David Ancell / Wednesday March 10, 2004
A reader commented on my post, based on a Word of Encouragement from Catholic Exchange, that Christianity is not altruism. He asked me what part of altruism, as displayed on his site, Jesus would disagree with. Well, there is plenty there.
Jesus plainly stated that he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. According to the FAQ on the altruism web site, that alone would disqualify one from altruism. Further, Christians do not serve without hope of reward. We serve the Lord in hopes of obtaining life everlasting in his kingdom.
The object of our faith is not a way of life, though there is a way of life involved. The object is a person. That person is the Holy Trinity who is one God in three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God has revealed himself to us that way, and anything that contradicts such revelation is therefore incorrect. The life we lead is the life he has commanded us to lead. We desire that the teaching of Christ, the Gospel, be preached to all people for their salvation as the name of Jesus Christ is the only name by which we can be saved. Even if those who call God other names are saved, it is still through Jesus Christ that they are saved.
Now, in today’s relativistic culture, claims to the absolute truth may sound arrogant. However, suppose that they are actually true? Would not we then have a duty to proclaim them as such? Jesus demonstrated the truth of his claim by dying on the cross for us and then rising from the dead on his own power three days later. Either he rose from the dead, or he didn’t. He couldn’t have risen from the dead but yet not have risen from the dead at the same time. Given that eleven of the twelve apostles died proclaiming this resurrection, we have to assume that either they really saw him alive, or they all died for something that they knew was just a lie about a dead man. The latter is utterly absurd.
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