I just turned 84; I am a Roman
Catholic and I have gone through many decades of attending church services –
several versions of non-Catholic beliefs – so I know personally that directly
or indirectly, to love God is not easy!
“Do you love God?” Now then, I would
like to turn this very challenging question into a more practical one: “Do you
love Good?” My mortal assumption is that, whatever godly belief you profess, in
the end, if you love Good, you love God. There is no other way around that!
Now then, let us learn from others
how to be good (all quotes from AZ
Quotes, azquotes.com):
“The mediocre
teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires.” – William
Arthur Ward, American motivational speaker. Excellent teacher advice!
"Be good,
sweet maid, and let who will be clever." ~ Charles
Kingsley, Quaker. I say, “Doing good
is enough!”
"To be good,
and to do good, is all we have to do." ~ John
Adams, a founding father of the United States. I take that to mean to do
good in whatever you are doing. And to do good to others directly or
indirectly.
“This is the world. Half of it is lit by the
sun and the other half remains in darkness. It is the same with life. There is good
and bad and it's our duty to remain in the light, be good.” – Anita Nair, Indian novelist
“But spirituality,
it seems to me, when answering the question, "Why should I be good? Why
should I care for others? … Because that is the best, most fulfilling way to
live. Whether or not you receive an award or a payment is incidental. You are
good and kind and loving because it is right, even though it is difficult
sometimes. It fulfills the highest law, to treat others as we wish to be
treated.” – Philip Gulley, Quaker
Here’s some warning!
“If you punish a
child for being naughty, and reward him for being good, he will do right merely
for the sake of the reward; and when he goes out into the world and finds that
goodness is not always rewarded, nor wickedness always punished, he will grow into
a man who only thinks about how he may get on in the world, and does right or
wrong according as he finds advantage to himself.” – Immanuel Kant, German philosopher and Enlightenment thinker
“Most of us want
to live in harmony and peace and be good to others. Right now, however, the
world is in a very turbulent time, and our leadership has gone crazy.” – Hany Abu-Assad, Palestinian film
director
Whoever & wherever you are, someone needs to lead
to be good! You do not love God if you are not good enough.@517
