There was one question I never really bothered to ask my local pastor. I didn't think he could give me a decent answer.

My question is : Do you think that there are religious people out there who are intrinsically being good for the sake of their moral well being, or do you think that most of these religious folks do good deeds to reap the benefits of their afterlife?

What do you guys think?

Definitely.

For instance, one can be a good person and then come to faith. So, they would continue to be good for the sake of their moral well being, but have another motive, to serve God.

Ultimately though, one is not saved by good deeds. One must have faith in Jesus and his resurrection and repent for their sins. Of course, one exemplifies their faith through good deeds.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God
Ephesians 2:8

I wasn't asking about requirements to get into heaven. Since I'm a Catholic, I believe that it takes meritorious works and a belief in Christ to get into heaven.

I was asking about the general consensus on the morality of your everyday religious Joe.

This pertains more to your belief of the general goodness of people rather than details of your particular religion.

Actually, I'll be more direct. When you do good works, are you motivated more so by the thought of eternal salvation, or by the idea that you are showing love to your neighbour when you do good works for others?

ofc there are people there that have a belief and faith that their works will get them into heaven or a have a state of peaceful conscience after death, or maybe even more motivational factors to do good

in addition,
it is not the fact that you're doing good to outmerit your wrongs, but the object of your faith, one can have a faith that their works will get them into heaven but as sniffles has pointed out in Ephesians 2:8 that no man's works can get them into heaven but by only the blood of Jesus Christ

attempting to answer your more direct question,
it is not the thought of eternal salvation or just to do good for our neighbor
it's a chain which ultimately leads to loving your neighbor
for me, it goes like this - God loves me, therefore, i have chosen to love God back, God loves humans, therefore, i have also chosen to love humans too
because God loves a sinful, deceitful, dispicable, disgusting man, i love them too

But you did ask about the requirements to go to heaven by stating/ asking that "most of these religious folks do good deeds to reap the benefits of their afterlife?" But, Christianity is not about reaping the benefits of afterlife as much as it is about God's glorification. So when you ask "When you do good works, are you motivated more so by the thought of eternal salvation, or by the idea that you are showing love to your neighbour when you do good works for others?" I would say neither. I do good works for God's glorification, not for my own benefit. I am motivated that I am showing God's love to my neighbors and that I am spreading his name, not my name.

This is kind of a branch off of a topic I've studied quite a bit. Many "religious" folks do good deeds solely to reap the benefits for themselves. It's a pandemic called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

Here is a blog I wrote on it:

http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=39926193&f=276

If I'm just missing the mark on what you are asking, I apologize.

This post was edited by ihavethesniffles on Sep 10 2010 01:36pm

unfortunately, Jesus didnt die for people to be 'morally well.' so thats kind of a false belief / doctrine they are walking out
and to reap good benefits int he after life is DISGUSTING, and thats just wrong... its supposed to be about the love of Christ, not the gifts in Heaven.
i just help people out, and dont really think about Heaven.. i think about Jesus, and why He died.. thats what people need to pray and live for, not for greater rewards, and to keep out of trouble..

I have no idea why you would say such a thing .

Jesus tells us to store up our treasures ( plural ) in heaven and it is abundantly clear that the crowns awarded for service are as a reward for faithfully performing the work that God had planned for each individual who believes in Him .

Mathew 6 : 20 NIV

" But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. "


The gift of salvation is free but the Bible is abundantly clear that Heavenly rewards are earned and something to strive for . Let me know if you can't find the relevant Scriptures as I immediately found dozens .

This post was edited by WidowMaKer_MK on Sep 13 2010 06:40am

The middle portion of that verse means that physical treasures are meaningless in heaven. Perhaps, God is the treasure that you are storing up, where thieves (the Devil) can not block you from him. After all, what else would you want in heaven? To sit at his left hand? Keasby is not wrong. As I have previously stated in this thread, the purpose of life and Heaven is to glorify God. So, to say that one's motivation for gaining entrance to heaven is for their own benefit IS disgusting. If one is truly devoted to God, he should be the only reward we care about. Maybe by believing the way he does, Keasby will gain more treasures.

And please point out dozens more verses you immediately found - after all, it's pretty easy to do that when you just google the topics instead of actually studying scripture.

if all your doing is caring about how many treasures your going to get in Heaven, re-asses your faith sir.

LOL



So you think you know everything of the Bible, and that anyone younger than you has absolutely nothing you can take from them? How ignorant, just like every other post I've seen you post here.




Manners? You tried telling me that because I'm young I have no place in conversation.

This post was edited by ihavethesniffles on Sep 13 2010 08:39am