Videocast interview with U2s Bono by Bill Hybels of Willowcreek from the 2006 Leadership Summit.
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Some highlights:
-“The most rewarding part of this past year? Selfishly, it is to wake up with a melody in my head and heart. But beyond my music it is the work we are doing with the ONE campaign.”
-“I never had a problem with Christ…it was Christians that gave me problems…they seemed completely disinterested culturally and politically…they seemed very strange to me.”
-“The world works on the principle of Karma; what you put out comes back to you…but then enters the story of grace in the person of Christ and it turned the world on it’s head.”
-“Duality is the mark of really great art and it’s what is missing in Christian art. It’s missing the tension that is missing…the attempt to wrestle truth to the ground is often absent.”
-“Much of gospel music seems fake to me…pretending that everything is o.k…I relate more to the blues…that sounds like the song of David to me.”
-“How in a world of plenty can people be left to starve? We think, ‘it’s just the way of the world’. And if it is the ‘way of the world’ we must overthrow the ‘way of the world.'”
“How in a world of plenty can people be left to starve? We think, ‘it’s just the way of the world’. And if it is the ‘way of the world’ we must overthrow the ‘way of the world.'”
-“Redemption is an economic term.”
-“What else are you going to do with thing called ‘celebrity’…it’s absolutely ridiculous that it is valued more than being a teacher or more than being a mother…but it is currency and I decided that I was going to spend mine.”
-“Great ideas are like great melodies…they are memorable and a moral force whose time has come…and there is movement behind them.”
-“The reason the church has been slow to respond is that the church has historically always been behind the curve: civil rights, apartheid…the church is afraid of politics. The second reason the church has been so slow is less palatable..the church has been very judgmental about the AIDS virus…it believes that it is about people living irresponsibly. Only 6% of evangelicals felt like they were to act in response to the AIDS epidemic. But the Christ will not let the church walk away from the AIDS emergency…it is like a car crash, we have to act. AIDS is the leprosy of our age. But then something tragic happened…the church woke up and began to act…and they ruined it for me…I couldn’t hate the church anymore.”
-“Love your neighbor is not advice…it’s a command. Should an accident of longitude and latitude really decide whether you live or whether you die? There are 2003 verses in scripture about the poor, second only to personal salvation. Jesus speaks of judgment only once and that is the passage in Matthew where we are asked: ‘who clothed the naked?’ and ‘who fed the poor?’ and ‘who visited those in prison?’ That defines whether you are a part of the Kingdom or not.”
-“If the Christian church can lead this movement it can eradicate malaria in 10 years…and then AIDS.”
-“Stop asking God to bless what you are doing…find out what God is doing – it is already blessed!”
“Stop asking God to bless what you are doing…find out what God is doing – it is already blessed!”
-“This generation could end stupid poverty…we really can fix that in our generation.”
-“‘Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven’ is a phrase that grabs me…in every detail of our lives we need to seek that.”
-“The world is more malleable than you think.”
-Bill has convinced me of the importance of the church as the moral force and practical infrastructure for solving the worlds problems. Open the doors of your church and make them an AIDS clinic. Your charity is important, but your passion for justice is needed. I’m asking for your voice and for you to give permission to fix these problems that are fixable. It’s not a burden, it’s an opportunity…it’s an adventure!”
The church has the ability to exert a huge influence on politics, and it has to accept this responsibility by supporting the initiatives the government makes in promoting the public good. Only then will the church return to being the centre people’s lives.
The church has the ability to exert a huge influence on politics, and it has to accept this responsibility by supporting the initiatives the government makes in promoting the public good. Only then will the church return to being the centre people’s lives.
“Jesus speaks of judgment only once and that is the passage in Matthew where we are asked: ?who clothed the naked??”
I thought Bono had some great stuff to say, but making this kind of extreme statement doesn’t help his credibility. Off hand I can think of four or five other instances where Jesus spoke of the judgment, including the preceding parable of the ten virgins. The passage to which Bono refers is probably Jesus most detailed description of the judgment, but it is not all Jesus said on the topic.
“Jesus speaks of judgment only once and that is the passage in Matthew where we are asked: ?who clothed the naked??”
I thought Bono had some great stuff to say, but making this kind of extreme statement doesn’t help his credibility. Off hand I can think of four or five other instances where Jesus spoke of the judgment, including the preceding parable of the ten virgins. The passage to which Bono refers is probably Jesus most detailed description of the judgment, but it is not all Jesus said on the topic.
It is good to hear the spiritual side of Bono. He seems to quite a bit of scripture. It is refreshing to hear a celebrity that is not a God-Basher.
It is good to hear the spiritual side of Bono. He seems to quite a bit of scripture. It is refreshing to hear a celebrity that is not a God-Basher.
Bono is doing exactly what a lot of people should be doing instead of spending time talking about the afterlife. We need to concentrate on helping people here and now.
Bono is doing exactly what a lot of people should be doing instead of spending time talking about the afterlife. We need to concentrate on helping people here and now.
If we have more people like Bono this world will be better place for living. As he says give your food to your brother, to the poor. So all the people are the same in front of god.
If we have more people like Bono this world will be better place for living. As he says give your food to your brother, to the poor. So all the people are the same in front of god.