Why Play Nice When There’s No Forever Penalty for Wrong?
April 1, 2010
If there is no consequence or judgment then what is the purpose of right and wrong? Why defend the helpless and vulnerable? Why do good?
The answer seems so obvious to me that I wonder if I’m missing something. Is the question more complicated than I’m understanding it to be? I doubt it would be the first time.
We do good because God has been good to us. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We show mercy because mercy has been granted us. We clothe and feed the poor because as God has fed the birds of the air and clothed the flowers of the field, God has provided for us. Hell slips out of the equation when our actions flow from a place of awareness and gratitude for the good we have received from God.
If fear of hell is what motivates good action, if the only purpose of right behavior is to avoid hell, then the good being done would be tainted and cheap, done less for the sake of good and more as a means of self-preservation. Doing good would be nothing less than the most selfish of actions.
But no. We defend the helpless, feed the hungry, care for the orphan and the widow, stand up for the oppressed, and forgive our enemies because God has made it known to us that everyone who lives is a beloved child of God and deserves nothing less than to be treated with respect, compassion, and dignity. We feed the hungry because they are hungry. We feed the hungry because it lessens their suffering. We feed the hungry because given other circumstances in our own lives, we would be the ones with empty hands and stomach. We feed the hungry because God told us to feed them and because Jesus modeled it for us. We feed the hungry because we are so grateful for the love of God poured out in our lives that we need to release it into the world by giving of what we have received. If there is no reward for goodness at the end of our lives then isn’t the reward we receive in the moment in easing another’s suffering and adding to the goodness in this life, enough? Oh, I hope so.
And if there’s no punishment for wrongdoing what’s to prevent us from going and getting what we want no matter who it hurts or what the cost? If someone is driven by self-centeredness or lacks any magnetic integrity in their moral compass then I suppose there’s nothing to prevent it. In fact, the threat of hell and damnation has done nothing to hold sin in check, even in Christian communities where there’s a strong belief system centered around a final judgment and eternal consequences for sin. Look around. Examples abound. Priests sexually molest children. Religious leaders engage in infidelity and financial corruption. Churches build elaborate edifices to worship God in while the homeless and hungry are all around them. Denominations spend vast resources attempting to keep certain people out of their churches while doing far less to reach out and gather more people in. Scripture repeatedly makes it all too clear that it’s sin to not clothe the poor, shelter the homeless, or feed the hungry. It’s sinful for Christians to marginalize the oppressed and refuse the outcast when everything about Jesus life witnessed to the opposite, and adultery and child sexual abuse would seem to be no-brainers in the sin department. Final judgment. Consequences for sin. Existence of hell. And still, Christians do wrong.
So does removing the threat of eternal consequences change anything? Probably not and it shouldn’t because there would seem to be far more valuable reasons for avoiding wrong doing. How about these for an example?
- You want to be and be known as an honorable person of good character.
- You want to follow the wisdom and instruction of God and the example of God’s Son out of love for God.
- You want to honor the One who loves you by doing good and avoiding wrong.
- You wish to avoid doing anything that would bring harm and pain to another human being.
- You want to avoid the consequences in this life that come from wrong doing, whether those consequences are played out for the world to see or known only in the secret place of your own heart.
Again, I might be over-simplifying the question. I’m open to correction, comments, and more questions. I still have at least one more post in this spontaneous series…maybe two. Depends on where your comments lead us.
Posted in Engaging Conversation, Love and Grace, Theology
Sweet Hope Cookies
April 1st, 2010 at 7:53 pm
I absolutely love this! But this brings to the surface a question for me… What if we’re wrong? Not just about the existence of Hell or even God. But what if we’re wrong, and what we’ve refused to believe turns out to be truth? But mainly, what if the path we’ve chosen and lived dutifully and believed whole-heartedly is wrong and we end up at the wrong destination?
Just wondering…
RD
April 1st, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Anita, as always, you words speak TRUTH and gospel. I thank God for you and your ministry. Blessed Be.
RuthAnn
April 2nd, 2010 at 9:13 am
Love this. Love this. Love this.
I want to contribute a little to RD’s questions if I may. You ask some good questions and I have had the very same ones.
When I asked myself those questions, to be fair, I had to also ask myself…..What if we were on the other side of this conversation or belief and we were wrong? No matter what side of theology we stand on, aren’t we always going to be asking that question?
Wouldn’t the answers to some of this be found in the character of God and the love of God? Meaning, perhaps we should ask ourselves if we believe in a God who creates people in his image, to be called his children, to then throw them into hell when they don’t get it right. Know what I mean?
It’s hard for to me to imagine a vengeful God when I was personally wooed by God and God’s love in such an incredible way. Still am.
The is no fear in perfect love. I want to live my life following Jesus not because of fear, but because it’s the image I was made in, it’s how I’m created, because I’m greatly loved and want to love others in that same great way, because that’s when I’m the happiest and the list goes on. Not because it’s a duty or there could be repercussions if I don’t. I mean, there will be repercussions if I don’t, that’s for sure….I won’t be nearly as happy and I could easily create some very hellish ways for myself if I don’t.
I have found there is such a great freedom in this. A freedom I really believe God wants us to have.
Just a few thoughts. Thanks for letting me share.
Again, I love this. I love that we are having this discussion and some really great questions are being asked. Thanks Anita.
April 2nd, 2010 at 10:01 am
Guess my tendency towards the elder brother (prodigal son) syndrome is showing, more than I would like. (It’s depths actually surprised me.) Like King David wrote about in Psalm73—-I stumbled, being envious of the seeming prosperity & success of the ‘wicked’–wondering if I’ve kept my heart pure & washed my hands in vain?
David wrestled with this very issue, the eternal destiny of saint & sinner as he was tempted to say: “What’s the point of doing right?” But his perspective quickly changed when he came into the sanctuary to worship God…..David saw his own humanity & the grace of God extended to him, to everyone.
At times the struggle of this life, clouds our perspective and we all have days when we wonder……..is it really worth it, is it all in vain? And in that we’re tempted to love less. The only place where anything/everything becomes clear is in God’s presence, worshiping Him. And when we truly see Him in ALL His goodness, love, mercy, kindness, forgiveness, holiness, we’re filled with Him, His love and we know the way of love is where life flows.
Who would imagine where a conversation about heaven & hell could take us? Certainly not I!
April 3rd, 2010 at 10:06 am
What if the person asking the question doesn’t believe in God? Or is questioning their belief? Often times, when I’ve been asked similar questions, the asker was not raised in a Christian household, and is either a confirmed atheist or is simply just trying to figure it all out.
My thoughts on the subject are the same as yours. But, imagine being told, “You want to follow the wisdom and instruction of God and the example of God’s Son out of love for God” when you don’t know your own thoughts on God. Your answers make a lot of sense to people who already have a good grasp of the Christian thing. They don’t make a whole lot of sense to people who are trying to understand…
Did that make any sense at all? It made a lot more sense in my head!
April 3rd, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Gina –> It absolutely makes sense…in your heard and in your comments! Please keep in mind that most of my content is aimed toward those who are Christian, are curious about the Christian faith, or have some connection to Christianity that draws them here, and so you’re right that the same answers wouldn’t gel for everyone. Every religion has it’s own teaching around right living, but it would seem that the atheist, agnostic, and seeker would be equally motivated by the universal moral principle of “do good, avoid evil,” or even more basic, “do not harm.” I’m I barking up the tree you were climbing?
April 4th, 2010 at 7:57 am
Must one need God or hell to do good? To be good?
Does one need the threat of punishment or losing their soul to do the right thing?
Cannnot one be and do good just for the sake of goodness? To be and do good for goshdernit it is the right thing to do?
Being good and doing good comes from that place in your heart that tells you that it is the right thing to do. You do it out of love. You do it for you have compassion for another.
As soon as the threat of punishment or eternal damnation is thrown in then being and doing good is now driven not by love, but by fear. Now you being and doing good for you are fearful of being punished, for you are afraid of going to hell.
You are no longer coming from a place of compassion, but from a place of fear, a place of terror. You fear not being good enough for good, not good enough for love, not ood enough for compassion, not good enough for God.
That is not love in any form.
It is believed that Compassion is the hightest form of love. It is for me the single most profound understanding a soul can learn. Compassion can take lifetimes to comprehend and share.
Out of Compassion comes another powerfull lesson: forgiveness. You learn to see and understand past the actions of others who may be coming from a place of fear, a place of pain, and you you have love, you have compassion for them. You forgive them and offer them love and compassion for you know that thier soul too needs this love and compassion you feel in your heart. YOu understand that thier soul is precious and sacred and you have compassion for them no matter how bad they may have been.
For is a soul realy ‘evil’? Or is it a soul in great pain? One that somehow lost its sense of compassion, of being loved? And to punish that soul by forever banning it from ever knowing love, forgivness and compassion ever again?
That is not love in any form.
That is why I do not believe in hell; for each and every soul is sacred and therefore precious. Each soul is unique, one of a kind, irreplacable. No two are alike, no one soul is more precious than another.
They are deeply and forever loved.
For God to let any soul go to a place where love is no more, where compassion is extinct where they have no chance at forgiveness and healing is unthinkable. To belive that any soul is no longer worthy of love, compassion , forgivness, of healing is something I can never believe in. To give up on any soul is unexcusable.
It is impossible.
‘Those who believe in hell are confined by it.’
One simple meaning for that statement is that if you believe in hell, then you believe you have the right to withhold love, to withhold compassion, to withhold forgiveness. You believe that some souls are deserving of hell, deserving to be annihilated.
That is not love.
Compassion is the key. Goodness, forgiveness, love and healing are all come from having Compassion.
All and every soul is deserving of Compassion. It is out of showing this Compassion, of doing Compassion, of BE-ing Compassion in action is how we understand Compassion.
Be the Compassion you want to see.
Be Compassion in action.
Just my little bit of rambling. Thanx Anita for letting me share.
Be The Peace,
~julia~