The Ragamuffin Gospel

I have often wanted to read a book by Brennan Manning.  I have had the book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, for many years but it has not made it to my "reading list."  This past week, I started reading it. It offers a good perspective on the gospel.  Here are some quotes from the first three chapters of the book:

The institutional church has become a wounder of the healers rather than a healer of the wounded.

All that is good is ours not by right but by the sheer bounty of a gracious God.

Grace is the active expression of his love.

Our experience of God's unconditional love must be shaped by the Scriptures.

Love is a far better stimulus than threat or pressure. . .In terms of spiritual growth the faith-conviction that God accepts me as I am is a tremendous help to become better.

For experiencing God's love in Jesus Christ means experiencing that one has been unreservedly accepted, approved, and infinitely loved, that one can and should accept oneself and one's neighbor. Salvation is joy in God which expresses itself in joy in and with one's neighbor.

We miss Jesus' point entirely when we use His world as weapons against others.