One must read the Bible and the newspaper. One must read the Bible so that one understands the newspaper. The newspaper confuses you if you don't read it on the basis of what the Bible has to say about humanity and the future. If you lose sight of that, you will be, as the apostle Paul says, driven back and forth by the winds of opinion.

— Johannes Rau (1931–2006), Politiker

Related Bible passage: EPH.4.14

Topics: The Bible & the Word of God, Doubt & Hard Questions

Johannes Rau

Johannes Rau (1931–2006) war ein deutscher Politiker, langjähriger Ministerpräsident von Nordrhein-Westfalen und von 1999 bis 2004 Bundespräsident der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Geprägt vom rheinischen Protestantismus und der Bekennenden Kirche, verband er sein politisches Handeln unter dem Leitgedanken „Versöhnen statt Spalten“ mit einem offen gelebten christlichen Glauben. Für Bibelleser heute steht er für die Verbindung von christlicher Ethik und politischer Verantwortung, während Kontroversen wie um die Düsseldorfer Flugaffäre die Spannungsfelder eines öffentlichen Spitzenamtes zeigen.

All quotes by Johannes Rau (5)

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The law is divine and holy. Let the law have its glory, but yet no law, be it never so divine and holy, ought to teach me that I am justified, and shall live through it. I grant it may teach me that I ought to love God and my neighbor; also to live in love, soberness, patience, etc., but it ought not to show me how I should be delivered from sin, the devil, death, and hell. Here I must take counsel of the gospel. I must hearken to the gospel, which teaches me, not what I ought to do but what Jesus Christ the Son of God hath done for me: that He suffered and died to deliver me from sin and death. The gospel wills me to receive this, and to believe it. And this is the truth of the gospel. Most necessary it is, therefore, that we should know this article well, teach it unto others, and beat it into their heads continually.
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All quotes · lumen.bible