K is doing well. She asked me what the opposite of "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" is. In fact we couldn't agree on what TRHPGI means. She thought it means your intentions don't count, its whether you succeed which counts, as in, if your good intentions bear fruit, you will not go to hell.
I actually can't get my head around that concept, although I know the expression is not in the Bible, maybe it comes from someone who believes doing good gets you to heaven, and is a warning against promises and ideas which never lead anywhere.
I always thought TRHIPGI means that there is no point doing good and having good intentions, that is the road to hell, and the road to heaven is Trusting in God, Jesus, accepting God's blessings whatever they might be and trusting God through the trials He sends, and doing things you love for the people around you. If your life is filled with all those things, it is the road to heaven, but as soon as you start trying to "do good", you're on the wrong track.
Given that we couldn't decide what the original means, we haven't yet come to decide what the opposite is!! K thinks the opposite of her interpretation would be something like: Try try again. I.e, your intentions are what counts, as long as you are trying it counts.
The opposite of my interpretation of TRHIPWGI is that the way to get to heaven is by trying to do good.?? which no one would agree with!
I am interested in your thoughts.
I've always taken the phrase to mean something like, "You can intend to do the right thing and never actually end up doing what's right." For example, I could have the best of intentions in trying to get my son, who is terrified of spiders, to get over his fear by confronting him with the next spider that I find. But if the end result is that he jumps several feet in his fear and ends up hitting his head against the corner of a table and getting hurt (which he did last night, in fact, though it wasn't because of a spider), then it doesn't matter how great my intentions might have been, they're worthless considering what came of them. According to Bartleby.com, it means, "Merely intending to do good, without actually doing it, is of no value."
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153) apparently said, "Hell is full of good intentions or desires", which may be the origin of the phrase. (source)
The opposite of TRTHIPWGI? How about, "Do Be Do Be Do." Or maybe "Just do it." Or perhaps, "Don't just sit there. Get off your duff and do something!" Despite the fact that hell, a religious term, is included in the phrase, I don't think it's meant to be a theological statement so much as a reprimand against those who think simply wanting good things is enough to make a person good. (I don't mean "good" in the theological sense, either. I just mean "good" as in, "he's a good person.")
My Grandmother used to say, "If and Maybe had a baby. They called it Never-did." So I suppose that hoping and wishing ain't enough, you really have to make the effort.
ReplyDeleteStopping on the road of life would be the opposite of travelling the road of life. I take it one step at a time. Fortunately, someone went before me, and left some signs for guidance.