The purpose of religion...
It's a common belief that one of the main purposes of religion is to help people be good. So one thing that Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, etc., and so on are all doing is that they're basically about making people better people (in all the different ways that they try to do that).
I don't think that's what's going on... or shouldn't be...
Let's say that there's a town somewhere that is trying to reduce crime. So they give a reward of $1,000 if someone reaches the age of 50 without murdering someone. This seems like a rather odd thing to do. Why? Because you shouldn't reward people for doing what they're obligated to do. We're all obligated not to murder people, and so we don't deserve a reward for not murdering people.
Let's say religion is trying to get people to be better people. Is it trying to get people to do stuff that is a good thing that they have no obligation to do? Or is religion trying to get people to do things that are good that they have an obligation to do anyway?
I'd say the latter. Religion tries to encourage people to be nice people. But we should be nice people anyway, regardless of whether religion had ever existed.
And so I don't think religion can really be, or should be, about making people better people. Regardless of whether religion had ever existed, we should have been good people anyway, and so we don't deserve any reward for being good people, wherever our obligations were concerned.
With regard to Christianity, it's purpose is not about making people into better people. Christianity isn't about making people into 'good people', it's about God saving people through the cross, which took away our wrongdoing somehow. It's about God taking away people's bad intentions without needing our help, rather than people getting into heaven because of their own abilities.
Any religion that is about making people better has worthwhile effects when it does so, but it's doing something that people should have done anyway, and so in a strict sense, is redundant. In the case of Christianity, God puts people into a right relationship with Himself for eternity without needing any help from us.
I don't think that's what's going on... or shouldn't be...
Let's say that there's a town somewhere that is trying to reduce crime. So they give a reward of $1,000 if someone reaches the age of 50 without murdering someone. This seems like a rather odd thing to do. Why? Because you shouldn't reward people for doing what they're obligated to do. We're all obligated not to murder people, and so we don't deserve a reward for not murdering people.
Let's say religion is trying to get people to be better people. Is it trying to get people to do stuff that is a good thing that they have no obligation to do? Or is religion trying to get people to do things that are good that they have an obligation to do anyway?
I'd say the latter. Religion tries to encourage people to be nice people. But we should be nice people anyway, regardless of whether religion had ever existed.
And so I don't think religion can really be, or should be, about making people better people. Regardless of whether religion had ever existed, we should have been good people anyway, and so we don't deserve any reward for being good people, wherever our obligations were concerned.
With regard to Christianity, it's purpose is not about making people into better people. Christianity isn't about making people into 'good people', it's about God saving people through the cross, which took away our wrongdoing somehow. It's about God taking away people's bad intentions without needing our help, rather than people getting into heaven because of their own abilities.
Any religion that is about making people better has worthwhile effects when it does so, but it's doing something that people should have done anyway, and so in a strict sense, is redundant. In the case of Christianity, God puts people into a right relationship with Himself for eternity without needing any help from us.
posted by Will G | Thursday, October 08, 2009
1 Comments:
Religion tries to encourage people to be nice people. But we should be nice people anyway, regardless of whether religion had ever existed.
It's refreshing to hear a Christian say that.
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