Friday, November 20, 2009

Ellul on what it means to live...

"That men should be alive, instead of being obsessed with action - it is at this point that means can be put in their right place. But to do this evidently means a complete break with all the tendencies of contemporary thought. What, however, does it really mean 'to be alive?' ...above all it is a fact of spiritual life. To be alive means the total situation of man as he is confronted by God [or whatever the ultimately reality may be]; this is precisely what our world wants to forget... In a civilization which has lost the meaning of life, the most useful thing a Christian can do is live - and life, understood from the point of view of faith, has an extraordinary explosive force. We are not aware of it, because we only believe in 'efficiency,' and life is not efficient."

(Jacques Ellul - The Presence of the Kingdom)

1 comment:

Roy said...

interesting words from Ellul.