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To be good:Obligation vs choice By Bobby
Religion enjoins upon a person the duty to do right things, to do justice, to help the poor, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to practice usury, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to take care of widows and orphans etc. Many atheists also do good things; does that in any way abrogate the value of religion?
If there were no religion, there would not have been Mahatma Gandhi, there would not have been Mother Teresa, there would not have been the charities of Bill Gates and of many others, and there would not have been Helen Keller, and scores of other kind hearted people, and charitable institutions.
Mother Teresa was influenced to doing her charity because of the following words from her religious text: “They also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” Therefore she believed that whatever service she was doing to the sick and the poor people in Bengal she was doing for her God. Will a non-religious person ever do such a service out of his freewill?
Whatever good things that a religious person does, he does it out of his obligation towards his God; he does it with zeal. Synergy keeps him going in spite of that fact that he does not have a penny to help the poor or the needy or the resources to do the thing he attempts at doings. When a religious person does wrong, he has a remorse that he has done wrong to God, which is more binding to him than the law of land usually holds. When a person is doing things out of his religious belief, he does not get tired, he does not feel it as a burden, and he does not look at his watch for his working hours. People of all the religions donate liberally to charity and to the poor during their holy months and special occasion; had it not been for religion would people ever give any money? People pay their taxes with grumble, but don't do so for religion; they give for religion wholeheartedly. They have the belief that whatever the good things they do in this world, they will be rewarded in heaven by their God. The important thing to note here is that, in religion, the obligation is personal and voluntary; no body is coming to arrest us or take us to court if we do not do any charity or other good deeds as envisaged in our religion.
To a non-religious person, the only law he is obliged to, is the law of the land; he feels that whatever he does is right as long as it is within the four boundary of the law of the land, however unethical that doing may be. He has no remorse for having done a wrong thing as long as the law of the land does not catch up with him.
But we cannot also ignore that fact that religion has given many wars, has created hatred in the society, and brought innumerable suffering to humanity. But the problem for all this does not lie in religion. Those who do not understand religion do violence in the name of religion. Ask any person, who is fighting to protect and preserve his religion, whether he has ever read or understood his religion, the answer would be a big ‘no’. If any religion teaches hate, it does not qualify to be a religion; it can at best be termed as a cult.
If there were no religion, there would not have been Mahatma Gandhi, there would not have been Mother Teresa, there would not have been the charities of Bill Gates and of many others, and there would not have been Helen Keller, and scores of other kind hearted people, and charitable institutions.
Mother Teresa was influenced to doing her charity because of the following words from her religious text: “They also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” Therefore she believed that whatever service she was doing to the sick and the poor people in Bengal she was doing for her God. Will a non-religious person ever do such a service out of his freewill?
Whatever good things that a religious person does, he does it out of his obligation towards his God; he does it with zeal. Synergy keeps him going in spite of that fact that he does not have a penny to help the poor or the needy or the resources to do the thing he attempts at doings. When a religious person does wrong, he has a remorse that he has done wrong to God, which is more binding to him than the law of land usually holds. When a person is doing things out of his religious belief, he does not get tired, he does not feel it as a burden, and he does not look at his watch for his working hours. People of all the religions donate liberally to charity and to the poor during their holy months and special occasion; had it not been for religion would people ever give any money? People pay their taxes with grumble, but don't do so for religion; they give for religion wholeheartedly. They have the belief that whatever the good things they do in this world, they will be rewarded in heaven by their God. The important thing to note here is that, in religion, the obligation is personal and voluntary; no body is coming to arrest us or take us to court if we do not do any charity or other good deeds as envisaged in our religion.
To a non-religious person, the only law he is obliged to, is the law of the land; he feels that whatever he does is right as long as it is within the four boundary of the law of the land, however unethical that doing may be. He has no remorse for having done a wrong thing as long as the law of the land does not catch up with him.
But we cannot also ignore that fact that religion has given many wars, has created hatred in the society, and brought innumerable suffering to humanity. But the problem for all this does not lie in religion. Those who do not understand religion do violence in the name of religion. Ask any person, who is fighting to protect and preserve his religion, whether he has ever read or understood his religion, the answer would be a big ‘no’. If any religion teaches hate, it does not qualify to be a religion; it can at best be termed as a cult.
Yes this loud thinking is the fact of life.Our whole life goes over this loop unless mega tranformation occurs.
Certainly a good read to get ya thinking. I think we are born with the knowledge within our hearts. I think we are born good and innocent, and then we soon learn how to get what we want and not thinking so much about what we need. We choose to ignore it cause it can be much more fun to be naughty than nice, as they say! Then when naughty bites back, we go looking for an alternative route? Ah, there I go thinking out loud again!
Definitely worth reading :-)) Thank you for sharing this, Dalubaba :-))))
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