I realize that i am up against the naturalist amen choir around here but I’ll try anyway.
It is assumed by those who have a vested interest in the idea that all religions are basically the same, that Christianity teaches that good nice people who do good and nice things earn their way into heaven.
But this is not true. Christianity turned the idea of doing good for reward on its ear. It teaches that our reward is already been given as a free gift regardless of our personal goodness. All we have to do is accept it. Consequently, this faith teaches that reward can neither be increased nor decreased by our altruism. It is what it is. Instead, this faith teaches that good works are a sign of an internal reality, of that acceptance of the free gift. In other words in Christian thought and belief, good works are acts of spontaneous and sincere gratitude overflowing out of a believer in response to a gift already given. The idea is that our good deeds can not earn us that which is already free for the asking.
This gratitude and responsive love is what motivated Mother Teresa. We can second guess her all we want. But that is how she understood herself. That is how Christians understand themselves.
I have to say that it is a very ugly idea to claim that someone outside of the person or group in question knows better what motivates that person. It means never having to really listen to anyone or take them serioudsly. It means living in a world that is informed only by one’s own biases. All you will ever see in the world is yourself.
I would much rather take a person at their word and learn a different perspective than to dismiss them as someone who doesnt really know what they are talking about.
That’s what I mean when I speak of treating people as machines or animals driven by impulses beyond their consciousness. Saying that all of our behavior boils down to evolutionary mechanisms is a way of saying that noone has anything to really to say to us. No one is special. Nothing about their lives or ideas need disturb us. Its all perfectly explainable. It all fits perfectly into a comforting system of thought hermetically sealed against any mystery, nobility or heroism. All are just machines obeying their evolutionary programming.
Like I said, what a cold world that must be to live in.
