Meister asks:
I think it is a flawed perception to recognize that people can only be loving, good people through god, and in that way, make their heaven on earth. I think there are plenty of people who strive toward being loving and good in their everyday life, without any belief in god, or any hope of eternal reward for it. Is it so much less to want to be good and loving for good and loving's sake, rather than for eternal life or out of fear of hell and damnation? Does that mean that one's life has less of a purpose than one who finds goodness and grace through god?
This is a good question--my answer is that eternal life is a gift from God, not something that is earned. To think about it another way, eternal life is something supernatural, and therefore we need to have it given to us by a supernatural being.
I'm not saying "be a good person so that you'll go to heaven." It's impossible for anyone to be good/perfect all of the time. And even if we could, that wouldn't make God love us anymore than she already does.
I agree with you that there are plenty of people who strive to be loving and good without any belief in god, and I am not going to be the one to say "stop this meaningless pursuit of good deeds!" I think truly selfless good works will probably persist after we are gone in the way they continue to ripple in others' lives.
But if that connection with God--eternal life--is a gift to be accepted from God and we choose not to accept it, God won't force it on us.
4 comments:
I can see your conception of god as benevolent - he/she who will grant his /her followers eternal life as a gift. On the other hand, one could view that conception of god as selfish - he/she is only willing to reward those who believe in him/her, and indeed those granted eternal life could be much less moral/ethical beings (measured by human standards) than those who are fated to simply cease to exist despite their good works because they lack faith.
I guess I find a problem with your linkage of belief and gift for 2 reasons: (1) to believe because you think you will receive this awesome gift is self-serving; and (2) to believe you get a gift because of your beliefs, while non-believers (those being athiests, agnostics, pagans, and other non-Christian religions) do not, regardless of other variables, is to elevate your beliefs above all others, to believe you are a "chosen" person in a sense.
Meister, thanks for some very interesting food for thought. Here's what I'm trying to say: salvation is a relationship with God. It's not really a reward for believing, it's accepting something that's already there. I agree that some people who are less moral than others will be able to accept God's love and experience eternal life. In fact I think part of really experiencing God's love is recognizing God's mercy in forgiving our faults and unethical behavior. Is that ethical on God's part? I don't know. God might not be ethical. But on the other hand, if God loves all of us, and wants us to love back with a freely chosen love, then some people will enter into relationship with God and some won't, and I don't think that's totally avoidable. That's the price of free will, and of freely chosen love for God.
To answer the second part of your comments, I don't think there are very many people who can just decide to believe something and then believe it. If this were possible, it would be very self-serving to believe just for the sake of a reward of some kind.
Secondly, what my experience is now is that I do have a relationship with God that brings me life, and I have faith that that will continue after I am dead thanks to the witness of Scripture and some personal experiences. But that doesn't mean that I know everything about everyone else's salvation, and it seems reasonable to me that God would have more than one way of establishing a relationship with someone.
Melissa,
I believe God does admit that He is a selfish God.
Also, it does elevate our beliefs. God is pretty clear on what it takes to get to Heaven. There is no real god but the God who sent his son Jesus Christ to die for us.
Believers in Christ are a chosen people. Doesn't make me better than someone who chooses not to believe. Just means I'm one of God's own.
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