Altruism revisited

April 22, 2008 by Dr. Mc.

I hope I don’t get spiritual here for some of my readers,
but this serves as a very applicable example of the "selfish generosity" anomaly
discussed in my
April 6 blog. A couple of days ago I realized that I had underpaid a
contractor for a fence installation on my property. I called him up and
explained that I owed him more money, and he quickly came to my door for the
difference. He thanked me profusely, understanding that I already had my receipt
and my fence. I just smiled. Get ready: Here’s the spiritual part. Once before I
remember correcting a cashier by giving her back some change. When she thanked
me, I said, something like, "It’s a God thing;" she replied something like,
"Yeah, it’s not worth going to Hell for." She didn’t get it, and I wasn’t going
to try to explain it to the contractor. May I try here?

According to my understanding of the Bible, my
salvation is free. That means that I cannot earn it, and I’m required to pay
no installments to keep it. The Bible says
God is just, so He should enjoy my restitution of the money. My sole
motivation was gratitude: I did it
for God’s pleasure, not my gain. Might I have done it to gain some reward in
Heaven? The Bible suggests that there might be such rewards, but it also says
that if I do my giving before other people (as I am doing by telling you this
story), then I have my reward already. So I did it so I could tell you and get your
admiration! No, I did it before I thought of telling you. And I wouldn’t tell
you afterwards if I wanted to protect some reward in Heaven. Whatever reward I’m
forfeiting here, I consider nothing for the sake of giving you this example..
so, I really did it for no other reason than gratitude, in this case, to give God pleasure. If one
really believes there is a God
Who offers free salvation, then this is not only how one should act, but
also why one should act. Can this really work? Most people don’t believe it can,
and that’s why they keep coming up with religions that offer rewards and
punishments for behaviors. But there are some people who really do believe the
Bible, and those who don’t, really can’t believe them.

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