Quotes about God

Our philosophies of life
     often evolve from our way of life
           and not vice-versa.
In outher words,
     our philosophies of life
           are often mere rationalizations
                  for our behavior.
Rather than examining our beliefs
     and thinking about what we should be doing.
we do what we feel like doing
     and then put our minds to work,
            like defense attorneys
                   to come up with a good case for us.

I was a militant atheist until the hindus convinced me that I was a god.

God is unbelievable!

i found god in myself & I loved her / i loved her fiercely

You are protected. But if you don’t take risks, God will retreat and become only a subject of philosophical speculation...

Christ is our hope, our cleansing and santification, our resurrection, life and repose.  He alone is what we all need, and therefore, the Orthodox Church constantaly pronounces these words aloud so that we may hear them during Holy Services of the Church, and be constantly renewed.  For we are inclined to forget the only thing we need.  With death all will be taken from us, all earthly goods, riches, beauty of body and raiment, spacious dwellings, etc., but the virtue of the soul, that incorruptible raiment, shall remain with us eternally.

Saint John of Kronstadt

"Keep from prying into other people's affairs, for such prying gives occasion for slander, judgment, and other grievous sins. Why do you need to be concerned about others? Know and examine your own self." -- St. Tikhon
of Zadonsk

Arise my soul, and review your deeds which have preceeded from you.  Scrutinize them closely, and shed the rain of your tears, declaring openly to Christ your thoughts and deeds, so that you may be justified.

Saint Andrew of Crete

Continually forgive others.  Forgive AT ONCE, not one second latter, not one half second later, because if you hesitate to forgive, jealousy comes in the door, then hatred and envy.  Forgive instantly as Christ forgives instantly.

The Search for the Feminine in my Bones

by Jewel Mathieson

I collected them all, found every bone
except I couldn't find my hand, my hand
my mother had it
her calloused hard hitting hands have held me
gripped my spirit
she seized my hand at six
stripped it of innocense and grace
she severed my hand at seven
I found it again in a dry riverbed pointing North
this hand that has the most number of bones
fragments of bones, joints and articulation
I can't open it
I have my hand now
I can pray
I can pray again
I turn to the Goddess, pray for forgiveness
She says,  "there is no forgiveness because there are no sins"
She places God on the tips of my fingers
on the tips of my toes
and tells me that everyone has to learn how to pray
in their own way
in their own way with everything, everywhere
I collected them all, found every splintered bone
every piece of myself
now I dance flinging by bones to the floor
like the I Ching
like the I Ching each time I hit the floor
I'm different

Do not be careless.  Pray as much as you can - more frequently and more fervantly.  Prod yourself - force yourself to do so, for the Kingdom of God is taken by force.  You will never attain it without forcing yourself.

Saint Innocent of Alaska

Then, accepting the help of God and of God's signs, he allows his personal legend to guide him toward the tasks that life has reserved for him.

Patience, forgiveness and joy are the three greatest characteristics of divine love.  They are characteristics of all real love - if there is such a thing as real love outside of divine love.  Without these three characteristics, love is not love.  If you give the name 'love' to anything else, it is as though you were giving the name 'sheep' to a goat or a pig.

Saint Nikolai Velimirovich

Our Father awaits us with great zeal and desire, and with love He will see us returning from afar, and He will look upon us with compassionate eyes, and we shall be dear to Him, and He will fall on our neck running and embrace us and kiss us with His Holy Love.  He will not reproach us, and He will no longer remember our sins and iniquities, and all the holy angles and all His elect will begin to rejoice over us.

"What joy is ours that the Lord not only forgives our sins ,but allows the soul to know Him, so soon as she humbles herself.  The poorest wretch can humble himself and know God in the Holy Spirit.  There is no need of money or posessions in order to know God, only humility.  The Lord gives Himself freely, for His mercy's sake alone.  I did not know this before but now every day and every hour every minute, I see clearly the mercy of God.  The Lord gives peace even in sleep, but without God there is no peace in the soul."

"If we do not see the beauty of God in this life then we will never see it in the next life.  We must see the glory of God in the smallest flower."

Gerontissa Makrina (+ 1995)

Sin, first and foremost, is the cause of every damage in this world. The evil one is the master of this sin, the master of this damage, but we have the Lord Jesus Christ, the Master of the Kingdom of God to defeat any kind of sin.

Your Father in Christ,
Bishop JOSEPH
http://www.antiochianladiocese.org/

A man must practice good works for a long time, with great effort and determination, and "at last God comes, dwells within him and he in the Lord, and the Lord Himself sows His own commandments within him, filling him with spiritual fruit." - St. Marcarius the Great - Homily 19

Live. If you live, God will live with you. If you refuse to run his risks, he’ll retreat to that distant heaven and be merely a subject for philosophical speculation. Everyone knows this, but no one takes the first step, perhaps for fear of being called insane.

...in all the woods and forests, God did not create a single leaf the same as any other… People go against nature because they lack the courage to be different.

God Transcends all conceptuality.  Only ego presumes that the All Pervading Divine Presence could be reduced to words.

'We were created for eternal life by our Creator, we are called to it by the word of God, and we are renewed by holy Baptism. And Christ the Son of God came into the world for this, that He should call us and take us there, and He is the one thing needful. For this reason your very first endeavor and care should be to receive it. Without it everything is as nothing, though you have the whole world under you.'
-- St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

Without temptation it is impossible to aquire a strong constitution of the soul.  But again, to withstand them is not in our power.  How could perishable clay withstand the action of water unless Divine fire makes it strong?  If we submit to the yoke of God's will and pray with constant desire and humility, then, through patience, we also shall recieve everything form our Lord Jesus Christ.

Monks Callistus and Ignatius, from the Philokalia

Richness comes from God, not from our money. Every beauty comes from God, not from any human aspect.

Your Father in Christ,
Bishop JOSEPH
http://www.antiochianladiocese.org/

The unity of God the Father and Jesus Christ is a perfect unity, and this perfect unity is what our Lord calls us to have with one another. If we act in the name of God, then the proof of our motivations will be revealed in our unity. Endless arguing and bickering is a sign that God is absent and that we have forgotten Him. The contentious person is outside God's grace by his or her desires to dominate others.

Your Father in Christ,
Bishop JOSEPH
http://www.antiochianladiocese.org/

"Be ashamed when you sin, don't be ashamed when you repent [To repent means to have a change of heart and mind.  It is not simply a feeling of sorrow ,but a psycho/spiritual growth away from evil/death and a turning to God/life].  Sin is the wound, repentance is the medicine.  Sin is followed by shame; repentance is followed by boldness [ Boldness means to beg God for undeserved mercy].  Satan has overturned this order and given boldness to sin and shame to repentance."

Saint John Chrysostom

"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts" (2 Peter 3:3).

Does the mirror change and bend when the scoffer stands before it laughing and scoffing at it? No, the mirror does not change and bend but remains the same as it was. Brethren, neither does God change or bend when scoffers laugh and scoff at Him. The unchanging and All-pure God knows that the scoffer scoffs at himself. By his scoffing at the holy things of God, the scoffer bends himself and makes himself hideous and the holy things of God remain intact.

O, how already in our times, in our days, many scoffers are already here! Many, too many but their multitudes are weaker than the One and Only One. What is a lot of dust before a strong wind? You have only to wait, to wait armed with patience until a strong wind blows.

Many and too many scoffers are already here, who scoff at God's word. They offer their own words in place of God's word; they offer the unholy in place of the holy, the putrid in place of the healthy, death dealing in place of life creating. The word of God is like a strong wind and their words are as dust.

The scoffers are already here, many and too many that scoff at God's works and still many more will arrive. They praise their works above God's works and say that the works of their hands are better and more comprehensible that the works of God. Their works are thievery; for all the good that they built, they built from God's materials and according to the likeness of God's buildings; and all the evil that they have built, they built from the devil's materials, and according to the likeness of the devil's buildings. Therefore, of what will the dust boast? With what will the scoffers praise today or tomorrow, when wild asses trample over their graves with their hooves?

All-pure Lord, Holy and Powerful are Your words, as a strong wind and holy are Your works, and there is no number or measure of them. All-pure Lord, save our tongues from scoffing and save our lives from the scoffers.

To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.

Die daily, that you might live eternally, for the one who fears God will live forever.

Saint Anthony the Great

God's boundless wisdom has given each person a cross according to his/her character and strength.  If we carry our cross without grumbling, repent of our sins, and do not justify ourselves, then like the good thief we shall enter God's Kingdom.  But if we grumble, if we blaspheme God or our neighbor, we shall perish like the wicked thief---in great torment, with out hope of salvation to lessen our grief.  The choice lies in our own hands.  We must be wise like the repentant thief.  None of us will escape the cross.  Let us ease its weight through faith in God, resistance to sin, repentance, forgiveness of all our close ones, endurance of sorrows without murmuring, and prayer to the Lord.