Christianity, Morality, and Well-Being

Does biblical morality promote well-being? Certainly! Almost two weeks ago I committed to writing on that topic. Sue had commented,

I’m not sure that the dogmas of religion have ever even pretended to equate morality with well-being. I think that sometimes they may happen to coincide on some points (do unto others/ an ye harm none, etc.), but they seem in direct conflict on other points. There are plenty of examples where religious moral directives are inherently dehumanizing.

As far as I know what she wrote here may be true of many religions besides Christianity, which I have no stake in explaining or defending. It doesn’t fit Christianity, though. [Additional note: see comment 1 below.]

What is well-being? We have to start there. The typical answer today would include things like a network of loving relationships, good health, freedom from fear, economic security, personal autonomy, and a sense of significance. Christianity supports all of that but adds much more, in view of God’s character and his being the source and end of all human life. God is the good, and well-being is ultimately about experiencing and becoming good in relationship with God.

To experience the good means to taste God’s goodness (see Psalm 34, especially verse 8). This experience comes to us directly as we worship him, pray to him, are led by him, see him work in the world, and encounter him through growing personal knowledge of who he is and what he is like. It also comes to us mediated through experiences like the loving life of the “body of Christ” as the Christian church is often termed, the joy of beauty, of being productive, of relationships of all kinds, and more like that.

God’s goodness stands opposed to evil. It’s hard to find an analogue to that in contemporary thought, where good has a real opponent, other than the evils of harming the environment or failing to tolerate others. Under God (whose goodness is far more encompassing than “treat each other tolerantly and don’t harm the environment”) evil is a much bigger deal than that. Solzhenitsyn discovered the most important thing to know about it in The Gulag Archipelago (emphasis added):

It was granted to me to carry away from my prison years on my bent back, which nearly broke beneath its load, this essential experience: how a human being becomes evil and how good. In the intoxication of youthful successes I had felt myself to be infallible, and I was therefore cruel. In the surfeit of power I was a murderer and an oppressor. In my most evil moments I was convinced that I was doing good, and I was well supplied with systematic arguments. It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirrings of good. Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhlemed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil.

For us to experience the good requires honesty about the darkness within. We must face it so we can deal with it; but the darkness is such that it cannot overwhelm itself. It requires God’s good intervention in our hearts. Even with that, it means struggling within, though it is a struggle of grace and freedom against law and bondage. (I strongly encourage you to follow and read that link; it is my best statement of all time on how we experience and grow in God’s goodness.)

Some see this as dehumanizing. I see it as facing the facts. We’re not all good inside. But what of God’s specific moral directives? Are some of them dehumanizing? Considering that God created us in love, to be fully human is to be fully in tune with what he intended us to be. He knows what that means, far better than we do. His moral imperatives are guides to protect us and to provide for us. Also to give us opportunity and incentive to contribute to others’ well-being.

Consider the most contentious of God’s directives, sexual morality. My wife and I have a marvelous trust relationship because we both know what we’re committed to. We’re here for each other, in a whole-person relationship. Sexual intimacy is one important part of it, but it’s in a much larger context of shared lives and shared love. If you think that’s depriving us of personal pleasure of any kind, you don’t understand how great that kind of trust relationship can be. The “line separating good and evil” still crosses through our marriage, but the more we follow God’s intent, the more we experience the good side of that line. Our kids do, too. I’ve seen the difference it makes when children and youth know their parents are going to love each other no matter what. It’s the healthiest thing on earth for them.

Well-being is for keeps. It’s much more than what works for the moment: it includes building for eternity. The New Testament is replete with references to (in today’s terminology) “soul-building:” being made ready for the ultimate experience of good in God’s eternal kingdom. Like muscle-building, it involves working against resistance, including pain, opposition, struggle, and loss. Some classic passages on this topic are Romans 5:1-11, 1 Corinthians 15:50-58, James 1:2-4, and 1 Peter 1:3-9.

We don’t have reports from the other side proving it was all worth it. I can tell you from this side, though, that it is. I look back at the most painful experiences of my life, and I can see how they built me for today. For example, I was stuck for a couple of years in a very negative relationship with a very powerful person. It was intensely difficult, day after day, month after month, in ways I cannot reveal more fully, because it involves real, living people. What I learned from that was how to be strong myself in relationship with a strong person. Today, more and more, I am involved with men and women of strength, people who are household names in the worldwide Christian community and even (in at least one case) throughout America. As we work together, they’re not looking for me to be intimidated or to be a yes-man. They’re not looking for deference. They’re looking for strength in me.

Ten years ago I didn’t have that kind of strength. I got it the hard way. It was worth it. In God’s providence, that painful two years was contributing massively to my well-being; and not only mine, but (I pray) to that of many, many other people who will benefit by the work I’m sharing with these people and groups.

To summarize, Christian morality is about God’s goodness first of all: experiencing it first, and growing into it second. God’s goodness is indeed good, so human well-being is inevitably the product of following his ways, and doing it his way. It may not seem like it in every case in the short run, but God is not building for the short run. He’s building for the future—a very long and very good future.

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3 Responses

  1. JAD says:

    Good post, Tom. However, there is one minor point that I think you should clarify. You wrote:

    “As far as I know what [Sue] wrote here may be true of many religions besides Christianity, which I have no stake in explaining or defending. It doesn’t fit Christianity, though.”

    So, there is only one form of Christianity? No bad forms of Christianity? There is 2000 years of historical baggage there. Are you sure you want to defend every form of Christianity with all that baggage?

    In this case, in my opinion, and since we are talking about ethics, I think it would better to defend the ethical teachings of Jesus. I have always been taught as a Christian that my focus should be on a person not a religion. In this case I think we should focus on both the person and his ethical teachings. Do you agree?

    Let me add I know what you meant, but I am not sure others necessarily will.

  2. Tom Gilson says:

    I agree, JAD; I was speaking of biblical Christianity, not the kind that we people with that dividing line through our hearts actually live out in many cases. Thanks for the clarification.

  1. October 27, 2010

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