December 13

Faith is only faith when your life’s actions agree with it and in no way contradict it.

1

What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you tells them, “Go in peace. Be warmed and filled;” yet you didn’t give them the things the body needs, what good is it? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. Yes, a man will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

— James 2:14–18, 26

2

He who begins by loving Christianity more than Truth, will proceed by loving his sect or church better than Christianity, and end in loving himself better than all.

— Coleridge

3

In essence, there is only one way to worship God: to do your duty and to act in accordance with the laws of reason.

— Lichtenberg

4

Religious exercises performed for worldly glory or for a superficial appearance of piety are worthless and arise from the lowest needs of the soul. Repentance and self-torture or the torture of others stem from false teachings. Repentance for the body is chastity. Repentance for speech is to always speak the truth, with kindness. Repentance for thought is to master yourself, to purify your soul and to be disposed towards the good.

— The Mahabharata

5

Act during the day in such a way that at night your dreams will be peaceful, and in your youth in such a way that you may have tranquility in old age.

— Hindu saying

6

The one whose faith is weak cannot inspire faith in others.

— Laozi

7

Anything which makes religion its second object, makes religion no object. God will put up with a great many things in the human heart, but there is one thing He will not put up with in it—a second place. He who offers God a second place, offers Him no place.

— John Ruskin

8

A human being cannot comprehend his ultimate purpose or the purpose of the universe from the standpoint a worker carrying materials to a building site, for he can grasp neither the form nor the final purpose of the building that is being constructed. But a human being can know, and does know, that he is participating in the creation of something that is rational, beautiful and necessary, both for him and for the universe. That is what faith is.

Trust neither your own nor other people’s words, trust only your own and other people’s deeds.