I am glad to see a renewed interest in living the virtuous
life. This is true not only of Western Buddhists but also of philosophers and
psychologists. They all recognize that when we live in harmony with our moral
nature, we derive a sense of well-being. And when we violate our moral nature,
we reap confusion and discomfort.
The Bible also recognizes these facts:
The Bible also recognizes these facts:
·
Who is wise and understanding among you? By his
good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have
bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false
to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is
earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,
there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is
first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits,
impartial and sincere. (James 3:13-17)
However, the secular versions of the virtuous life leave out
God. Therefore, they are only able to justify this life by virtue of its
benefits. They are unable to say that virtue is good in itself because it comes
from God. Consequently, when secularists perform virtue, they are doing it for
selfish reasons and benefits, not because an act is virtuous in itself.
Therefore, I couldn’t help responding to a Stoic Meetup
blog:
·
The virtuous life is oxymoronic if we are only
living virtuously for self-centered pragmatic reasons (a cost/benefit
analysis). Instead, virtue must find its meaning and basis with the Author of
virtue and morality, if virtue is going to be virtuous and not another self-serving
lifestyle.
An atheist responded that his ideal is the same as mine –
virtue for “its own sake”:
·
Men recognize and value Virtue for its own sake,
without reference to the supernatural. Lying is wrong because it harms society.
It may be that the believer is moral for merely self-centered reasons, if he
acts to avoid punishment in the hereafter. No?
Notice that this atheist endorses virtue because it doesn’t
harm society. This is not a bad reason, but it is inadequate. It doesn’t
provide an adequate rationale for virtue. It just leads to other unanswerable questions
like, “Why should we be concerned about not harming society? Or “Why shouldn’t
Darwin’s survival-of-the-fittest guide our lives?” Or “Isn’t the idea of virtue
just something we made up? Why then bother with it?” However, these questions
can only be adequately answered if there is a loving God who designed us to
recognize His unchanging and universal moral truths. I therefore responded:
·
I too care about not harming society but why
even bother with this moral intuition if it is just a product of a blind amoral
impersonal process? Why not kill if that's what feels right or pleasurable?
Perhaps sensing the inadequacy of his response, the atheist
put me on the defensive:
·
And who is the author? Zeus? Allah? Ahura Mazda?
So many to chose from!
It seemed to me that his response acknowledged the
superiority of the theistic position. Therefore, he shifted the discussion to
an additional perplexity. He could have mentioned the names of many other gods.
However, we shouldn’t be side-tracked by these many names. Instead, it’s a
matter of the necessary character of God. Therefore, I responded:
·
Once you recognize that God is philosophically necessary,
the difficulty of deciding among the gods can be resolved logically and
evidentially.
Here’s what I meant. Whoever God is, He must have certain
characteristics in order to account for this reality in which we live. He must
be:
1.
IMMUTABLE:
2.
OMNISCIENT
3.
OMNIPOTENT
4.
OMNIPRESENT
5.
RIGHTEOUS (Just)
6.
MERCIFUL
7.
FORGIVING
8.
LOVING (self-sacrificing)
These characteristics eliminate all of the other gods except
the God of the Bible. The first four characteristics are necessary to account
for design, the fine-tuning of the universe, the unchanging and elegant laws of
science which must underlie all learning, life…
The last four characteristics are necessary to account for
our feelings of guilt, shame, the relief of forgiveness, objective moral laws
on which virtue rests, meaning, purpose, love of justice, and love for just
about anything else.
The virtuous life does have its benefits. It feels good to
do good. However, God wants us to not only enjoy His gifts but to also enjoy
Him. As a result, He has designed the moral order as a pointer to something
greater.
While the virtuous life pays dividends, it will also make uncomfortable
demands. It demands that we live up to the internal values that we have embraced.
When we violate them, we feel guilty and bad about ourselves.
How then can we continue to be virtuous? Many cannot. After the
optimism of youth passes and un-alleviated guilt and shame take hold, we tend
to forget about the virtuous life. Others suppress their failures and convince
themselves of their moral superiority – self-righteousness – instead of
advancing to the next lesson.
There, we painfully face our need for the mercy and
forgiveness of God. Without these, we are left with only two options – despair or
pride.
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