Sentences with phrase «external observances»

But external observances that have lost their transparency to the ultimate may well be discarded like empty shells.

While the emphasis on the external observances and rites of Islam is palpably decreasing, Western culture seems to have had little effect on the cult of saints.

It is not the external observance to the law that will be the determinant of the reward, for if it were so, love, grace and faith would not be necessary; we could as well be handsomely rewarded by being a Pharisee.

Good, in this sense, contains an extremely wide range of gradations, extending from the purely external observance of good order to the most intimate self - examination and character - formation and to personal self - sacrifice for the most sublime human values.

The development began with the external observance of tribal taboos; it ended with men saying, «Except one be born anew, he can not see the kingdom of God»; (John 3:3.)

Not exact matches

Only they hold to the doctrine that there is a Creator (and Governor of the universe); that each individual owes a personal accounting at the time of Judgment to this Creator, a Judgment that is prior to all claims of civil society or state; and that this inalienable relation between each individual and his Creator occurs in the depths of conscience and reason, and is not reached merely by external bows, bended knees, pilgrimages, or other ritual observances.

Such observances and restraints, however, were almost altogether a matter of external behavior, while concern about motives and attitudes, about quality of spirit and purpose, was absent from the ethical picture.