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by TallGuyShort
4692 days ago
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Well I (and probably most Mormons, and IMO the Old and New Testament) would absolutely agree with you that service out of sincere love for others and a desire to do good is far more noble than serving with the thought of reward. I don't believe "all you have to say is I believe", because I think faith is not faith if you're not willing to back it up with your actions. Likewise, serving for a reward is better than no service - but it misses the point of actually becoming a happier, more loving person. I think a person who sincerely believes in God and believes we are, in any sense, his children, should feel a natural love towards others and a desire to serve Him and them. I think if a pastor feels they need to motivate with the thought of reward, they've already missed out on that very fundamental point. Going to heaven would be nice, but it shouldn't be the only reason you do good. If it gets you to start serving, great, but I don't believe anyone's going to heaven who doesn't sincerely love their fellow man. The thing is, though, it's not like I invented my beliefs because I needed a reason to serve - I believe because of (though you may disgaree) rational reasons and experiences I've had that although I can't reproduce them or verify them to others, I consider empirical as far as myself is concerned. If I sincerely believe that to be the truth and a source of great happiness, I wouldn't call it a waste that I spent 2 years inviting others to try achieve the same. If they decline, that's fine and I think no less of them, but it's not like my beliefs are the only reason I have for trying to serve others. I still serve in other ways and for other reasons - believing in God doesn't mean I wouldn't try to do good otherwise. >> Not all atheists lack spirituality, and not all are moral-less. You can totally believe in a greater cause without having to invent things. Wholeheartedly agree - I hope I have not implied anything to the contrary. |
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My point of contention is the belief that tricking people into doing good as an end that justifies the means is acceptable. I don't believe people should be tricked into doing good. I don't believe they are even doing good when they don't fundamentally understand why they should be doing good. What results from this process is just a bunch of bad and evil people trying to forgive themselves of their sins. They'll invade the religion, corrupt it, and pretty soon over time organized religion will just be filled with these types of people. THAT'S the reason why it's bad to just trick people into doing good. Your religion will just start attracting these false worshippers, and you end up with religions filled with hypocrites. Religion is not objective. It is subjective, so it is very prone to be distorted and bent and shaped to satisfy the needs of both good and evil people. If you start making compromises and just get people who want to "serve for a reward," you'll end up slowly corrupting the religion and letting those evil people infiltrate, shape, and dominate it. This obviously hasn't just started happening, it's been happening over centuries. And yes, there ARE actual good Christians, but it's harder to tell them apart from the corrupted ones. The corrupted ones are the ones the liberals and the atheists hate, because they are at the forefront of intolerance, outdated traditionalism, and hypocrisy. They give the GOOD Christians a bad name. Unfortunately, this easy corruption of religion is fundamental to the way it operates. If you indiscriminately acquire new religion members, your religion is prone to infection, like an open wound. This is why religions who don't go out with a sales force, adding whoever and whenever they can, are less prone to infection and corruption.
This is why religion that lacks a sales team has more credence because honestly, a religion that sells itself is more believable as divine and correct.