If you believe in the existence of heaven and hell,

[LaraMN]

what is the more significant motivator: avoiding the burn, or reaching beyond the Pearly Gates?

Or are the options inextricably interwoven? Are they secondary to what motivates you to be a good person?

I ask, because I wonder if people are more consumed with behaving a certain way because they aspire to righteousness, or primarily because they want to avoid punishment.

I recently heard someone suggest that atheists might have less incentive to behave in a morally "responsible" way, since they don't have the fear of hell, or the aspiration of ascending to heaven, upon death.

As a person who doesn't believe in any existence beyond this, I see the situation as quite the opposite; if this life is all I have, I want to make the most of it, be the best person I can, and leave my mark by (in some small way) bettering the lives of the people I come in contact with, and the world we live in.

I don't understand the supposed necessity of having some external motivation, in order to be a decent human being. I don't buy that line of reasoning, at all.

Your thoughts?

[EstimatedProphet]

1. I think that's poor logic

If atheists don't believe in an afterlife, then their life on earth is everything. In that case, it is best for them to make the world the best place it can be, since there's nothing else.

[LaraMN]

2. Exactly!

Makes sense to me.

[Nikia]

3. But if one is righteous for only that reason

One is less righteous. Righteousness as a virtue must become fully incorporated into our lives. Then we will be able to be free of prefering to do wrong things anyway. This is the ideal anyway. I think that this can work for both theists and atheists.
I think that it is motivating for the theists though to know that one's deeds will always be known whether or not anyone else knows about them even if they believe that righteousness must be a virtue for its own sake.
I think that some people take comfort in believing that the "bad" people who largely get away with it, experiencing good things in life sometimes as a result of their misdeeds, will get some kind of punishment and that "good" people who experienced a worse life, sometimes as a result of their sacrafices for righteousness, will be rewarded after this earthly life.

[LaraMN]

7. The whole notion of divine justice is something

that I certainly often wish was a reality.

[Deja Q]

4. Because people typically do things solely out of self-interest. Fear can be a motivator.

As much fun as I'd love to spend a post whining about ex-governor Ventura being pure proof as to how selfishness reins on people when left to their own devices, I won't.

It's ironic that I see and understand it. But if IQ can account for ANYTHING in this society, I may as well attempt to apply it.

[rug]

5. Is this a disguised sex thread?

[LaraMN]

6. Hey! I have *other* trains of thought!

:rofl:

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. The goal is to detach from the dichotomy grid altogether.

[gmoney]

9. The more common reaction seems to be...

"I can do whatever I want because GAWD will forgive me if I (profess to) BELIEVE in Him. Everything I do is for the greater GLORY of GAWD, whether it's starting a war, bombing an abortion clinic, or refusing to teach contraception, no matter what its cost in earthly terms."

that and...

"God is all-powerful, so he must be MAKING me want to molest this child or embezzle from my flock or kill people who don't agree with me 100%."

Hitchens' book "God is NOT Great" really sums it up nicely.

Genuinely GOOD people don't need to be bribed or threatened to behave responsibly and ethically and to do good things.