The God of the Cross
"I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the cross…

In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was im-mune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully be-fore the statute of Buddha - - his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agony of the world.

But each time, after awhile, I have had to turn away. And in imagination, I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross -- nails through his hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness.

That is the God for me!"

- John Stott