Penumbra
Traveler
Well, it's a good thread, so it'll receive good responses.I'm pretty impressed so far with the answers given in this thread.
In my view, doing good without expectation of reward is what makes it encouraging and inspiring.Seems that there are a few common themes among different religions. I must admit that I'm not so sure I would have the same attitude of wanting to make a difference here on earth and contributing to the welfare of other people. It sounds great and all, but I think apart from Christ I would probably be a nihilist and the thought of there being no life after this one would be fairly discouraging to me. My attitude might be to just live it up here on earth and do whatever I want to do because once it's over it's over. Not really sure though. Of course I see God in all of creation so maybe if I weren't a Christian I would be drawn to a religion that was focused on our creation.
I have a fairly dismal view of life, but this sort of philosophy of focusing on improving the world in some small way has been a partial solution to that, so for me it's kind of the other way around from what you describe.
I'm always interested in Christians (or any theists) that say that without their god, they'd do whatever they want to do in this life. It seems to be a pretty common statement, but I'm confused at how someone's level of compassion or selflessness would change so drastically if their own reward were removed.
I think it depends on context. Money is not the root of all evil. It's a tool that can be used by the just and the unjust alike. Wealth built by ethical means and used for good purposes is a noble pursuit.I was thinking about this some more and I realized that these goals (minus the protection of life) are completely different from the "goals" of Christianity. Christianity promotes humility, putting others before yourself, serving others, storing treasures in heaven and not on this earth, the last will be first, money is the root of all evil, etc.
In the Bible, Jesus even has a parable (Parable of the Talents, I believe) where he talks about the different servants being left with money and how some of them used it wisely to double it while the other one buried it and gave back the same amount. The parable has to do with a lot more than just money, but it is about responsibly managing what is yours to manage, which includes tangible assets. For others, Jesus says to sell everything. People have different strengths and different weaknesses.
-Lyn
Upvote
0