Religion-jugglery and God-discovery
1.
"Only a Christ could have conceived a Christ."
  — Joseph Parker: Ecce Deus
Swami Vivekananda once said that only another Vivekananda could have realised what this Vivekananda had done. Napoleon also said something in this vein. Alas, I too sail in their boat when I bury my head, with ceaselessly brooding disappointments, inside my palms.  — Joseph Parker: Ecce Deus
2.
"In order to see Christianity, one must forget almost all the Christians."
  — Henri Frédéric Amiel: Journal
If there is an iota of truth in this conviction-statement, then all the Christians in the world must needs muster together to defend themselves.  — Henri Frédéric Amiel: Journal
3.
"Saints are made but Christians are born."
  — George E. Failing: The Wesleyan Methodist
I wish to say that unreality is made but reality is born.  — George E. Failing: The Wesleyan Methodist
4.
"True Christianity is love in action."
  — David O. McKay
True Hinduism is surrender of action. True spirituality is the pendulum between the heart's tears and the soul's smiles.  — David O. McKay
5.
"Jesus cannot be our Saviour unless he is first our Lord."
  — Hugh C. Burr
He who said, "I and my Father are one," definitely had become our Lord before He became our Saviour.  — Hugh C. Burr
6.
"If ever man was God or God man, Jesus Christ was both."
  — Lord Byron
Lovingly and devotedly, I have something to add: man the God was made of streaming tears; God the man was made of blossoming Smiles.  — Lord Byron
7.
"He changed sunset into sunrise."
  — Clement of Alexandria
Our ignorance-flooded mind can easily reverse the course!  — Clement of Alexandria
8.
"Jesus is the most perfect of all men that have yet appeared."
  — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Fortunately, the disciples of all Masters have the same universal experience.  — Ralph Waldo Emerson
9.
"It is good to be charitable" — but to whom?
  — Jean de La Fontaine: Fables, VI
Indeed, to God the needy in all human beings, with no exception.  — Jean de La Fontaine: Fables, VI
10.
"Art is the Tree of Life. Science is the Tree of Death. God is Jesus."
  — William Blake
True, absolutely true. Also, something more to add: God is God-Appointment, God is God-Enlightenment and God is God-Fulfilment.  — William Blake
11.
"Christianity is a battle" — not a dream.
  — Wendell Phillips
My divinity is a reality-beauty-dream and a reality-beauty-fragrance, and not a battlefield-reality.  — Wendell Phillips
12.
"Christians have been the most intolerant of all men."
  — Voltaire: Philosophical Dictionary
Voltaire, O mighty controversy-confusion-mind, your mind's Himalayan bravery and your life's weakness-slavery shall forever remain inseparable.  — Voltaire: Philosophical Dictionary
13.
"Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind."
  — Mary Ellen Chase: New York Times
Absolutely true. Just a little to add: Christmas is humanity's dream-preparation-beauty and Divinity's Reality-Perfection-Fragrance.  — Mary Ellen Chase: New York Times
14.
"The Church has many critics but no rivals."
  — Anonymous
Likewise, humanity's God-worshipping heart-shrine has innumerable critics, but no rivals worth mentioning.  — Anonymous
15.
"He cannot have God for his father who refuses to have the Church for his mother."
  — St. Augustine: De Symbolo
St. Augustine, my heart believes in you implicitly. Therefore I am so happy that I shall never lose my parents.  — St. Augustine: De Symbolo
16.
"A church exists by mission as fire exists by burning."
  — Emil Brunner: The Westminster Press
A church exists by God-remembering as a fire exists by self-sacrificing.  — Emil Brunner: The Westminster Press
17.
"All atheists are rascals, and all rascals are atheists."
  — August Strindberg: Zones of the Spirit
All atheists are incomplete God-preparations, and all incomplete God-preparations are atheists.  — August Strindberg: Zones of the Spirit
18.
"What a man accomplishes depends on what he believes."
  — Bankers Bulletin
I believed God was only mine, but my accomplishment has far surpassed my belief. Now I see that God is for all.  — Bankers Bulletin
19.
"In the matter of belief, we are all extreme conservatives."
  — William James: Pragmatism
In the matter of self-styled faith, we are all exorbitantly creative.  — William James: Pragmatism
20.
"Adversity reminds men of religion."
  — Livy: Annales, V, 51
Adversity reminds men of their crying heart-beauty and, at the same time, of their smiling soul-fragrance.  — Livy: Annales, V, 51
21.
"I have chosen Thee in the furnace of affliction."
  — Old Testament: Isaiah 48:10
Many choose God after the volcano-explosion of their vital.  — Old Testament: Isaiah 48:10
22.
"He who is in evil is also in the punishment of evil."
  — Emmanuel Swedenborg
Punishment is the beginning of enlightenment.  — Emmanuel Swedenborg
23.
"Help yourself and Heaven will help you."
  — Jean de La Fontaine: Fables
Poor me! In my case, Heaven is dying to help me, but my stupidity is preventing me from accepting Heaven's help.  — Jean de La Fontaine: Fables
24.
"God is always on the side of the big battalions."
  — Napoleon Bonaparte
The battalions are just an expression of God's earthly Power; but His Heavenly Power is Illumination.  — Napoleon Bonaparte
25.
"I am glad that he thanks God for anything."
  — Samuel Johnson
I am glad that I need God in everything and for everything.  — Samuel Johnson
26.
"Be good and leave the rest to Heaven."
  — William Combe: Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque
I may not be good. I may be bad in everything that I say and do. Yet I have left my very existence with Heaven for its use.  — William Combe: Dr. Syntax in Search of the Picturesque
27.
"Humanity is never so beautiful as when praying for forgiveness, or else forgiving another."
  — Jean Paul Richter
Humanity is never so beautiful as when it offers a gratitude-heart-smile to God.  — Jean Paul Richter
28.
"What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies."
  — Aristotle
What is a friend? The beauty and fragrance of interdependence.  — Aristotle
29.
"He who has no friend has God."
  — Egyptian Proverb
Although I have found God as my only Friend, He tells me that I shall remain incomplete unless I find Him in everybody else.  — Egyptian Proverb
30.
"God is no respecter of persons.
  New Testament: Acts 10:34"
True, God is no respecter of persons. It is equally true that God is a perfect slave to His supremely chosen instruments.  New Testament: Acts 10:34"
31.
"I fear God, and next to God I chiefly fear him who fears Him not."
  — Saadi
I fear God, and next to God I fear the person who, on the spur of the moment, tells me that he and his inner life and outer life will depend entirely on me.  — Saadi
32.
"If God is not in us, He never existed."
  — Voltaire: La Loi Naturelle: Exordium
God did exist before, but we did not have the vision-eye to see Him. God does exist now, but we do not have the aspiration-heart to feel Him.  — Voltaire: La Loi Naturelle: Exordium
33.
"Desire nothing for yourself which you do not desire for others."
  — Spinoza: Ethica IV
When I cry for God the Creator, He comes to me as God the creation as well. He fulfils Himself as the One in the many.  — Spinoza: Ethica IV
34.
"Wicked men obey from fear; good men, from love."
  — Aristotle
My mind obeys God from fear. My heart obeys God from love. I obey God from my inseparable oneness-discovery.  — Aristotle
35.
"Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him."
  — Napoleon Bonaparte
May God's Empire be founded inside my soul-smiles and my heart-tears.  — Napoleon Bonaparte
36.
"God is great, and therefore He will be sought; He is good, and therefore He will be found."
  — Anonymous
When I seek God's Greatness, He gives me His majestic Smile. When I find God's Goodness, He asks me to be His Eternity-Infinity's Partner.  — Anonymous
37.
"Even God cannot change the past."
  — Agathon
Not because He cannot, but because He does not want to change the past, for it is unnecessary. Our Goal is the Golden Shore and not the ocean-dangers.  — Agathon
38.
"The opposite of joy is not sorrow. It is unbelief."
  — Leslie D. Weatherhead: This Is the Victory
To me, the opposite of joy is unwillingness.  — Leslie D. Weatherhead: This Is the Victory
39.
"My Bible tells me how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go."
  — J.R. Cohu: The Bible and Modern Thought, V
The outer Bible tells us how to go to Heaven. The inner Bible shows us how to bring the Kingdom of Heaven down.  — J.R. Cohu: The Bible and Modern Thought, V
40.
"Conscience is God's presence in man."
  — Emmanuel Swedenborg
Division is God's absence from man.  — Emmanuel Swedenborg
41.
"The cross is the ladder of heaven."
  — Thomas Draxe: Biblioth, Scholas
The cross is the Heaven-ascending ladder. The non-acceptance of God's Will is the abysmal abyss-descending ladder.  — Thomas Draxe: Biblioth, Scholas
42.
"A man, asked to explain what God is, replied, 'I know if I'm not asked.'"
  — Anonymous
God Himself has asked me not to explain Him but to entertain Him.  — Anonymous
43.
"Nothing can happen more beautiful than death."
  — Walt Whitman: Starting from Paumanok
Death does not think so. Death thinks that death is all-powerful.  — Walt Whitman: Starting from Paumanok
44.
"Who knows most, doubts most."
  — Robert Browning
He who doubts most, fractures all his limbs most.  — Robert Browning
45.
"God is where He was."
  — English Proverb
God's Compassion-Eye and God's Forgiveness-Heart are where they were before.  — English Proverb
46.
"If God loved you as much as you love Him, where would you be?"
  — Anonymous
I am all ready to answer this question, but God wants me to keep my mouth sealed. Never mind, since I am always a God-disobedient creature. If God loved me as much as I love Him, then I would be playing, singing and dancing inside my totally isolated mind-jungle.  — Anonymous
47.
"God save me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies."
  — English Proverb
God has saved me from my friends. God has even saved me from my enemies. But, alas, He has not saved me from myself, so far.  — English Proverb
48.
"Some people complain because God put thorns on roses, while others praise Him for putting roses among thorns."
  — Anonymous
I praise God for both the thorns and the roses, because I clearly see and feel that thorns are my God-preparation-journey and roses are my God-satisfaction-goal.  — Anonymous