If you ask why God ordained the fall of man and the sinful state into which he would go, the answer is that God ordained sin so that we would know Him in the fullness of His revelation of Himself. If God had not ordained sin, we would know Him only as the Creator; because God has ordained sin we can know Him as the Redeemer.
— Don Kistler (b. 1949), Geistlicher, Verleger und Autor
Topics: Suffering & the Question of God, Grace & Redemption, God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit
Occasions: For Reflection
Don Kistler
Don Kistler (* 1949) ist ein US-amerikanischer reformierter Geistlicher, Autor und Verleger, der durch die Gründung von Verlagen wie Soli Deo Gloria Publications und The Northampton Press bekannt wurde. Theologisch vertritt er klassische reformatorische Grundsätze und widmete sein Lebenswerk vor allem der sprachlichen Erschliessung und Neuauflage puritanischer Schriften des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts. Für heutige Bibelleser bietet sein publizistisches Wirken einen systematischen Zugang zu historischer puritanischer Seelsorge und Schriftauslegung.
In our own woundedness, we can become sources of life for others.
Henri Nouwen
Ultimately mourning means facing what wounds us in the presence of One who can heal.
Henri Nouwen
C.S. Lewis
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become.
Henri Nouwen
He has chosen not to heal me, but to hold me. The more intense the pain, the closer His embrace.
Joni Eareckson Tada
Etty Hillesum
God writes straight even on crooked lines.
Paul Claudel
God lets us walk no path that he himself has not walked, and on which he does not go ahead of us.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer