Everyone knows that the ends do not justify the means; but I would like to talk about a related error. It is that of damning the action because of the motivation for the action. I am involved with the Salvation Army, and sometimes people who are a part of charitable organizations get accused of having ulterior motives. My response is, Who cares? Whatever the motivation for the good deed, a good deed is done. So does it matter what motivates a person in doing it? So a person may be motivated by atoning for feelings of guilt, or by wanting to feel good about himself, or by not wanting to go to hell, or by resume-building. Once again, the response is, So what? A good deed is still done, regardless of what motivates it. We see the same thing with clean energy. Not everyone who is involved in it is motivated by future of humanity. Some are in it to make money. My response, once again, is So what? The oil people are also driven by money, and they make no apologies for it. Neither should such apology be demanded of people involved in clean energy who are there to make a buck. Not all good deeds come from good motives. But whatever the motive, the good is still done. And it is important that good deeds be allowed whatever the motivation, so that the good is done, regardless of what motivates it.
I am truly impressed that you are involved with the Salvation Army. It takes a special type of person to work with them considering the nature of many of their types of outreach. http://www.allaboutchristian.com/spirituality/ ..... Near my Los Angeles apartment in West Hollywood, there is a rather large assortment of homeless people. I have worked with a few of them. Most of these Souls suffer from what others' would call mental problems. While this may be true, in my eyes these peoples' 'mental disorders' and inability to integrate into every day society is a symptom of something much deeper. I have clairvoyantly seen that quite of few of these people are holding onto lost spiritual entities who have latched on the them because their own inner village is in such a state of confusion and chaos. This occurrence has created an avalanche of voices around and within themand the result has led them to exist in a state of madness. As I have become acquainted with a few of these people and learned their stories, I find myself constantly amazed at how little 'allowances' of destructive behavior (over time) got them to where they are now. Before they might have been considered perfectly normal, holding down good jobs and living above average lives when suddenly, BAM!the darkness around them that matched the darkness they had created within (from this life or former ones) attacked and evoked something I refer to as, "a spiritual stroke!" The only way out is Love and to be surrounded by Christ centered Love. This is the only energy that can cut through a person trapped in this state. While medication can (sometimes) help, in truth it will only temporarily by-pass the chemical strongholds that have been rooted in that person's brain. With out the energy of Love swirling around them, once the medicine has run its course, the person is left no better than before. It is my firm belief that the psychological conditions we now refer to as split personality, bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia all come from people psychically reacting to either the energies surrounding them, such as disincarnates (who have not yet passed their energy on into the Light. These poor individuals are suffering because one or more of the members of their own inner village are trying to push their way to the front of that person's conscious mind and the result can be maddening.
Thank you. They are a wonderful group of people. I volunteer there in a quite humble capacity, but it serves a good cause.
The Bible says the motivation matters. I think the reason why motivation matters is it's indicative of future actions. Think about the difference between accidentally killing someone (manslaughter) and attempted murder. Which one of those people would you trust with your life?
This seems to me to be a whole range of very different questions that you attempt to answer with a single answer. The different answers you give seem to be relevant only in specific, and differing contexts. I seem to recall having talked about this with you in the past, and you made reference to specific accusations, and maybe the arguments here are valid against those accusations, but I don't think they are valid in general. "Doing X is good", "doing X is praiseworthy", "doing X makes you a good person", "X having happened is good" etc. are all different statements, yet you seem to conflate them. It may be that charity is good and it is good that charity happens, but if you have ulterior motives, it may still be that doing charity does not make you a good person. I'm not arguing here that doing charity can't make you a good person, I'm merely saying that those are different questions, and you seem to answer one question and then pretend to have answered another. It doesn't help that these sort of statements are often made sloppily. A person who says "it's not good to do charity if you do it for an ulterior motive" may actually mean "it is good to do charity, but it doesn't make you a good person if you do it for an ulterior motive". While you may have answered the former, the true point of the argument might lie in the latter, which yet remains unanswered.
What are the major alternative motives for a charitable action? Which ones are good and which ones are bad and why?
