Thursday, May 10, 2007

Bonhoeffer on confession

Alone in church?
Confess your faults one to another (James 5.16). He who is alone with his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, not withinstanding corporate worship, common prayer, and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final break-through to fellowship does not occur, because, though they have fellowship with one another as believers and as devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undevout, as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (translated by John W. Doberstein), 86.

Twelve points for each link to another photo on this blog of the same location.

5 comments:

Benjamin Ady said...

I totally agree with Bonhoeffer.

That is, what I found out was that confessing my sins to god only didn't accomplish *anything* at all in me. I made zero progress. Confessing them to someone else, on the other hand, was the beginning, and the ongoing aganet, of recovery/change. I think the Roman Catholics have got something a bit more right along these lines, as do the 12 steppers, while the great mass of the evagelical church is largely missing the boat.

Drew said...

great quotation, great pic.

No idea where it is tho :)

byron smith said...

Benjamin - I agree.
Drew - there are few hints around...

Anthony Douglas said...

Is it this?

byron smith said...

Twelve points. There is at least one other correct answer (so far), but usual rules apply - no more for you.