.' And thus, one must never, ever forget God's grace, and always, always remember God's love.”

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Author:Criss Jami
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“The creation of man is evidence for the love of God, the preservation of man is evidence for the patience of God, and Christ is evidence for the forgiveness of God. It is when we are wrapped up in our own little peeves that we begin to displace His benevolence with malevolence.”

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Book:Killosophy
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“I do not recall our Lord ever saying one could not be 'cool'. It is only a problem if one esteems 'coolness' above that which is righteous and true, which is, when we give it its way, really what many of us do. 'Coolness' is too transient to be of any real and meaningful, lasting significance, and it is often in great conflict with one being one's most honest, most vulnerable self. That, and in reality, some of the coolest people are actually those who least concern themselves with being cool anyway, those who make 'trying to be cool' less evident.”

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Book:Healology
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