“Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down… But I did what I did before Love came to town…” -Bono
The kick in the shorts is that us believers stick with the karma mentality, always dishing it out better than we take it, even after we ‘believe’ or say we are ‘followers’ of the one who came to us full of grace.
Basically, isn’t this what Paul was saying? If you live by faith, you live in God's economy of Grace. If you live under the Law, it's Karma all the way. I might add that in the economy of Grace we are really dealing in the area of relationships. Relationships with God (who, as Trinity, IS relationship), with others, with creation and our relationship with ourselves. In the physical realm fire is still hot and rattlesnakes are still poisonous.
Seems to me that people who believe in a just world get lots of benefits, regardless of reality. It provides them with a just God, it provides them with a world that makes sense, and it can provide them with a "them vs us" belief which people are built for. Accepting randomness would take away the structure, and force people to wrestle with who God is.. although I would say there is already plenty of reason. But the reality is that when people expect justice, they suffer from false expectations...although when it comes to the after-life, they don't need to. That is the future... And oh.. denial.. is so powerful.... and with cognitive science showing us how actions are more predetermined than we have believed, well.. what people deserve comes into question. I might argue that when people strive towards being good without a limited ticket to heaven, well.. it makes for a better person that does good for internal reasons... and for the good of others, not themselves.
“Maybe I was wrong to ever let you down… But I did what I did before Love came to town…” -Bono
The kick in the shorts is that us believers stick with the karma mentality, always dishing it out better than we take it, even after we ‘believe’ or say we are ‘followers’ of the one who came to us full of grace.
Basically, isn’t this what Paul was saying? If you live by faith, you live in God's economy of Grace. If you live under the Law, it's Karma all the way. I might add that in the economy of Grace we are really dealing in the area of relationships. Relationships with God (who, as Trinity, IS relationship), with others, with creation and our relationship with ourselves. In the physical realm fire is still hot and rattlesnakes are still poisonous.
Seems to me that people who believe in a just world get lots of benefits, regardless of reality. It provides them with a just God, it provides them with a world that makes sense, and it can provide them with a "them vs us" belief which people are built for. Accepting randomness would take away the structure, and force people to wrestle with who God is.. although I would say there is already plenty of reason. But the reality is that when people expect justice, they suffer from false expectations...although when it comes to the after-life, they don't need to. That is the future... And oh.. denial.. is so powerful.... and with cognitive science showing us how actions are more predetermined than we have believed, well.. what people deserve comes into question. I might argue that when people strive towards being good without a limited ticket to heaven, well.. it makes for a better person that does good for internal reasons... and for the good of others, not themselves.
Very interesting.
Dr. Beck, you wrote:
"our minds are wired for karma. We instinctively believe that people 'get what they deserve'"
I'm wondering whether that belief is truly instinctive or culturally programmed…?