works

This is part two of my three-part rant. Check out my previous posts for a bit of background.

I do want to say first that my intention is not to pick apart one man’s thoughts (although it does seem to be shaking down that way, doesn’t it?). Rick Warren did not originate any of these ideas. They are part of a larger (and very prevalent) scope of Christian thought. And they encapsulate much of what I think is broken, lacking and illogical in Christianity. They are some of the very things that have weighed on my heart and mind … causing much of my faith to come loose at the seams.

With that said ...

Thought Two: “Altruism comes out of knowing there is more than this life, that there is a sovereign God” Implication: Only people of faith are truly capable of kindness and good works.

This argument speaks to a larger idea that is foundational to Christianity. We hear, as Christians, that man is fallen. Broken. Sinful. Depraved. There are countless verses that would support this, right? These are the ABCs of Sunday school. Only through faith in Christ can we be reconciled to God. Everything we do outside of Christ is ultimately self-serving.

But the obvious implication of this is that all who do not profess a faith in Christ are still in their utterly depraved states. And that everything they do is ultimately self-serving. A bit uglier on the flip side, don’t you think? But it seems to me, the logical conclusion from the first statement.

Now, as an aside, I think it’s often wholly without pride that Christians hold this line of thinking. I’ve heard the analogy often that we are all beggars. Christians are just beggars that have found a place for bread, and are humbly offering it to their fellow beggars. I will say that this analogy has always really resonated with me. The problem comes though, when our fellow “beggars” are not at all hungry. They feel quite well-fed, thank you very much. And are not looking an alternative source of sustenance. And they’re frankly, a little annoyed that we would imply otherwise.

But I digress. Statistically, there is zero evidence that Christians are more zealous about humanitarian efforts than non-Christians. And while there are indeed many Christian organizations and people lovingly and faithfully serving the poor and doing good works, there are many in the secular world doing the very same. In fact (and I will not claim I know this to be true) I read recently that when you remove the volunteering that Christians do in their own local church body (committees, teaching etc), Christians actually do much less than non-believers, in the scheme of serving the larger world.

I heard a (Christian) writer I like talk the other day about finding a Christian Office Supply Store. And he marveled that the Christians can isolate themselves so completely from the outside world (Christian radio, television, schools, books, music, friends) cocooning ourselves in the comfort of a world where everybody thinks just like us. And I would suggest that when we do this, it’s even easier to believe the implication (however subtle and probably subconscious in many ways) that all non-Christians are (without the light of Christ) at their cores, self serving.

But once a person’s circle is a little bigger, and they meet countless kind, self-sacrificing non-Christians with lives that genuinely model the idea of “love your neighbor” (in some case better than Christians), that line of thinking loses its traction rather quickly.

Beyond all this, even if I do believe that Christ did indeed instruct me to “love my neighbor as myself,” I certainly hope that would not be my sole motivation for caring about my fellow human beings. When we see suffering in the world, we are moved to compassion. Not simply because God told us to be compassionate. But because anyone who lives in reality can see that, in the long run, it is a much more fufilling way to live. Because we can see that we are all connected ...part of the shared fabric of humanity. We know this not because someone wrote it in a book thousands of years ago, but from experience. Empathy and altruism are possible, not because we are godly, but because we are human.