Bonhoeffer's Creed

I believe that God can and will generate good out of everything, even out of the worst evil. For that, he needs people who allow that everything that happens fits into a pattern for good.

I believe that God will give us in each state of emergency as much power of resistance as we need. But he will not give in advance, so that we do not rely on ourselves but on him alone. Through such faith all anxiety concerning the future should be overcome.

I believe that even our mistakes and failings are not in vain, and that it is not more difficult for God to cope with these as with our assumed good deeds.

I believe that God is not a timeless fate, but that he waits for and responds to honest prayers and responsible action.

"Bonhoeffer wrote this creed shortly before his execution by the Gestapo, which took place twenty-three days before Germany’s surrender. Death, said Bonhoeffer, is the supreme festival on the road to freedom. If he’s wrong, all is lost. If he’s right, it’s just begun."

Philip Yancey, The Question That Never Goes Away: What is God up to in a world of such tragedy and pain? (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2013), 135-136.