Humans by nature need more to be motivated to do good.Not everyone has it in them to be self motivated when they themselves are having a hard life.
At these points those who believe have the promise of the Hereafter and the Almighty to turn to and to do good to please Him.

Not all of us has the means of giving to the needy,or charities or other organisations,but we all have kind words and good deeds in abundance.

Doing good as far as I believe is not just doing things for others outside of the family,but it begins with oneself and one's family.The kind word we have with our loved ones,the food we prepare with love,all these tiny things done with a sincere heart are good deeds.
The striving we do to be good,the anger we hold in check,the outbursts we hold back,each of these has a chance to be counted as good deeds.

I have seen many a non believer ask that do we as believers need the religious guidelines we have.
As a believer in an Almighty God,I would say yes.This does not mean that those who do not believe are bad or do not know right from wrong.

The guidelines I follow are there because human standards vary from person to person according to their individual views,but having a set of guidelines of right and wrong, it brings all humans on one standard set of rules.Who better to send guidelines to humans than our creator who knows our flaws.

And yes I do believe that the universal guidelines we speak of among believers and non believers are from the same source,the reason why everyone has it in them to know right from wrong.
But we must remember that not all are made aware of these rules,depending on in what situation they grew up in,it gets distorted and flawed.

We cannot say a believer does more good than a disbeliever because we are not with one another 24/7 taking down the deeds,nor do we know one another's hearts,to see whether we are sincere or not.
And we cannot judge a person's fate as we do not know how each of us will die. We may change as time passes, our hearts change and in the end the only judge is the Almighty.

As a believer my hope is that within me is the sincere faith that makes me who I am,my hope is that as time passes my faith increase,every time I see a wonderous thing in nature that I may remember the Creator of it all,that in times of trial I find the strength to bear with patience,and to remember the favours the Almighty has bestowed upon me.
To be in happiness and sorrow,health and illness, ups and downs,a firmbeliever.

In the end I pray for peace,complete peace which comes only beyond this worldly life...

Credendovidis

WHY do you CLAIM that, and on WHAT do you base your CLAIM?
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I know a lot of people who are motivated to do good WITHOUT any (further) stimulation, religious or not.
But I agree with you that many people seem to need the stimulation by religious support to BE good (while almost always even religion fails to produce results). Actually I doubt if one needs religion to do good. If "doing good" is not part of your standard lifestyle, religion won't help neither, as at best any improved results will be based on wrong reasoning.
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A hard life is no valid reason for NOT being "good".
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This suggests that doing good is mainly a "means" based activity. I can guarantee you it is not. One can do a lot of "good" without any money or value involved. Think about the value of human and moral support, the will to assist where and when needed - like a friendly word and/or a helping hand, like youngsters showing some respect for the older in full busses and metro by offering them their seats, etc.
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How sad that you herewith admit that you - like the donkey and the carrot - need an incentive to be a good human being.
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With that I agree. But note that the believer seems to need religion to do good, while the non-believer does that automatically without any incentive. Which of the two is the sincere one here, the one truly inspired?
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Why not peace here and now? Why that totally unnecessary shifting to "the hereafter"?
People have been praying for peace for eons. Unless humanity makes it their lifestyle to really become peacefull in mind, all that praying is meaningless and will lead to nothing.
What is needed is to strengthen the fineer thin layer of moral justification for our deeds, and put the responsibility of our actions there where it belongs : on our own shoulders.
What is needed also is that we stop being so greedy - specially those in the western society - and share all available resources evenly over all of humanity, instead of what is happening now in a world dominated by greed and selfinterest above anything else.
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One does not need religion to be or become a "good human being". All we need is to learn to stop being so greedy and selfish.
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Credendovidis

At least I do not believe in what someone else claims to be true, claims that always lack any objective support.
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Why do you not react to the points I made in my previous post? You know I am right, don´t you?
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Look : for me nobody has to defend his-her religious views. But at least be honest when you claim something to be a fact, as I have never seen any religious claim or `one and only truth´ to be supported by objective evidence. All that support such claims is the personal BELIEF of the one who states the claim.

inthebox

Amazing. In name, we have different belief systems, but the more I read what you believe, the more in common I see.

Very well put Firm.

firmbeliever

Personal experience with friends,family,work etc.Humans need the feel good factor for doing something,whether it be a feeling of satisfaction or praise or any other little thing as motivation.
Such motivation may not always be there,people are sometimes not appreciative of helping hands or even rude at times or even think it their due.Such times the motivation is there for those who believe that the Almighty knows what is in our hearts.

I did not say there arent any...

If doing is good is not part of our standard lifestyle a believer will try harder to make oneself be good.

No it is not,but when one is scraping by to get the basic neccessities,it is that much harder to smile and be kind and happy.Unlike the one who has the basics and more,who might find it easier to be cheery and kind and helpful(which doesnt always happen either).

Wasnt I saying the same thing?


I do not mind being judged by humans to be flawed or un-sincere.

If you have complete peace in this world,congratulations! you are one of the few.
I am working for a life I believe exists beyond this world,if I am wrong I have nothing to worry about,but if you are wrong...good luck to you.
You like to think that praying will lead to nothing,I believe otherwise.


Oh and when you have got everyone on the same level of not being greedy and selfish,do let me know

Another thing...I am not into debating just so you know.
I dont have to prove anything to any human regarding my beliefs.I believe it is the truth and I follow it to the best of my abilities.

Thank you.
We are from the same Source and unto Him is our final return.

NeedKarma

Well that's part of the problem - the greedy and selfish are equally divided up between the believers and the non-believers.

firmbeliever

Thats true NK,all of us are human.

firmbeliever

...... I hope and pray that I dont become a hypocrite.

A hypocrite as in doing deeds to show off to others that I am good or to get praise from people or for people to know that I am doing something good.

Credendovidis

Than why did you post this in "religious discussions" ???

Credendovidis

Firmbeliever :
What did you actually intend to say with your topic statement?
As far as I can see it was not a real question.