quote · Legacy record
If my friend asks me to sit in a temple belonging to a God that I do not know, because he needs a friend to sit with him, I will be happy to sit there in the foreign temple. Because the temple itself is an outer container only. What is the true religion? What is the inner oil contained by that outer container? The inner oil is the friendship I share with my friend. The true religion is being there to sit beside my friend. If I cannot do this for my friend, then how am I worthy to sit in any temple, whether belonging to a God that I know or to a God that I don't know? If there is no inner oil within my soul, I do not deserve to sit in any temple. Religion is the friendship within the heart, not the place where we sit on a holy day. Religion is the oil within the lamp, not the metal container we see as the lamp.
If my friend asks me to sit in a temple belonging to a God that I do not know, because he needs a friend to sit with him, I will be happy to sit there in the foreign temple. Because the temple itself is an outer container only. What is the true religion? What is the inner oil contained by that outer container? The inner oil is the friendship I share with my friend. The true religion is being there to sit beside my friend. If I cannot do this for my friend, then how am I worthy to sit in any temple, whether belonging to a God that I know or to a God that I don't know? If there is no inner oil within my soul, I do not deserve to sit in any temple. Religion is the friendship within the heart, not the place where we sit on a holy day. Religion is the oil within the lamp, not the metal container we see as the lamp.
Approximate author period: c. 2010 AD · contemporary
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- C. JoyBell C.
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
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- Approximate author period: c. 2010 AD · contemporary
Approximate author period, documented activity in 2010. The Sun Is Snowing: Poetry and Prose — British National Bibliography record. Author C. JoyBell C.; AuthorHouse, 2010; ISBN 9781449072131; British National Bibliography identifier GBB160693. The current author bookshelf independently identifies this title. This is NOT the composition date of every attributed quotation. Source: https://obnb.uk/p15607794-the-sun-is-snowing-poetry-prose (accessed 2026-10-08).
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 23139; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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