Reddit reviews The Cost of Discipleship

Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (usually published in English as The Cost of Discipleship) set me on a path to completely reexamine what Christian faith is, and what it should mean in my life. The first couple of chapters about what he calls "cheap grace" are absolutely brilliant, and should be required reading for all Christians.

The Cost of Discipleship

Dietrich Bonhoeffer - The Cost of Discipleship

EDIT: Just saw that someone else already said this. I won't change mine though because it's a great book.

This. Also, if you want a kick in the pants (re: laziness), pick up a copy of Bonhoeffer's Cost of Discipleship.

The easiest way to get Christianity is to read the Bible. But to supplement that, I would encourage you to read books by these two German authors: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Jurgen Moltmann

Bonhoeffer was a prominent leader of the confessing church (the church that resisted Hitler) and was a prominent member of the German resistance and a part of the Valkyrie plot. If you want to know more about him and his life, Eric Metaxas wrote an excellent Biography about him. Bonhoeffer's most famous works are "Life Together" about living a life in Christian community, and "The Cost of Discipleship" which is about Grace and how we must not live in a place of cheap Grace. Bonhoeffer was executed a t Flossenburg concentration camp a few months before VE day, and there are some nice memorials to him there (about 1.5 hours east of Nurnberg).

Jurgen Moltmann was drafted into Hitler's army in like 1944 and was taken prisoner. He found God in a Scottish POW camp. Moltmann writes a lot about Hope and spends a lot of time exploring what Christ's sacrifices mean to believers. Some of his most famous works are "The Crucified God", "Theology of Hope", "Trinity and the Kingdom" and "The Way of Jesus Christ." Moltmann also comments on more social issues which arose in the post-war era and has a more social theology, which adds a unique depth to his writing.

In case you want to read up more on your question, you may be interested in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s struggle with the same thing. Give Ethics or The Cost of Discipleship a try. TLDR; he was a pastor in the end who decided it was biblical to conspire against Hitler and it cost him his life. Really smart, well-reasoned man who had a biblical basis for what he wrote. Found myself challenged by his books.

Star Trek Collection, a watch and this book which brings you in at about $72 :)

First and foremost, read books that will nourish your soul. If you are not being fed by the Bible and other books, your soul can shrivel and you'll be of no help to anyone.

Get The Pastor: A Memoir and The Contemplative Pastor by Eugene Peterson. This guy can flat out write. I'd also second the Keller votes and put Francis Chan on the list, especially The Forgotten God. Also, the last one I'll put is The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Hardcore stuff there.

Any of Bonhoeffer's works would be good. His Cost of Discipleship is excellent.

If you're up for some listening, Philip Cary's Luther: Law, Gospel, and Reformation lecture series is an excellent introduction to Lutheran thought and practice. Every once in a while it's on sale, and well worth picking up.

People aren't going to be perfect, ever. We're called to be in community, and it's even made mention of the fact that when we gather in Christ's name, He is there with us. Do you not see the irony in judging "98%" of Christians as judgmental, unloving, and mean?

You're always going to have people you don't get along with. You're always going to encounter expectations that are unmet in any relationship; particularly when you're holding them up to the standard Christ has given us. It's your responsibility, as a Christian, to love these people anyways. Love them, even though their love may seem conditional. Serve them, even though their service may seem disingenuous. Worship with them, even though you think their worship is an act.

This is a matter of fact in Christian life and fellowship. It's something that we all have to work on if we're going to successfully live together as communities for the Kingdom of God. Withdrawing into seclusion isn't a very practical option, and certainly doesn't have a whole lot of precedent for success in our religion's history. We were intended to live, love, learn, and serve with each other; withdrawing only serves to further separate yourself from the life God created you to have.

I will definitely be praying for you, but I would also recommend a couple books by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (if you're so inclined):

• Life Together
  
• The Cost of Discipleship

A Christian's faith in God is not of their own doing, it's a gift from God. One must be obedient before one can have faith. Some chapters of this book helped me to understand this concept.

I would highly suggest The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer Its an awesome book. Aside from the Bible its one of two books I like best.

I recommend a book called "The Cost of Discipleship" by Deitrich Bonheoffer. It's theology is first rate, and it will bring you to that certain and undeniable and inescapable "edge" of Jesus' call, where the decisive step is taken, which is not a work but a simple act of obedience at the outer limit of human freedom. The choice is still your own however, if you want to take on Jesus' yoke and be joined to Him in fellowship, or not. If you read it carefully, then you will come into the understanding and comprehension that's evading you, or that you've been evading perhaps even because of what Bonheoffer argues, very effectively, is a "cheap grace" prevalent in modern contemporary Christendom.

It puts forward a powerful argument that every "Christian" ought to be made aware of, so that they will understand in no uncertain terms the defense that they've unwittingly put up against having an authentic experience of being in fellowship with Jesus as a domain of true life and all possibility.

The arguments that we put up in the back of our mind to avoid obedience to His call are most absurd and pathetic, so be forewarned!

What i've discerned from it is that there's a very compassionate and uncompromising nature to what Jesus is asking at the threshold where worlds collide, which is only gracious on His part, but that it also contains a certain stalwart mirth and charm which refuses to budge from His center of joy and happiness that requires true faith in Him to be appreciated. He's a real charmer that Jesus, but his reason and logic is indomitable.

There's a new argument here that I've not encountered anywhere else that might even be sufficient to cause a prior atheist to courageously drop all his prior conceptions and be the first out of the boat to take Jesus' hand of friendship and love.

> So why did God not make us strong?


Like the children song goes, “They are weak while He is strong.”


God is making us strong and resistant to sin through our relationship with Him; this is the cost of discipleship. This concept is detailed in the book The Cost of Discipleship by German/Lutheran theologist Deitrich Bonhoeffer. The concept is centered on an exposition of the Sermon on the Mount, in which Bonhoeffer spells out what he believes it means to follow Christ.



The antidote is Christ’s blood. God heaped the sins of the world on Jesus and His death and resurrection essentially cured sin and death. So to inoculate ourselves we receive the body and blood of Christ (aka sacraments.)


Someone who constantly returns to their sin is like a dog that returns to it’s vomit to repeat it’s folly. But a disciple of Christ is a student. A student fails but learns from failure; learns to walk with Christ who corrects them. A student is set on a path of sanctification. Sanctification is the spiritual growth that follows justification. God works sanctification only through the means of grace. Through the Holy Spirit's work faith is increased daily, love strengthened, and the image of God renewed. By walking in the faith, through experience we learn to love without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.

I found this a good primer on discipleship.

https://www.amazon.com/Cost-Discipleship-Dietrich-Bonhoeffer/dp/0684815001?SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-d-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0684815001

You're getting a lot of pushback here. I don't want to stumble into an argument here, but I would point you to Bonhoeffer's modern classic The Cost of Discipleship, which touches on this topic.