Good Acts to Follow

"Go and do thou likewise." (Luke 10:37)

Following up from last week, my wife asked why not pose the question of why people do GOOD things? Certainly, Aristotle's reasons may still apply, but is not there more?

The topics of good, altruism, generosity, and the like are complicated matters for psychologists and philosophers. While I'm not an expert on these subjects, it seems that, more or less, philosophers argue whether human nature is inherently evil, beast-like, selfish, or a blank slate - none of the academics seems to think it's inherently good. Psychologists seem to always be able to root everything back to selfish motivations - even the purest altruist seems to do things because it makes them feel good (endorphin junkies!).

I say, so what? What if everyone and everything IS selfish? Doesn't the ends justify the means? Not to mention, there's TONS of easier ways to feel good! Something drives good people to do things the hard way. Granted, it could be an overdeveloped sense of judging the reward by how hard it is to attain. However, it could also be that there is some greater good in the world with which some people feel connected. I propose that good is God.

If you know it's wrong, why do it?

"All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire." - Aristotle

Artistotle poses an interesting explanation for why good people sometimes do bad things. Certainly several of those motivations might account for such activity. If, however, we continue to do bad things, do we eventually become bad people? At what point does it stop being human fallibility and become "bad" per se. Is repenting each time enough? Is believing in God enough? How do intent and action differ here, and what role does each play in the status of our eternal souls?