Vanity, showing off, is an attitude that reduces spirituality to a worldly thing, which is the worst sin that could be committed in the church.

Begin to see yourself as a soul with a body rather than a body with a soul.

There’s a part of you – the born-again part, your spirit – that’s dead to sin. That’s why it bothers you now when you sin. The ‚wilderness‘ part of you – your soul – is your unrenewed mind, out-of-control emotions, and stubborn will.

I don’t spend that much time being introspective, believe it or not. All I know is that I grew up not questioning God because that’s how you are. God was there like the birds and the wind.

I describe myself as a simple Buddhist monk. No more, no less.

Piety is not a goal but a means to attain through the purest peace of mind the highest culture.

When granted many years of life, growing old in age is natural, but growing old with grace is a choice. Growing older with grace is possible for all who will set their hearts and minds on the Giver of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Religion is the recognition of all our duties as divine commands.

Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.

Lord keep us all from sin. Teach us how to walk circumspectly; enable us to guard our minds against error of doctrine, our hearts against wrong feelings, and our lives against evil actions.

To gather with God’s people in united adoration of the Father is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer.

For if there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life.

Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking.

When your higher self is present, it always promotes peace.

Strong emotions such as passion and bliss are indications that you’re connected to Spirit, or ‚inspired,‘ if you will. When you’re inspired, you activate dormant forces, and the abundance you seek in any form comes streaming into your life.

Neither of my parents went to church, but they did everything that you needed to do to be Christian. That’s something a Quaker would call an intimation of the divine.

Our vanity is hardest to wound precisely when our pride has just been wounded.

The true identity theft is not financial. It’s not in cyberspace. It’s spiritual. It’s been taken.

Start your week off right by getting back to what is really important – honoring God.

I think, for years, people have been pushed down by religion, and I don’t say that disrespectfully, but they’ve been shown a God that you can’t measure up to.

Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path. If you first understand that, then you will see how impossible it is to organize a belief.

God’s first creature, which was light.

As apostles and prophets, we are concerned not only for our children and grandchildren but for yours as well – and for each of God’s children.

I have treated many hundreds of patients. Among those in the second half of life – that is to say, over 35 – there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life.

Lord, help my poor soul.

All men’s souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine.

I was always respectful of people who were deeply religious because I always felt that if they gave themselves to it, then it had to be important to them. But if you can go through life without it, that’s OK, too. It’s whatever suits you.

The ultimate connection is when you are connected to the creator of the universe.

In times of need, God can come to you in a myriad of disguises.

Forgiveness is not a feeling – it’s a decision we make because we want to do what’s right before God. It’s a quality decision that won’t be easy and it may take time to get through the process, depending on the severity of the offense.

So I say to you, Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.

Remember, we are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

God always takes the simplest way.

You know, God has some really weird kids, and I find it hard to be in their company most of the time.

A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion.

Some Christians feel guilty when they are doing something that isn’t ‚spiritual.‘ Somehow or another, they feel the need to hurry through the grocery store, dash through the house cleaning, and rush through all the daily aspects of life that seem irrelevant to their faith.

Sacrifice, discipline and prayer are essential. We gain strength through God’s word. We receive grace from the sacrament. And when we fumble due to sin – and it’s gonna happen – confession puts us back on the field.

People often speak of God being even-handed. God is not even-handed. God is biased, in favor of the weak, of the despised.

It’s like a jar of salad dressing sitting on a shelf… most of the seasoning settles to the bottom of the bottle. But when you shake that bottle up, all the ingredients mix together and then the dressing can add flavor to a salad. In the same way, we can stir ourselves up and regain the reverence, respect and awe we once had for the Lord.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

All of us are guinea pigs in the laboratory of God. Humanity is just a work in progress.

On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, ‚Is it safe?‘ Expediency asks the question, ‚Is it politic?‘ And Vanity comes along and asks the question, ‚Is it popular?‘ But Conscience asks the question, ‚Is it right?‘

The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.

To those whose God is honor; only disgrace is a sin.

Through the ages, many of His children have had access to the blessings of the gospel, but many more have not.

I am simply trying to struggle through life; trying to do God’s bidding.

There are two great forces, God’s force of good and the devil’s force of evil, and I believe Satan is alive and he is working, and he is working harder than ever, and we have many mysteries that we don’t understand.

My family, frankly, they weren’t folks who went to church every week. My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew but she didn’t raise me in the church, so I came to my Christian faith later in life and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead.

Everything is subject to change except God Himself.

The ‚kingdom of Heaven‘ is a condition of the heart – not something that comes ‚upon the earth‘ or ‚after death.‘

If you are part of a religion that very strongly insists that you believe then to decide not to do that is quite a big hurdle to jump over. You never forget the thought process you went through. It becomes part of your whole intellectual picture.

Vanity is as ill at ease under indifference as tenderness is under a love which it cannot return.

Many churches of all persuasions are hiring research agencies to poll neighborhoods, asking what kind of church they prefer. Then the local churches design themselves to fit the desires of the people. True faith in God that demands selflessness is being replaced by trendy religion that serves the selfish.

Sin, also for those who don’t have faith, exists when one goes against one’s conscience. To listen to and obey it means, in fact, to decide in face of what is perceived as good or evil. And on this decision pivots the goodness or malice of our action.

For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel.

When I have a terrible need of – shall I say the word – religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.

Faith is permitting ourselves to be seized by the things we do not see.

There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.

You hear a lot about God these days: God, the beneficent; God, the all-great; God, the Almighty; God, the most powerful; God, the giver of life; God, the creator of death. I mean, we’re hearing about God all the time, so we better learn how to deal with it. But if we know anything about God, God is arbitrary.

In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe, becomes a person who has no faith at all.

To believe in God is impossible not to believe in Him is absurd.