I saw a cartoon in a newspaper recently that is a great illustration of the human condition. The cartoon was Pardon My Planet by Vic Lee. It was one panel and pictured a character at her psychologist and she states:
I’m becoming to believe that instead of becoming a better person for the sake of the greater good, I’m happiest when my belief system falls neatly in line with getting what I want.
It is so typical of us humans that we mold our beliefs so they match what we want.
We will justify anything if it gets us what we desire. Virgil in Aeneid says: O accursed hunger of gold, to what doest thou not compel human hearts! [1]
That is partly why in this blog we assert that salvation is not a belief system but is the change, or renovation, of our soul so it becomes like God. It is our soul that determines what we do, not our beliefs. It is our actions that more often than not demonstrate what we truly believe. We take action to get what we want and then justify it by modifying our beliefs.
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[1] J. W. Mackail, M.A., translator, The Aeneid of Virgil, London: Macmillan and Co., 1885. Kindle edition, location 713.
