Altruism

Altruism is defined as “the quality of unselfish concern for the welfare of others.”  This has been a subject I have been pondering for a little while now and while more philosophical at the heart I do believe it is necessary for any type of evangelical discussion.  Proverbs 21:2 says that “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart.”  When we were unbelievers we thought we were good people.  Most people when asked if they are good people would immediately proclaim their own righteousness.  “Yes” would be their immediate answer and when asked for specific examples they could easily come up with ways in which they have done some great thing for their community or for a group they support.  “I haven’t murdered anyone.”  “I’ve never robbed a bank.”  “I volunteer my time at AAA”  Then when asked why that makes them good they could easily point to people that they are better than.  “My next door neighbor doesn’t help in the community.”  “There are jails filled with people who are worse than I am.”  And these excuses can go on all day.  With God outside of the picture anyone, except for Adolf Hitler, could be good.  Well, even Hitler could be somewhat good.  I mean the man wouldn’t kill his mother, so he even had a portion of goodness in his life. 

People will continually bank on their goodness to get to the paradise they think they should receive.  Whether it’s the Muslim following the five pillars of Islam to get to paradise, the Buddhist monk following the four noble truths and the eightfold path, the Catholic hoping that they don’t commit too many carnal sins so that they can go to Heaven or not wait so long in purgatory, or the person attending church that was baptized at a young age hoping that if they go to enough services and because of their baptism they can gain favor with God and be let into heaven.  Time and time again I see this Proverb being true.  People when looking from their own eyes will say they are right. 

Back to the subject at hand, from a postmodern standpoint, altruism is perfectly possible especially within the context of a religion because most religions promote peace and selflessness.  Yet, when we open the Bible it gives a completely different understanding of the human race.  We are told that the human race is wicked, evil, not good, not righteous, not holy and that the heart of mankind is deceitfully wicked above all things, that no one understands.  Which means that if I am trying to be altruistic I cannot be.  There is no middle ground according to the Bible.  Either a person is good or they are not.  Even if I am trying to be altruistic I cannot be because I am still the source of my selflessness.  When I try to help people, my help is not selfless because I am still getting something out of it.  What are am I gaining out of helping someone who is helpless?  I am gaining the satisfaction in my own eyes that I am a good person.  I am feeling good about myself because I have helped someone that couldn’t help themselves.  Is this true altruism?  I think not.  Especially with the definition I gave at the beginning.  Instead, this is reciprocity.  Reciprocality is given or felt by each toward the other.  “I scratch your back.  You scratch mine” mentality.  Is altruism possible because up to this point it seems like it’s not?

There is a good and a bad answer.  The good news is that it is not only possible to be altruistic.  The bad news is that not only can we be altruistic it is commanded for us to be altruistic.  “What?!?!?!”  I can already hear the cries.  “How am I supposed to be altruist?”  “You said  my heart is deceitfully wicked above all things that no one even understands how wicked I am and yet I am supposed to be altruistic?”  “How is that even possible?”  To begin with we cannot be altruistic in and of ourselves.  In order to be completely altruistic we have to have something or someone to which we are dedicating our altruism.  But it’s not enough to dedicate just to dedicate or to gain something or else that defeats the purpose of altruism.  The only way any action can be truly altruistic is if the item or person we are dedicating our altruism to is deserving of the altruism and is enabling our altruism.  “Wait, you said item.   How can an item enable altruism?”  It can’t.  Therefore we can conclude that inanimate objects cannot be something to which we dedicate our altruism because inanimate objects can neither be altruistic nor enable altruism.  So, our altruism must be dedicated to someone.

For instance, say a mother with four kids, one of them is a baby about 18 months, is at Panera Bread.  They have their drinks and haven’t yet received their food.  While waiting one of the children spills their drink all over the table.  Say I immediately jump up to help with the mess.  I go and grab about a hundred napkins and begin to sop up all of the mess.  If I dedicate my altruism to myself and my motive is for me to receive something from that action it is not altruistic.  For example, if my motive is for the end result of feeling good about myself, that is selfish and therefore makes the action reciprocal and therefore not altruistic.  If my motive is for the end result is to gain favor in the eyes of God, my action is reciprocal and therefore not altruistic.  If my motive of the end result is for favor within the eyes of not only the mother, but those around the table and all the people I tell about my “altruistic” action, my action is reciprocal and therefore not altruistic.  So, I cannot dedicate my altruism to myself because I gain something in the end. 

Nor can my altruism be dedicated to someone to which I owe a debt.  If this were the case then altruism would be possible because we would be paying off a debt we owe to someone with our selflessness.  So this cannot be the case because we tend to gain something in the end.  Therefore this is reciprocality and not altruism.  What if I dedicate my altruism to the person to which I am helping?  That would go against what I previously said because the person you are helping is not enabling the altruism.  They are enabling you to which altruism is shown, but not to altruism itself.  Altruism is not the action that takes place, instead it is the “unselfish concern.”  So, no we cannot dedicate our altruism to the person to which we are helping.  “So who are we to dedicate our altruism and what causes this altruism?”  Grace is what causes altruism in a persons life and we dedicate our altruism to God because He enables us to be altruistic. 

God is infinitely morally perfect.  He is perfect in many other ways, but I am going to focus on his perfect morality.  God is so holy that he cannot be around sin, He cannot even look at sin.  We have all sinned.  At some point in our lives, whether you want to admit it or not, we have done something with the intent to make much of ourselves.  In making much of ourselves and not God, no matter the action, is sin and separates us from God.  Earlier when I said infinitely morally perfect I mean that God’s perfect morality was infinitely before he created the world and will continue forever.  Our morality is not infinite.  Our morality began as late as our birth, but really began with Adam in the garden.  Paul says that because of one man (Adam) our sin entered the world and death came because of sin.  So Adam started this chain of us placing ourselves on the number 1 spot in our lives and therefore causing us to rebel against God.  Now when he sinned his sin was a finite sin against an infinitely holy God.  his caused our debt to God to be that of an infinite debt because in order to gain perfection we would not only have to never do anything bad again, but all of our actions would have to be completely altruistic.  Which is not possible because we would be being altruistic because of a debt we owed therefore making it reciprocal. 

OK so this is how sin entered the world.  Fast forward a couple of thousand years and enter Jesus.  Jesus was completely altruistic because His life was spent on not himself, but on helping others and dedicating His altruism to God.  This brings up a few questions.  Wasn’t Jesus God?  Absolutely.  Then wouldn’t He be dedicating his altruism to Himself?  Absolutely.  But wouldn’t that go against what you said in paragraph 5?  Not at all.  Why?  Because in being God, Jesus was both infinitely altruistic and infinitely egoistic.  God is all about His glory.  Everything God does is so that in the end He will be glorified.  Jesus, was all about the Father’s will.  Jesus was completely selfless in His entire ministry on earth, but His selflessness was for God’s glory.  This is not an oxymoron, or a false dichotomy.  So Jesus was infinitely altruistic in everything he did on earth.  He was crucified on a cross for the sins of the world.  In His sacrifice His perfection, if we accept Him is transferred to us making us perfect in the sight of God. 

Grace is giving a person something they don’t deserve.  When we accept the give of forgiveness of God from the sacrifice of Jesus God has shown us grace by allowing us to use Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins.  We went from being enemies of God to not only friends, but sons and daughters of God.  Our entire past, present and future sins are forgiven.  Because of grace we no longer owe anything to God, so when we are altruistic we are not paying our debt off.  Also, we are not trying to gain a better position in Heaven, so when we are altruistic we are not gaining anything.  Instead, when we are altruistic we are showing the grace that we have already been shown.  Not to the extent to which it was shown, but a small portion. 

All in all is altruism possible?  Yes, but only because of the sacrifice of Jesus and his altruism can we even think about having an altruistic attitude towards others.

Please if you have any comments or concerns please either email me or comment below.  These are just my thoughts out loud and I in no way want to be misleading.

Following Jesus Through the Eye of the Needle by Kent Annan

I did receive this book for free, but not for reviewing.  This isn’t going to be as much of a review of the subject content as much as it is a recommendation for people to read this book.  I signed up to go with IVP to Haiti with Kent Annan as a missions trip and the first 50 people to sign up received this book for free.  I looked at the cover and immediately told myself that this wasn’t a book I was going to enjoy.  As you all can probably guess by now I lied to myself.  I could not put this book down.   The stories were compelling and down to earth.  While reading this book I felt part of the story because he would place Haitian phrases throughout the book and explain their meaning.  When I finished the book I felt as though I knew the characters because of the intimacy that Kent used when writing this book.  I would definitely recommend this to everyone. 

Final Exam

“The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
Isaiah 40:8

Throughout the semester we, as students, have continually been introduced to new ideas in order to help us create our worldview. The first book we read through we In the World by John Timmerman and in this book we answered questions to see how we viewed situations and how would these situations fin into a biblical worldview. The second book was The Universe Next Door by James Sire. This book was a “basic worldview catalog” in which we learned about religions around the world and we were forced, not by the teachers, to look at these religions and see how they relate to Christianity, why we think different than the other religions and cults and how the Bible and God answer questions about life that none of the other religions can. Our last book was a biography and what better way to see someone’s worldview than to read about their life. This last project has been one I have wrestled with all semester.

The final project is to answer “so what” to Isaiah 40:8. This is not an easy answer by all means. To answer would be writer’s suicide because the discussion could take an eternity because no matter what answer I or any other student give one could continue to ask “so what?” I am going to exhaust the question “so what?” so that to ask would be meaningless and pointless.

To begin to answer “so what?” we must first ask why. Why do we care if the word of God stands forever? To begin with the Heidelberg Catechism’s first question should be addressed before we continue. The question was asked “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” and the answer is “That I am not my own, but belong body and soul in life and in death to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” We were bought with a price. The price was a perfect, eternal sacrifice. It had to be a sacrifice that was a man so that it could die, but also God so that it was eternal. It had to be a sacrifice that was without blemish, without sin, without His father. It also had to be from someone that could relate to us in every aspect of our lives. From our wants, desires, and dreams to our pain, grief and suffering. Jesus Christ was the only and greatest sacrifice for our sins which is why we are our own no longer. We care that the word of God stands forever? Because it is the words of the one that gave us not only our first life, but will one day give us life forever.

As I have thought about the question “so what?” a few endings come to mind. The first being “so what was the author talking about?” Isaiah is not talking about literal grass and flowers when he says that these are going to pass away. Rather, people are portrayed as the grass and their promises are the flowers. This verse is saying that people and their promises are going to pass away. The promises are pretty on the outside, but they are going to pass. People all look the same, but they are going to end up dying. This verse is saying that God’s word, His decrees, His promises, will not pass away.

Another question that came to mind was “so what does it matter?” Throughout scripture God has made promises to Israel, about Israel, to the church, about the church, to the unsaved, about the unsaved, and against the unsaved. We see that God has kept His promises thus far, so we can have faith in His word when He gives us promises. Right when we think that there is no way that God would ever intervene to remember His promises to us God does and “saves the day.” Phillip Yancey, in the essay In Defense of Pain says “Let history finish. Let the orchestra scratch out its last mournful warm-up not of discord before it bursts into the symphony. As Paul said ‘In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us.’” Like Paul we, as Christians, need to stop looking at our present situations that we are in and know that everything we are going through is because God put us there and two this is only temporary and just one of a few notes of discord. God will keep every one of His promises He has made.

Another question that has come to mind is “so what now?” After all of the books we have read over the semester and after all of the studying we’ve done about having a biblical worldview this question is more than appropriate. What are we to do now that we see with a greater biblical worldview? Paul says in 1 Corinthians that whatever we do we should glorify God (10:31). This means that we should use the knowledge we have gained about a biblical worldview should be used to glorify God and God alone.

The final question is “so what is next?” Now that we have this knowledge what is next for us. In his essay “You’re still failing” Ottinger asks four final questions that stuck out to me tremendously and helped me answer the question “so what is next?” The first question was “Do you live in servanthood?” After this semesters work is over, after learning everything that is needed for all of the classes, after learning about having a biblical worldview, do you live in servanhood? If looking back on this semester and you can honestly answer yes that your life is characterized by servanthood than you are a greater person than I. If, like myself, you look back and see that your life is not characterized by servanthood do not loose hope. While you are still living decide to lead a life of servanthood like that of Christ. Christ was the greatest servant leader because of His humility. Create in yourself a spirit of humility and decide to be more like your step-brother Jesus and your heavenly Father God.

A second question Ottinger poses is “Do you live in love?” We have read and reread 1 Corinthians 13 multiple times and as we read we see everything that love really and truly is, but is that as far as we take love. Do we just read the words and not apply them to our lives? As hard as it is we must live a life of love. People must be able to see Christ in our lives and desire to know Him because of our love for our brothers and sister in Christ, for our friends, for the unfortunate, and even our enemies.

A third question he asks is “Do you dare dream?” This question seemed a little off for me because it seemed to have no biblical basis in mind. But in thinking about this question one could definitely see that it was more than just a basic question. If one dare dreams it shows they are living life to the fullest. John Piper would call this being a Christian Hedonist. A Hedonist is a person whose life is devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification. A Christian Hedonist is God “ most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” If we dare dream as a Christian Hedonist we could dream what God could do through us if we really let go of our pride and our selfish desires and gave them over to Him.

A final question that Ottinger asked was “Do you live each day in the possibility of eternity?” I do not think this question need much interpretation, but I am going to ask a different way, are we furthering the kingdom of this world or the kingdom of Christ? If, you can answer this truthfully as a yes, than once again you are a better person than I, but if, like me, looking back on this past semester, month, week, even day you see that you aren’t, hope is not lost. Decide to further the kingdom of God rather than this temporal kingdom on earth.

In conclusion, what we believe about God, our theology, will bleed into how we live. If we believe something about God that will bleed into how we live and people will know that we view God one way or another by how we live. By having a better view on what the Bible say about God, cults, and other religions we can now see what the point is when Isaiah says, “The word of God stands forever.”