THE CHRISTIAN QUOTATION OF THE DAY
Christ, our Light
Thursday, November 21, 2019

Without realizing what was happening, most of us gradually came to take for granted the premises underlying this philosophy of optimism. We proceeded to live these propositions, though we would not have stated them as blandly as I set them forth here:
Man is inherently good.
Individual man can carve out his own salvation with the help of education and society through progressively better government.
Reality and values worth searching for lie in the material world that science is steadily teaching us to analyze, catalogue, and measure. While we would not deny the existence of inner values, we relegate them to second place.
The purpose of life is happiness, [which] we define in terms of enjoyable activity, friends, and the accumulation of material objects.
The pain and evil of life—such as ignorance, poverty, selfishness, hatred, greed, lust for power—are caused by factors in the external world; therefore, the cure lies in the reforming of human institutions and the bettering of environmental conditions.
As science and technology remove poverty and lift from us the burden of physical existence, we shall automatically become finer persons, seeing for ourselves the value of living the Golden Rule.
In time, the rest of the world will appreciate the demonstration that the American way of life is best. They will then seek for themselves the good life of freedom and prosperity. This will be the greatest impetus toward an end of global conflict.
The way to get along with people is to beware of religious dictums and dogma. The ideal is to be a nice person and to live by the Creed of Tolerance. Thus we offend few people. We live and let live. This is the American Way.
... Catherine Marshall (1914-1983), Beyond Our Selves, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961, p. 5-6 (see the book; see also 1 John 4:5-6; Luke 6:32; John 17:14-16; Rom. 3:10,23; 1 John 5:19; more at Education, Goodness, Greed, Happiness, Hatred, Ignorance, Man, Optimism, Philosophy, Poverty, Power, Purpose, Science, Sin, Social, World)

 
Compilation Copyright, 1996-2024, by Robert McAnally Adams,
        Curator, Christian Quotation of the Day,
        with Robert Douglas, principal contributor
Logo image Copyright 1996 by Shay Barsabe, of “Simple GIFs”, by kind permission.
Send comments to curator@cqod.com.

Last updated: 11/16/19

 

 



Fun stuff

Tweet this      

     CQOD is now available to include on your personal home page, blog, or church web site—perfect for a sidebar.
     To display CQOD on your web site, updating daily, copy the line below and paste directly into the position that CQOD should appear:

     <script type="text/javascript" src="https://cqod.com/js/"></script>

     To display this particular quotation on your web site, copy the line below and paste directly into the position that CQOD should appear:

     <script type="text/javascript" src="https://cqod.com/js/index-11-21-19.js"></script>

     For more information, see CQOD Web Home

 

Christ, our Light

    Welcome to the CQOD home page. This page changes daily, publishing a different quotation each day, so return here often. Many people use this page as their browser home page. Bookmark this page by pressing cntl-d.
     means text and bibliography have been verified.
    CQOD makes numerous features and links available. Here are some important links to help you get around:

    Previous day’s CQOD (D’Oyly)
    Following day’s CQOD (Lewis)
    This month’s CQODs

 
    CQOD for today
    CQOD on the go!
 
    Use our double opt-in listserve to receive CQOD by email
 
    CQOD daily index
    All monthly archives
    What’s New on CQOD
    Author index
    Title index
    Poetry index
    Scripture index
    Subject index
    Search CQOD (or see below)
    CQOD Blog
 
     CQOD RSS
 
     Facebook CQOD Fan Page  
     Follow CQOD on Twitter  
     Follow CQOD on Instagram     About CQOD
    CQOD on the Web
    CQOD FAQ
    CQOD Liturgical Calendar
 
    Mere Christianity: a conversation
    Simple Songs for Psalms
    Quotations Bible Study
    Essays Archive
    Bookworms
    Spotlights
 
    Publications:
    Jonah: a miracle play
    Ruth: a play
 
    Also visit these organizations:
    Arab Vision
    Crescendo
    Oratorium
    More devotionals
 
    Search CQOD:

 
Gospel.com Community Member