Tony Campolo Quotes
Those issues are biblical issues: to care for the sick, to feed the hungry, to stand up for the oppressed. I contend that if the evangelical community became more biblical, everything would change.
I don't know how your theology works, but if Jesus has a choice between stained glass windows and feeding starving kids in Haiti, I have a feeling he'd choose the starving kids in Haiti.
Jesus never says to the poor: ‘come find the church’, but he says to those of us in the church: ‘go into the world and find the poor, hungry, homeless, imprisoned.
After-school tutoring programs, care for the elderly, shelters for the homeless, disaster relief work, and a variety of other services would all benefit from government funding.
Relegating women to second-class citizenship was abolished when Jesus died on the cross.
Prior to ROE V. WADE, abortions were common even though they were illegal. I don't think making them illegal again is going to solve the problem.
When you were born, you cried and everybody else was happy. The only question that matters is this - when you die, will you be happy when everybody else is crying?
Let us preach Christ, let us be faithful to proclaiming the Gospel, but let's leave judgment in the hands of God.
But I think it's up to a local congregation to determine whether or not a marriage should be blessed of God. And it shouldn't be up to the government.
Your past is important but it is not nearly as important to your present as the way you see your future.
I am saying that there is no salvation apart from Jesus; that’s my evangelical mindset. However, I am not convinced that Jesus only lives in Christians
Even if there were no heaven and there were no hell, would you still follow Jesus? Would you follow him for the life, joy and fulfilment he gives you right now?
Jesus is the only Savior, but not everybody who is saved by Him is aware that He is the one who is doing the saving.
Of the 22 industrialized nations of the world, we're dead last in per capita giving to poor people.
It is hard to say what the future holds, but this is probable - it won't be just like the past.
I think it goes back to the fact that the evangelical community often does not have a biblical vision of God.
Our call is to be God's agents, to rescue not only the human race but the whole of creation.
Most Evangelicals claim to be politically non-partisan, and say they only identify with the Republican Party because the Republicans are committed to 'family values.
Artists are the best theologians. They feel things that are true before theologians can jargonize them into obscurity.
In baptism, new Christians become part of a body of fellow believers who are called to spiritually encourage one another and hold one another responsible for consistent Christian living.
Rituals keep us from forgetting what must not be forgotten and keep us rooted in a past from which we must not be disconnected.
When leading evangelicals say terrible things about Islam, evil things about Islam, terrible things about Muhammad, they ought to be ashamed of themselves.
From the beginning, there have been some religious leaders who greeted the funding of faith-based social services by government with ambivalence.
Most of us are tiptoeing through life so we can reach death safely. We should be praying, "If I should wake before I die. . . ." Life can get away from you.
In short, I'm not sure that the abortion problem can be solved by legislation. I think it can only be solved through moral persuasion.
But isn't it time for Christians to admit that we should reject bargains if they are gained by the exploitation of the poorest of the poor in developing countries?
The Gospel is about grace and we all know that grace is about us receiving from God blessings that we don't deserve.
And we've got to ask ourselves some very serious questions as to whether or not certain religious leaders, in terms of raising money - I hate to bring this up - are pushing hot buttons.
My theology is such that the God who loves Israel and will not forsake Israel - which is why I want to see Israel have a secure nation with secure borders - also loves the Palestinians.
If America is too arrogant, too prideful to repent, it's not the kind of country that God wants it to be.
I think there are other issues that the Democrats could use to rally evangelicals. There are a lot of us, for instance, who believe that the Bible calls us to be environmentally responsible.
I teach at Eastern University, which is highly committed to doing work among the poor and the oppressed peoples of the world. We have a special commitment to the city.
The real problem that I think those of us who are evangelicals and Democrats have to face up to is that the political right controls the religious media.
I contend that, in spite of all that might be said about Watergate, Richard Nixon was good for the poor people of America.
I contend that it's impossible to read the Sermon on the Mount and not come out against capital punishment.
I think the real place where most evangelicals have trouble with the Democratic Party is on the issue of abortion.
The reason why I buy into the Democratic Party more than the Republican Party is because there are over 2,000 verses of Scripture that deal with responding to the needs of the poor.
Perhaps we would do well to listen to the likes of Rabbi Harold Kushner, who contends that God is not really as powerful as we have claimed.
In America, evangelical churches have often been bastions of conservatism, providing support for the status quo.
It has been said that people never do evil with more enthusiasm than when they do it in the name of God.
If marriage really is a sacred institution, then why is the government controlling it, especially in a nation that affirms separation of church and state?