Be more man and that would be good enough

Learning Point No 428

It must be strange that many men cannot even be good men and yet some men are talking about how to be like the saints and be in heaven with God and saints. 

Surely if one does not qualify to be a good man, how can he be even a wee bit like a saint. Being in heaven is to have qualities of a saint. 

But men in enticing others to a religion dangle the carrot of "belief and we will be saved". It does sound simple and too good to be true. 

But it is every bit ludicrous and even ridiculous that we can be with God and saints just like that - just by saying that we believe in God "through you oh lord." 

If someone tells you to just trust him because he knows the mayor of the town, would we so gullible and believe in him just because he has a following or crowd with him or he is well dressed and every bit charismatic  

It is just like selling a product like milk powder and the seller just wants us to believe in him, would we just simply believe and buy the product. That was what happened in certain countries where the product like milk powder was adulterated and caused food poisoning. 

If we are wise and grown men, we do have to know what we buy and not take the seller's word for it. Do not think that what he said is the gospel truth. 

Even if a man tells us that what he said is the gospel truth, we have to think that the facts he said may be difficult to verify but at least we have to fathom the principles or values underlying what he said. 

Even Gautama Buddha said in the Kalama Sutra that we should not believe in what he said just because he said so. We should test what he said like gold in olden days was tested by fire. Of course in modern times, there are better methods. 

Thus how on earth could we deceive ourselves and others that we can be like the saints and be with God and saints in Heaven just by believing? 

It is sheer unthinkable if we just believe and question not what a man says or wants us to believe in what he says, more so in religion. If we just believe, we are more like animals who tend to follow the crowd or pack leader. 

Even animals can sometimes do better by investigating the situation. We are obviously men and not animals. Some animals can be better than some men. 

Even Lord Bo Tien said that he does not expect all who come to his temple to believe in him and in what he says. He says that it is alright to have doubts and among those in his mission if there are doubts and disagreement, it is alright to have doubts for doubts exist because men do not understand and see eye to eye. 

If men could respect one another and live and let live, agree to disagree for now, accept one another despite differences in belief, the day will come when men will know better and have less or no doubts and less or no differences. Then there will be more consensus and concord. 

But this can only come about if men behave like men and not be unbecoming of men. Animals can sometimes be even better than men despite being less endowed than men. 

Men must behave like men more so in the house of God. The sky is the roof of this house and religions are the pillars. Men in the universal house of God need not have the same religions and sects but they are under the same sky or heaven - the same God. 

Men must behave like men and that will suffice. Only a rare few can go beyond but then they will still be men though saintly and more divine. 

We must behave like man and be more man. Let us be man and be more man, better still be more than man. But for many, it would be good enough to be more man.