“As long as I remain imperfect and refractory, neither obeying God by practising the commandments nor becoming perfect in spiritual knowledge, Christ from my point of view also appears imperfect and refractory because of me. For I diminish and cripple Him by not growing in spirit with Him, since I am 'the body of Christ and one of its members' (I Cor. 12:27).” LongBodyChristianSpiritualSpiritChristPerfectViewsGrowingBecomingMembersPoint Of ViewOrthodoxImperfectCommandmentsDiminishObeyingCripplesBody Of ChristSpiritual KnowledgeObeying GodBecoming Perfect Author:Maximus the Confessor
“Just as in a physical body the operation of one member contributes to the good of the whole body, so it is in a spiritual body such as the Church. And since all the faithful are one body, the good of one member is communicated to another; everyone members, as the Apostle says, of one another [Eph 4:25]. For that reason, among the points of faith handed down by the Apostles, is that there is a community of goods in the Church, and this is expressed in the words Communion of Saints.” ReasonWholeBodySpiritualCommunityChurchMembersSaintFaithfulOperationsGoodsCommunionApostlesPhysical Body Author:Thomas Aquinas
“We deeply need the humility to know ourselves as the dependent members of a great community of life, and this can indeed be one of the spiritual benefits of a wilderness experience. ... [T]o know the wilderness is to know a profound humility, to recognize one's littleness, to sense dependence and interdependence, indebtedness and responsibility.” KnowsNeedsSpiritualCommunityResponsibilityHumilityMembersBenefitsProfoundDependentWildernessDependenceInterdependenceIndebtedness Author:Howard Zahniser
“The clerical system of church management is exceedingly popular, but the whole thought is foreign to Scripture. In a church all the members are active. He [God] appointed some to take oversight of the work so that it might be carried on efficiently. It was never His thought that the majority of the believers should devote themselves exclusively to secular affairs and leave church matters to a group of spiritual specialists.” ShouldMatterWholeMightSpiritualChurchGroupsMembersManagementMajorityAffairActiveBelieverScriptureSecularSpecialistsOversight Author:Watchman Nee
“Spiritual power is generated within temple walls, and sent out to bless the world ... Every home penetrated by the temple spirit enlightens, cheers, and comforts every member of the household. The peace we covet is found in such homes. Indeed, when temples are on earth, the whole world shares measurably in the issuing light; when absent, the hearts of men become heavy, as if they said, with the people of Enoch's day, 'Zion is fled'" (See Moses 7:69).” PeopleIfsMenWorldHeartSaidWholeHomeLightEarthSpiritualSpiritFoundShareWallComfortMembersHeavyWhole WorldTemplesBlessCheerHouseholdThey SaidAbsentEnlighteningMosesSpiritual PowerZion Author:John Andreas Widtsoe
“Every great religion on the planet, regardless of what spiritual or cultural tradition from which it is that it emerges, announces and declares that spiritual mastery is an open possibility for every member of the human race. If that is not true, then the highest promise of God is a lie.” IfsHumansSpiritualLyingRacePossibilityPlanetsPromiseMembersHighestTraditionHuman RaceMastery Author:Neale Donald Walsch
“President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., a modern prophet, said over and over again that the Lord would never let one of his Saints who had been faithful in the payment of tithes and offerings go without the necessities of life” (Marion G. Romney, “The Blessings of an Honest Tithe,” New Era, Jan.-Feb. 1982, 45). Members who faithfully pay tithing are promised spiritual blessings as well. “I think it is not well known in the Church that payment of tithing has very little to do with money. Tithing has to do with faith” ThinkingWellsLittlesSaidSpiritualPresidentChurchPayKnownLordModernHonestBlessingMembersSaintErasFaithfulProphetOfferingWell KnownPaymentRomneyNew EraTitheTithingSpiritual BlessingsNot Well Known Author:A. Theodore Tuttle
“And there is also the paradox that the dominating culture imbues the Indian past with great meaning and significance; it is valued more because it is seen as part of the past. And it is the romantic past, not the present, that holds meaning and spiritual significance for so many members of the dominating culture. It has seemed so strange to me that the larger culture, with its own absence of spirit and lack of attachment for the land, respects these very things about Indian traditions, without adopting those respected ways themselves.” WayPastSpiritualSpiritCultureLandStrangeMembersTraditionAbsenceIndianSignificanceAttachmentParadoxAdoptingHold MeDominating Author:Linda Hogan
“This new large-scale spiritual awakening is occurring primarily not within the confines of the established religions, but outside of those structures. Some of it, however, is also happening within the existing churches and religious institutions wherever the members of those congregations do not identify with rigid and exclusive belief systems whose unconscious purpose is to foster a sense of separation on which the egoic mind structures depend for their survival.” MindSpiritualPurposeBeliefChurchReligiousDependsMembersSurvivalHappeningsInstitutionsStructureAwakeningSeparationScalesUnconsciousExclusiveSpiritual AwakeningBelief SystemsCongregationLarge Scale Author:Eckhart Tolle
“In the civil society, the individual is recognized and accepted as more than an abstract statistic or faceless member of some group; rather, he is a unique, spiritual being with a soul and a conscience.” SoulSpiritualIndividualGroupsMembersUniqueConscienceAcceptedAbstractCivil SocietySpiritual BeingsFaceless Author:Mark Levin
“Our spiritual immutarity never shows up more than in our lack of praying, be it alone or in a church prayer meeting. Let 20% of the chior members fail to turn up for rehearsal and the chior master is offended. Let 20% of the church members turn up for a prayer meeting, and the pastor is elated.” ShowsPastSpiritualTurnsChurchPrayerFailingMastersPrayingMembersMeetingsPastorOffendedRehearsalChurch MembersPrayer Meeting Author:Leonard Ravenhill
“I describe myself as a "spiritual sampler," raised Catholic, been Baptist, Methodist, and a Unity member.” SpiritualMembersCatholicUnityRaisedBaptistsMethodistsDescribe Myself Author:Julianne Malveaux