
The very basic foundation of goodness as manifested in society is the belief in God. One may say that a person can be good even if he does not believe in God but one can not actually say if that person is indeed good until his lifetime is finished. It seems that what determines a person’s goodness is his end result. This may be the reason why a saint can only be canonized or ascertained to be holy when he has already died and a thorough investigation of his life suggestive of the odor of sanctity has been made. There are only two kinds of saints; one who has reformed and one who has shown holiness throughout his lifetime. The first one’s conduct can only be attributed to be ethically exemplary after his actual reform while the latter can be an exemplar throughout his lifetime. Of course, nobody is perfect but man’s striving into holiness makes him good.