Unconditional love - that's what every religion teaches. But how many of our good deeds are really done with no conditions. Don't you think that all of us subconsciously think of some kind of benefit we might take out of our good deed (sometimes it's God's reward we hope for, sometimes it's somebody's gratitude and good opinion, sometimes we expect a favour one day in the future - again, i repeat subconsciously). I think we all tend to expect SOMETHING to come out of it. We seem to be forgetting that we should never let our left hand know what the right one did. Comments?
Best regards!!!
Muslimah
2006-11-10 06:37:03 · 13 answers · asked by Regina 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Makes us think, right? :)
2006-11-10 06:44:12 · update #1
i think you are rite, in away, i know consciously i do things for God. before i was a christian i did things because i had to, or someone was going to be mad....now, its a bit different, i do things for others, because God wants me to and because of the new love i have now, for other people....God put that there though.and, yes, i do hope for the blessings of God. and I'm sure at times/and times to come i will want some acknowledgment...but ill take a deep breath and remember why I'm doing what I'm doing...and ask God for forgiveness..... thank you for the good question. God bless you
2006-11-10 07:04:15 · answer #1 · answered by CINTHIA C 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Wise words, m'dear. I don't think it's necessarily true, however, that we _always_ do good deeds for some sort of personal benefit. Doing good deeds for others can sometimes be its own reward, and while I don't do it anywhere near as often as I should, there are times when impulsive empathy comes naturally, as I'm sure it does for other people too.
2006-11-10 14:42:12 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
"We are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteous acts are as filthy rags. We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." That's how the Bible prophet Isaiah addressed the people of God! He wasn't talking to unbelievers, but to those in Covenant relationship with God!
"I know that nothing good lives in me (that is, in my flesh) for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out... When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescure me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" That's what the Christian apostle Paul said - after his conversion!
Sin taints everything we do. Admitting that fact is the first step to humbly repenting before God, for only he can lift the condemnation we deserve. Even if we were to do some truly good things, without pride or ulterior motive, we could not expect "Brownie points" for doing what we ought to do! So, my answer would be, NONE of our good deeds are really done in purity. But God is gracious, and accepts our offerings of service if they are done to bring glory to his name. That is the only 'reward' worth having - his "Well done!"
2006-11-10 15:13:02 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
The Bible teaches us :
The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked,who can know it ?
I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings, (Jeremiah 17).
Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil, (13)
O generation of vipers how can ye, being evil, speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, (Matthew 12).
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.....(Isaiah 64).
There is none good but one, that is God...(Matthew 19).
Pretty damning isn't it ?
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God, &
...saith the Lord...To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word.
2006-11-10 19:46:39 · answer #4 · answered by James the less 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
We're all selfish beings, but a good deed is a good deed no matter what way you look at it, right? Just be happy that people still do them!!
That is the real test of our society.
2006-11-10 15:12:00 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
The good atheists and agnostics do (I am neither) would be done out of the goodness of their hearts. I see Christians all the time doing "good deeds" because they think Jesus is keeping a tally, like Santa Claus.
2006-11-10 14:43:49 · answer #6 · answered by Sweetchild Danielle 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Too few, we're too impressed with grand gestures that do questionable good. For instance, dumping food aid on the third world and in so doing collapsing their mostly agricultural economies.
2006-11-10 15:46:42 · answer #7 · answered by mesun1408 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is a difference between doing it FOR the reward and doing it for a different reason, and taking the reward, if it comes.
2006-11-10 14:42:24 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Charitable acts are 100% selfless and 100% selfish ... all at the very same time.
God set it up that way.
Don't worry about it. Just do it.
2006-11-10 21:06:48 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Very few.
2006-11-10 14:44:06 · answer #10 · answered by . 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋