Why do you continue to be good?
I am constantly finding that when i get to know someone enough to tell them I’m an atheist that almost always the topic will come up.
Why do you continue to be good even though there is no reward?
My answer is that even though there is no reward I continue to be good due to mainly empathy but also the fact that when I did believe I never acted as I did because of heaven.
Whats your answer, why do you continue to be polite, obey the law, do your work, ect.?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mario Rodgers on -
Is it better to good because of the specter of the Boogeyman in the Closet(and don't try to deny that God is this) or to do good because of tangible connections with other people and your own internal compass? Is the only thing keeping believers from doing bad things a fear of Hell and the commands of their God? What if your God told you to jump off a bridge or to kill somebody? People have done injurious things because of their faith.
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Permalink Reply by Benn McNulty on -
Well the bible says God did tell Abraham to murder his son and he would have. What a prick.
P.S. YOUR God?
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Permalink Reply by Mario Rodgers on
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Well. Being generic of course. I don't have a god. LOL.
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on -
Because I realized that I am ultimately responsible for my actions and behavior. That's the short version.
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Permalink Reply by Jānis Ķimsis on -
Counter it with a question - is the promise of heaven the only thing keeping you from raping and pillaging?
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Permalink Reply by Kymberly on -
It would be a sad world if everyone was nice and pleasant to others, only because they would be rewarded after death. I 'stay good', or whatever you would call it, because I believe in the golden rule. I would want other people to hold the door for me when my hands are full, and say thank you when I pick up a toy a child threw, and to let me get on a bus first. So, it only makes sense that I would do the same for other people. I also know that people will remember me when I die, and I don't want anyone to regret my life, because I was horrible to them in life.
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Permalink Reply by Nelson on -
actually, that's not what i said at all. i said that our moral feelings evolved in an environment where what seems to us to have been done out of altruism was in fact done out of self-interest. what i had hoped to make clear is that just because the environment has changed such that our actions are perhaps no longer completely in our own self-interest- holding the door open or helping someone with their bags for instance- it doesn't mean that the evolved impulses aren't still active.
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Permalink Reply by Fancy Nancy on
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it's connected to the meaning question .... what is good for me, for others ... values etc
bit waffly i know but that's my brain today :D
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Permalink Reply by M on -
I agree with Doone & Nelson. Nicely put!
doone said:The reward is internal, the reward is doing good because it feels right, the reward is making or accomplishing something that is beautiful or creative. Why do people garden? Do people garden because they think it will help them get into heaven?
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Permalink Reply by Janna Lawson on -
I actually had this conversation earlier. A guy at work said that he believed in God because if he didn't, he would lie/cheat/steal because he COULD, because there would be no reward/repercussions.
I always tell people I talk about religion that I don't necessarily have a closed mind to there being a god somewhere out there. However, personally, I just don't buy it. I'm not saying there COULDN'T be a god, but, in my opinion, there isn't. That being said, he asked why I would "stay good".
I live my life for myself. I do good things and am a good person because that's what I want to do. Some people NEED guidelines for right and wrong. Some people NEED religion to tell them that lying is bad, cheating is bad or stealing is bad because they don't have the will power to do the right thing for themselves. I don't see how living in fear of going Hell for being a bad person being the only reason for living at all, if that makes sense.
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Permalink Reply by Mario Rodgers on
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That's why I fear religious people who say that the only barrier keeping them from doing bad things is their big powerful sky daddy and their holy book of horrors. How is that morality?
Man. Religious people really ARE like little kids, aren't they?
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