"Jesus sought to challenge and change Israel's expectations.  He was conceived by the Holy Spirit but out of wedlock.  He was born in Bethlehem but in the humblest of environments.  His arrival was announced by angels but to a bunch of shepherds.  He lived in Egypt as a refugee.  He grew up in an insignificant backwater town called Nazareth.  Jesus did everything he could to enter into the world in a way that communicated that while he was indeed the Messiah, he did not come in power to militarily or politically overthrow their Roman oppressors and establish another earthly kingdom.  But changing those expectations was one of the biggest difficulties that Jesus faced throughout his earthly ministry."

“The doctrine of the imago Dei, that human beings are created in the “image and likeness of God,” is central to Christian life and practice and touches, perhaps even helps to form, every other doctrine of the Christian faith in one way or another.”

"I don’t want to mistake mere opposition for persecution. Nor do I want to harbor a persecution complex born out of my own arrogance, rudeness, stubbornness, or self-righteousness.  The only good I can see in persecution is if it means I am joining Jesus more deeply in his righteousness."

"History and Scripture teaches us that there can be no reconciliation without repentance. There can be no repentance without confession. And there can be no confession without truth."

“To the extent that propaganda is based on current news, it cannot permit time for thought or reflection. A man caught up in the news must remain on the surface of the event; he is carried along in the current, and can at no time take a respite to judge and appreciate; he can never stop to reflect. There is never any awareness -- of himself, of his condition, of his society -- for the man who lives by current events.”