Sticking to Moral Foundation and Religion’s Promises
By: Lance Winslow
Most major world religions promise you get to go to a wonderful place upon your death if you have lived your life in accordance with the religion? Of course this is a lot like the premise of Santa Claus where we tell kids to be really good and if they are at the end of the year Santa Claus will bring them lots of free gifts for Christmas. Of course we know children must get their reward otherwise they will no longer be good and it better be pretty soon because otherwise they will forget.
So, is this why religious organizations make people go to church every single week in order to reaffirm their commitment that they will be good otherwise they might forget because it is a long time until they die and once they die they will get their prize.
Perhaps you haven’t thought this through, but don’t you see it rather problematic that humans do not think long-term. In other words simply telling them about heaven and convincing them that it actually does exist is not enough to keep them good and living a good life. Instead you must constantly reinforce they promise otherwise they won’t do it.
Isn’t that a lot like what a coach has to do to keep his athletes working out and training otherwise when the event comes along they will not be ready? For some reason few have the person character to be so self-motivated.
Isn’t that like why people need a financial planner to help them save for their retirement; because if no one is there to tell them to; then they will not put in the effort along the way and then one day when they retire they won’t have enough saved.
We seem to have a problem with the human race in human societies and modern civilizations where they will not think ahead and plan ahead for the potentially eventuality that they expect to occur even though they know it or believe it to be happening. If we cannot get humans to look long-term ahead why are we wasting our time planning for the future.
Is mankind doomed to rely on religion to maintain their moral foundation? Why can’t people just do the right thing because it is the right thing to do and is best for all concerned? After all, everyone knows that if you are a good person you will live a happier and more successful life. What is with mankind in their short-term thinking? And why can’t we just ditch religion anyway?
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