Re: Following Jesus - sayings and aphorisms by Kierkegaard

We congratulate ourselves on having explained away all asceticism from 
Christianity, showing how far Christianity is from the foolishness of such

things as monastic flagellation. But wait a little! Something is always 
left out, and that is the Pattern: the Lord of Lords in the form of a poor

servant without a place to lay his head, the self-denial exemplified by 
Christ’s example that Christianity requires. The one who remains in the 
world to suffer for the truth is always in the right over against the 
hermit’s flight from the world. But the sociable, happy-go-lucky person
who 
remains in the world to enjoy himself in the completely ordinary human 
sense has absolutely no right to castigate the monastic. Let us not
deceive 
ourselves. 

Bruderhof wrote:

> Imitation of Jesus! I do not mean the kind of imitation consisting of 
> fasting and flagellation, and so on. No, imitation means following the
> example, being willing to witness for the truth and against untruth,
> and to do so without seeking any support whatsoever from any external
> power, neither attaching oneself to any power nor forming a party. No
> wonder we humans are unable to get involved with this imitation.
>