Why do you do "good"?

Question

What do you think is better?

Doing something good because you will be judged later on?
Or, doing something good because you genuinely want to?

I have been having this debate with Christians who don’t seem to understand this very well. Why would someone Not Kill, Not Steal, Not cheat on his/her husband/wife...etc..etc. because “God” is watching them and told them not to and NOT because they don’t want to hurt anybody and/or they know how it feels to have these things done to them and would not wish that on anyone else.

Do you ever ask yourself what your motive is for being a good person?

Answer 1

Good Question. Someone should do something because he/she genuinely want to. Not because you fear what your God will do. I think being a good person comes from the way we were raised. There are some though that I have met that have been moral free and could care less about what God are others think.

Answer 2

I'm not Christian. I'm Jewish. I will take a religious standpoint regarding this, though. There are things that, religiously speaking, G-d commands us to do. This includes being a good person and treating people well. Is this the only reason people should behave properly and treat others well? Not at all, and I find it pathetic when people use fear as a motivator or believe that they will be damned to some eternal place of suffering if they don't do these things. This place does not exist, people.

If you're religious you should do whatever you can to be good and treat others with respect, empathy, and understanding. If you're not religious, you should do whatever you can to be good and treat others with respect, empathy and understanding. Doing these things because you think you have to in order to be rewarded later does NOT mean you're a good person. It just means that all you know how to do is to follow rules. It's superficial. It IS most definately important to follow rules, we have them for a reason whether religiously speaking, as parents, or in other real life situations. But blindly following rules does not good people make.

Answer 3

Doing something good because you are good, reasonable, rational, empathic, wise, giving, honest, genuine, capable and motivated.

That should do it. Any of those actually.

To answer your last question, yes, I used to question it, I used to doubt absolute altruism, nd then I decided it wasn't important to seek 'absolutes' as evidence. Altruism is enough of a reality without looking for 'perfection.'


Religionists do often have a big problem with this question.

Religions originally came from fear of the unknown (death, thunder, lightning, the sun etc) and then tried to frame fear in a 'supernatural' way in order to try and control what it saw as very real terrors (the unknown). I think the 'good/bad' part came later on, so it is still tied to a punitive mindset.

Patriarchal religions cleave to the 'Be Good For Daddy' thing, which I admit to finding more than a bit disturbing.

Answer 4

Great question. I think it has a lot to do with the burdens that God places on people--He has placed a heavy burden on me to do what's right, so therefore I genuinely want to do things because they're right, not because God will judge me. My motive for being a good person is making peace with God and with myself--He gave me a strong sense of justice, and because He gave me that gift, I genuinely want to do good, and I don't want to have to justify doing wrong to him later. So, I guess I do good things for both reasons.

Answer 5

I don't do good. I trip old ladies walking down the street with canes, I pass drugs out at the local elementary school, I eat puppies, I steal food from soup kitchens, and I have lots of unprotected gay group sex in public with minors. I'm an atheist... I have a reputation to uphold here...

Answer 6

I like to be Nice.
From the Inside Out!

If I answer a Question with what I have Heard GOD "Say", and because I Believe GOD Almighty IS the Untimate Authority, IF THAT ANSWER Ticks ya off, then Take it up with GOD!

John LawMan is a Real Good Reason to "Be Nice" too!!!

StonyLonesomes are not nice.

Answer 7

great question and i would have to say the second choice would be the more logical and morally correct one. do something out of the goodness of your heart not becasue you are afriad. you can also related this question to as to why people believe in religion itself. some people only follow religion becuase they do not want to go to hell if there really is a hell. so they believe in god " just incase". i wonder if god wants you to belive in him just in spite of fear. i wish some people would just use there brain for once in there lives and think outside there comfort zones and truly see they world for what it is.

Answer 8

Good question. I'd go for the doing good because you want to, or internal morality. I'd say that I follow my morality much better now than when I was a Christian.

Answer 9

Why WOULDN'T I?

Behavior is a part of your make-up, of who you are. as a child of God, it is perfectly natural for me to do good wherever and whenever I can. It's not about judgment, it's about my basic personality. To be honest, I can't even tell you which came first, my attitude, or my faith. It was all so very long ago........

Answer 10

I try to be good because of empathetic reasons. (I wouldn't want people to do evil things to me.)

Doing good only for a reward or to avoid punishment seems self-serving to me. (Although I'll happily do something good if I get rewarded for it.)