• About
  • Advertising
  • Coupons
  • History

The Andersonian

The Anderson University Student Newspaper

Anderson University’s Student Newspaper

  • Campus News
  • Audio
  • Video
  • Features
  • Arts & Culture
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Raven Watch
You are here: Home / Opinion / Motive is everything in good works

Motive is everything in good works

April 13, 2018 by Guest Writer

Guest Writer: Zach Van Duyn

To some, this opinion will be frustratingly insufficient and anodyne.  To others, some of my statements may provoke and breed resentment.  Overall, I’m taking an admittedly scatterbrained approach to describing where I believe humanism and Christian faith intersect, as well as the insufficiency of the former to lead us to eternal life.

I’ll start with what I consider one of the most transformational and inescapably pervasive quotes ever uttered about my faith:  “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance.  The only thing it cannot be is moderately important,” said C.S. Lewis.

I believe Lewis’ words cannot easily be dismissed.  Does such a mindset necessitate that the Sermon on the Mount be interpreted with utmost literalism?  It may.

Does it grant us, as Christians, carte blanche to do good works for their own sake—at best, merely presuming after their “performance” that they comport with the ethic of Christ—if we do them for that which God has created but not in the name of Christ himself?  I don’t believe it does.

In my mind, inherent in secular humanism is a repudiation of both the Great Commission and the general idea of doing good works with our eyes and hearts fixed on Christ.  And I cannot accept that the idea of “Christian humanism” is anything more than an oxymoron, as to do good works out of love for Christ is to do them on a basis that is no longer merely humanistic.

Consequently, neither can I shake the idea that a toxic evil inheres in teaching others that good exists apart from that which derives from Christ; too often, we teach others as much when we look after one another’s earthly needs and then consider the work finished.

We teach that completing good works is a sufficiently worthwhile end in itself, an end not subject to the Scriptural expressions of goodness that will grant us true relief and life after death.

Don’t get me wrong:  humanitarian work in particular is extremely important and continues to improve our world through serving, indeed rescuing, each other in acts of selfless love.

I cannot allow myself to overcompensate—as one overcorrects when swerving off the road—and denigrate the relative utility of good works in advancing and otherwise demonstrating Christianity to its fullest extent.  I don’t believe that Dominionism or theocracy are the ways to achieve an enduring problem that comes down to the status of our individual hearts.

Yet, good works that either actively reject or are indifferent to the Holy Spirit purport provisional moral systems that put our own conceptions of right and wrong above that which is expressed in Scripture.

We will always err, but we are called to do the best we can for Christ.  Motive, then, is everything.  What does it mean for you to live out your faith as infinitely, not moderately, important?  You’re free to decide.  But if you are a Christian and feel that the good that we can realistically do for one another on Earth is of a separate nature, with distinct requirements, from the conception of goodness that the Bible asks of us, I cannot agree.

Kurt Vonnegut famously opined, “I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishments after I’m dead.”

Embedded in such a juxtaposition of humanism and religion is a cynical, if subtle, acrimony towards any motives behind good works that extend beyond a basic and ‘pure’ empathy for humankind.  I feel a Christian duty not to prove his implication right.

Zach is a senior political science and economics major from Avon, Indiana.

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: Opinion

Watch

Jordan Yaney meets with baseball coach Matthew Bair to discuss the upcoming season and the Hits4Hope challenge to raise money for Secret Families of Madison County.

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Jordan Yaney and Raven Watch bring highlights and breakdowns for men and women’s basketball, the AU Invitational for track and field, and the swim team.

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

More Video

Listen

Hannah Hawkins

Hannah Hawkins is a sophomore returning to the women’s basketball team as last season’s leading rebounder and scorer. The veteran is excited for the upcoming season, where she will lead a young team with a lot of potential.   Interview with Hannah Hawkins transcript

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Phoebe Mangas

AU senior Phoebe Mangas has traveled to 34 different countries so far in her life. This past summer, she was able to experience Cuba as she studied abroad for her major.

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Libby Durbin

Libby Durbin, a 2017 grad, used her Mocha Joe’s management experience to become an Orr Fellow.

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Jackie Grondahl

Jackie Grondahl, a visual communication design major, discusses her photography and missions work with a school in Peru.

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

More Audio

Follow

Retweet on TwitterAndersonian Retweeted
ontariosystemsOntario Systems@ontariosystems·
20 Feb

Word is spreading about The Cube at .@AndersonU. Students can apply now for an #internship that really pays off. https://t.co/8KEp8Tqenf

Reply on TwitterRetweet on Twitter4Like on Twitter9Twitter
andersonianAndersonian@andersonian·
21 Feb

Isabelle Yost and Jamie Valentine discuss their controversial Encore performance of Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl."
https://t.co/w76w1TFzO3

Reply on TwitterRetweet on Twitter1Like on Twitter3Twitter
andersonianAndersonian@andersonian·
6 Dec

The fall play, “Rose and the Rime,” opens Thursday evening in Byrum Hall. Watch a behind-the-scenes interview with director Kenny Shepard: https://t.co/DgWOerUeb2

Reply on TwitterRetweet on TwitterLike on Twitter2Twitter
Load More...

The Andersonian, the student newspaper of Anderson University, Anderson, Ind., publishes a print edition and maintains this website. As a matter of institutional policy, the University administration does not review or edit Andersonian content prior to publication. The student editors are responsible for both print and online content. While the administration recognizes the role of the student press on a college campus and in journalism education, the views expressed in the Andersonian are not necessarily those of Anderson University.

© Andersonian 2017, All rights reserved · Site by Mere
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.