People who treat others as inferior are those who themselves suffer from a sense of inferiority and insecurity. Others are a threat to them because they don’t have a sense of being important to the eternal God. They don’t have the assurance that this God will look after them more than adequately. When we lose sight of our identity in Christ, lesser identifying features, like race, class, caste, and education, become significant. We try to find our identity by acting more significant than others.
— Ajith Fernando (b. 1948), Bibelausleger, Konferenzredner, Buchautor und ehem. Nationalleiter von Youth for Christ
Topics: Meaning & Identity, Humility & Pride, Justice & Commitment
Occasions: For Reflection
Ajith Fernando
Der 1948 geborene sri-lankische Theologe und Autor Ajith Fernando leitete über drei Jahrzehnte Youth for Christ in seinem Heimatland und wirkt international als Bibelausleger und Konferenzredner. Er steht für eine biblisch fundierte Jüngerschaft, dienende Leiterschaft im Widerspruch zu christlichen Starkulten sowie die theologische Thematisierung von Leid und Verzicht in der Nachfolge. Bibellesern vermittelt er eine theologische Perspektive aus dem Globalen Süden, die Schriftauslegung eng mit langjähriger praktischer Basisarbeit im interreligiösen Umfeld verbindet.
All quotes by Ajith Fernando (21)
You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.
Augustine of Hippo
Jesus calls us not to a new religion, but to life.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I am the prodigal son every time I search for unconditional love where it cannot be found.
Henri Nouwen
To love a person means to see them as God meant them to be.
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Inner dignity remains, even when performance capacity and social role decline.
Anselm Grün
There is a God, and I'm not him.
John Mark Comer
God has put eternity into our hearts and filled it with longing.
John Piper
Prayers are tools not for doing or getting, but for being and becoming.
Eugene Peterson