Each Major Religion Claims That it Has a Purpose~To Reach Out & Help Its Fellow

Interesting...

I was mostly thinking of the homebound elderly. At least you acceed to a need. Shalom~Adoniah

You must be very young...The world is getting worse not better and will continue to get worse. It is more because our moral code is deteriorating than anything else. I agree...What are the right answers? Mine are different than your apparently. To me all human life is precious.

Interesting thoughts for sure. I can understand where you're coming from - I see a lot of bitterness, judgment, and selfish condescension in people of many faiths... including my own. I would suggest to you that some people - with certain beliefs or habits - may not be as capable of being helped. Some people are like a bucket without any bottom - you can throw in some help - which temporarily satisfies them - but that help falls right through... hehe... because they shouldn't legally be entrusted to themselves :). I know with my circumstances that I have a limited ability to reach out to those outside my family because I spend so much time nourishing them (or making sure that they become buckets with a bottom). With this limited time and resources should I throw 'help' into the bottomless bucket or should I direct people to 'grow' a bottom to their bucket so that they can help themselves. I suggest that for a strong majority of people who claim they are in need of help - the best way to help them is to help them change their way of life and make them more self-sufficient. I also suggest that this is why in some instances people of faith share their faith first. So there are many people who want help during times of poverty, suffering, and sorrow. But fewer people who want real help - the help to change themselves in such away as to prevent such poverty, suffering, and sorrow. People prefer to have money to meet their needs without budgeting, smoking without lung cancer, and immoral living without heartache. There are enough of these problems when people are living healthily and as God commands them - but it is also true that fewer people would inflict such pain if they lived as God commands them. I am willing to help anyone, any stranger, any one who may have made mistakes, but my time is limited - so I will divert and exhaust my resources to help those who are really willing to be helped. A bit of a tangent there, but to get back on track... lasting change requires real motivation - and I haven't found anything that is a greater motivator than a sure knowledge and experience that God is, that He loves us, and that everything we do here on earth has infinite importance. Such knowledge and experience brings confidence and purpose which allow people to make necessary changes in their lives - and gives them the discipline to follow good advice despite difficult circumstances. A gift like that will change the course of not only that individual's life, but will also help them put all of their children on a course of lasting happiness and ensure a future of prosperity for the whole human family. :) but some people prefer to do what 'they want' and - within a limited range - they are entitled to do just that. I know I didn't fully answer the question, but I thought a different perspective may be interesting to you. Thanks for reading, Fire10

I'm sorry that you cannot find a greater motivation than your belief in God. To me that simply means that you have not truly searched yourself or critically analyzed your motivation. After all, if one has to rely on religion for motivation, then they are lost before they begin. It means that they cannot find the good things within them that exist regardless of their religion. It means that you must attribute your motivations and good intentions to your religion. I however, have no such restriction and have every bit of the motivation that religious folks think they have! And when one can only attribute their motivation to themselves and only themselves, without regard to religion, then that is far superior to any "artificial" motivation produced by religion. So if religion is your source for doing good, thinking good things, and having compassion, then you would be lost without religion. But I can suffer no such loss since I do not rely on religion for the source of my motivation. I don't use it as a moral crutch. Besides, which religion do you think is the best motivator? Which of the dozens, if not hundreds, of gods believed in by the peoples of the Earth is the real one? Eh? Which one is the real motivator? And do all the others represent false motivation?? Does it matter if you believe in the Christian god, or the Jewish god, or the Islamic god, or the Buddha?

Again, thanks for reading - I have a tendency to post marathon answers and I appreciate you taking the time to read my point of view on the subject. Yeah, it is a different perspective than yours. But I also don't want you to miss some of the bigger points of what I said. I said that I haven't found anything that is a greater motivator than a sure knowledge and experience that God is, that He loves us.... I am not suggestion that a contrived or forced belief is my greatest motivator - and forced belief appears to be what you addressed in your reply. Also, in saying that I have found no greater motivator than a sure knowledge, I don't know why you appear to have assumed that it is my only motivator. I own my motivations and attribute them to nobody but myself - they are an extension of who I am and who I choose to be as a consequence of what I know (to some extent isn't every decision/motivation based on what we know?). There is nothing artificial about letting everything I know bear influence on who I choose to be. Yes I would be lost without religion and a knowledge of God - but I'd still be a good person and glad to help others. True religion is as much a crutch to a man or woman of God as education and experience is a crutch to an MD. In terms of your last questions - I believe that finding the answer to them is the responsibility of every person born into this world and I believe that telling you my opinion wouldn't help anybody in any way. But I do frequently make the distinction of true religion, it is important to find - I believe that sincerity is huge - because I think that there are many who buy into a 'culture of religion' and a way of life without investing themselves. I believe that if people are sincere in their search to know God, they will - with time and dedication - come to one conclusion. Anyway, thanks again for your reply - we all come from different backgrounds and experience and there is nothing wrong with disagreement. And if we disagree, that is fine, but let us make sure that we disagree with the other person's true position. I think life is more about how we handle those differences :)