Dear Friends,
Most everyone I know appreciates selflessness in others and tends to find selfishness distasteful. Yet, where does that near universal appreciation for selflessness come from? In the excerpt below, J. Warner Wallace (a former atheist) offers what he feels is the most reasonable answer. I found it on his blog site, “Cold-Case Christianity” (he was formerly a cold-case homicide detective). I offer it to you as the view I hold to as well. If you don’t agree, I’d enjoy hearing your alternative explanation! Enjoy.
“Most cultures find selflessness attractive and virtuous. People who put themselves before others are typically scorned, regardless of one’s religious convictions. As C. S. Lewis once said, “Men have differed as regards what people you ought to be unselfish to – whether it was only your own family, or your fellow countrymen, or everyone. But they have always agreed that you ought not to put yourself first. Selfishness has never been admired.”
In fact, the transcendent, objective principle of selflessness finds representation in nearly every historic theological or philosophical system… Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Greek Philosophy, Confucianism, and the New Age… Even a committed atheist like Richard Dawkins advocated such behavior: ‘Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish’ (from: ‘The Selfish Gene’).
As one who was an atheist and secular unbeliever, I also recognized the value of selflessness. I typically praised, for example, those who served and sacrificed, even when they didn’t have to. But is this form of selflessness simply a naturalistic, evolutionary adaptation, or is this virtuous principle the result of something even more transcendent than evolution? I think there is a better explanation for such behavior: selflessness points most reasonably to the existence of the Christian God.
Evolutionary processes simply cannot account for selflessness. Despite every effort to describe the benefits of selfless behavior to the overall well-being of the human species, naturalistic explanations for selflessness underestimate the selfish, survivalist motives we all possess as individuals. As a cold-case homicide detective, I can certainly testify to the selfishness I’ve seen in the humans I’ve arrested over the years, but I’m not the only one to observe this. Evolutionary biologist George Williams has even chronicled the selfish behavior represented throughout the animal kingdom (G. C. Williams, 1989, “Evolution and Ethics,” pp. 179-214)…
In a world such as this, selfless altruism makes little or no moral or practical sense. Even Dawkins admits, “Much as we might wish to believe otherwise, universal love and the welfare of the species as a whole are concepts which simply do not make evolutionary sense” (from: The Selfish Gene). If naturalism is true, we live in a “dog eat dog,” “survival of the fittest” world. Those who give are likely to be taken advantage of, those who learn to take what they can while giving back as little as possible will gain a distinct advantage. From the naturalistic, evolutionary perspective, it all comes down to out-manipulating your competition…
On the other hand, if Christianity is true, selflessness is to be expected as the truest expression of the Christian God. Unlike other deities described in competing theistic worldviews, the Christian God is uniquely sacrificial and gracious. He doesn’t simply give us what we deserve. Instead, He extends kindness beyond the limits of our merit and gives us what we don’t deserve, even when there is nothing in it for Him. “Grace” is unmerited favor; the truest and purest expression of selflessness. No other theistic system proposes such a God. In every other religious system, adherents earn their salvation through some form of “good works.” They do something for God, and then God responds by doing something for them. There is no gift involved, simply the payment for services rendered.
In these systems, believers act with an expectation of return. This is not true selflessness. The Christian worldview encourages believers to act without an expectation of return. They are to act, even though their actions may be completely unrewarded. The Christian God acts first in this selfless behavior by offering salvation as a free gift, in spite of our unworthy and undeserving condition. This kind of selfless grace is what separates Christianity from every other theistic worldview. And why are we to value selflessness when such a behavior typically results in decreased survivability? Because we have been created in the image of God. Not just any God, but the only God who can truly account for selflessness. Selflessness points most reasonably to the Christian God of the Bible.”
The will to survive is so strongly rooted in us that sometimes it can nearly extinguish our “made in the image of God” impulse to reflect the selflessness of our Maker. We admit that a world filled with selfless people would be a better place, yet we can tend to wait for others to express it first. As when we were kids, we can think, “I’ll go… after you do!” And even when we do actually choose to be selfless, there can often be a little part of us that deep down desires to get something in return for our selfless sacrifices.
Selflessness is an almost universally admired trait, but one that doesn’t get expressed all that often given its immense popularity. Yet, for believers, knowing it characterized Jesus' entire life, speaks of the God who made us, and honors the Lord when we are, should help us see the need to place it higher on our daily priority list. Better yet, we should ask God to make it such a part of who we are in Him, that it becomes part of our “in the process of being restored” nature to do so – without even realizing we are. The more the Gospel becomes internalized in us, the more this attribute of God's selflessness and sacrificial love will become a natural part of how we live and love and respond to need.
Living in His All-sufficient Grace, Pastor Jeff
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