We say, and we say openly, and while ye torture us, mangled and gory we cry out, "We worship God through Christ!" Believe Him a man: it is through Him and in Him that God willeth Himself to be known and worshipped.
Interpretation
This quote expresses the belief that true knowledge and worship of God come through the understanding of Christ's humanity.
Tertullian emphasizes the importance of recognizing Christ as both divine and human, arguing that through Christ, humanity can fully comprehend and connect with God. He asserts that even in the face of suffering and torture, this understanding allows the faithful to proclaim their devotion to God, highlighting the profound relationship between Christ, God, and worship.
In practice
A sermon discussing the importance of faith during times of trial.
Whatever is born is the work of God. So whatever is plastered on, is the devil's work.... How unworthy of the Christian name it is to wear a fictitious face - you on whom simplicity in every form is enjoined! You, to whom lying with the tongue is not lawful, are lying in appearance.
Nature soaks every evil with either fear or shame.
Examine then, and see if He be not the dispenser of kingdoms, who is Lord at once of the world which is ruled, and of man himself who rules; if He have not ordained the changes of dynasties, with their appointed seasons, who was before all time, and made the world a body of times; if the rise and the fall of states are not the work of Him, under whose sovereignty the human race once existed without states at all.
For it is really better for us not to know a thing, because [God] has not revealed it to us, than to know it according to man’s wisdom, because he has been bold enough to assume it.
The first reaction to truth is hatred.
Against Him those women sin who torment their skin with potions, stain their cheeks with rouge and extend the line of their eyes with black coloring. Doubtless they are dissatisfied with God's plastic skill. In their own persons they convict and censure the Artificer of all things.
I begin to see an object when I cease to understand it.
Nothing records the effects of a sad life so graphically as the human body.
Raw hatred took its time making an outpost of its rage and prepared for me a savage crown with rusty, bloodstained spikes. It wasn't pride that made me keep my heart at a distance from such terror, nor did I waste on revenge or the pursuit of power the forces that came from my selfish griefs or my accumulated joys. It was something else-my helplessness.
Be calm. God awaits you at the door.
In other words Luke's story is historically impossible and internally inconsistent. He lied to fudge the fulfillment of Micah's prophesy and to provide a villain to play off Jesus in his fictitious drama._x000D_ _x000D_ Matter flows from place to place and momentarily comes together to be you. Some people find that thought disturbing. I find the reality thrilling.
I almost think that hope is for the soul what breathing is for the living organism. Where hope is lacking the soul dries up and withers.
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