March 3

March 3 – AM          Page 48, We Agnostics, Chapter 4

The reader may still ask why he should believe in a Power greater than himself.  We think there are good reasons.  Let us have a look at some of them.
The practical individual of today is a stickler for facts and results.  Nevertheless, the twentieth century readily accepts theories of all kinds, provided they are firmly grounded in fact.  We have numerous theories, for example, about electricity.  Everybody believes them without a murmur of doubt.  Why this ready acceptance?  Simply because it is impossible to explain what we see, feel, direct, and use, without a reasonable assumption as a starting point.
Everybody nowadays, believes in scores of assumptions for which there is good evidence, but no perfect visual proof.  And does not science demonstrate that visual proof is the weakest proof?  It is being constantly revealed, as mankind studies the material world, that outward appearances are not inward reality at all.

March 3 – PM          Page 93-94, Working With Others, Chapter 7

Your prospect may belong to a religious denomination.  His religious education and training may be far superior to yours.  In that case he is going to wonder how you can add anything to what he already knows.  But he will be curious to learn why his own convictions have not worked and why yours seem to work so well.  He may be an example of the truth that faith alone is insufficient.  To be vital, faith must be accompanied by self sacrifice and unselfish, constructive action.  Let him see that you are not there to instruct him in religion. Admit that he probably knows more about it than you do, but call to his attention the fact that however deep his faith and knowledge, he could not have applied it or he would not drink.  Perhaps your story will help him see where he has failed to practice the very precepts he knows so well.  We represent no particular faith or denomination.  We are dealing only with general principles common to most denominations.