Let me first say that I am an engineer, and anyone who knows me with any degree of depth knows that I am a man of science and love to study all the things we have learned and continue to learn through such an intellectually stimulating field of study. Science attempts to describe our current world and understand our natural past, and it can even be utilized to try to understand our interaction with one another. It is logical when pure and is established by observation and physical proof. It speaks not to morals or human motivation, but rather, can evaluate the results of behaviors. But when it comes to caring for others, where do science, logic, and reason weigh in?
If the scientific viewpoint attempts to speak about whether or not we should care for others and if so, then whom we care for and whom we do not, it is through reason and the study of people groups, as well as individuals. First, in order to form a conclusion on whether or not we should engage in a behavior, we must first agree upon what is good, or what is a desirable outcome. Leaving the idea of a god out of it, what is good and desirable for a human? To preserve one’s own life, certainly. To gain the most pleasure, which may mean preserving other life so long as it is a means to achieving that pleasure, and to be personally content and happy. Personal contentment and happiness then need to be defined. To some it is fame or riches, to others it is a lasting impact on the world, and still to others who believe in God, it is the promise of something great outside of this human life. In any case, it is a personal sense of fulfillment through a life lived in a particular way.
So where does that leave the following noble causes: caring for widows, orphans, and the poor; for the oppressed, enslaved, and those under injustice? (1, 2, 3) Why would we seek to help these people? Surely not because our scientific investigation tells us to, and surely not out of personal gain. Or perhaps those who desire fame as a life goal and fulfillment want to be known for helping the less fortunate. In that case, quite honestly, the less fortunate have become merely a stepping stone to a personal sense of fulfillment. In fact, taking that to the logical next step, if you were the most capable of men with that desire, then you would seek to find the most stepping stones for the most glory, and in the extreme case in which those most capable men would be driven, they might create such oppression so that they could play the part of rescuer. To understand this example, you must realize that we have thrown God out of the conversation and acknowledged the pursuit of personal happiness and fulfillment as the ultimate goal in life. There are many less noble goals than helping the helpless, but if the goal behind even this noble cause is self-satisfaction, then it is merely another selfish outlet—though it looks different and noble externally, it is a pursuit just as self-centered and potentially treacherous as that of the man who cheats, steals, and murders the innocent to gain possessions which fulfill his life’s desires.
Even so, in our world, even the most prolific rescuers of the oppressed, regardless of their motivation, are not exalted most highly among men. Those with the greatest followings and fame include athletes, rich business men, entertainment icons, politicians and public figureheads. If fame, recognition, and self-realized impact among men is your goal, then these are your most noble and desirable career paths.
Now, whatever you personally choose to pursue, you surely think it is best in some way or another or you would not pursue it. So if it is best, then the next man should pursue it to his fullest, as well. And if we all followed suit, pursuing what is logical and gives us the greatest pleasure that is summed up by wealth, fame, recognition, or impact seen by the masses or even esteem in the eyes of one other human, then perhaps no one would care for the oppressed and at most would only be caring for them in order to serve their own personal gain. Certainly no one would love them, even if they helped them. Why should they be loved anyway? Loving them is not logical or beneficial to you in of itself, without reaping these benefits of recognition or other desires; and as a man or woman of pure logic and pursuit of personal fulfillment, even when helping others, love is irrelevant, for it was not your goal. Yet, you yourself seek to be loved.
Maybe that drive to be loved would make you then care for the oppressed, so that they will love you in return. That’s logical in a “quid pro quo” kind of way. But if your pursuit is love, then it is not scientific or logical at its foundation. What is love? Why should you be loved? It is not always profitable for our wellbeing, for sacrifices will be necessary when actions are rooted in love. Love profits love and it profits others, but not necessarily the circumstances of the individual acting in or receiving love. For instance, if you love your child, you often make hard choices and sacrifices for their well-being. By the same token, if you love them and desire them to learn to be their best, you will have to guide them away from certain things; and that guidance will feel painful to them in the present, though you know it will benefit them in the future. In both circumstances, love profited all, but happiness as previously defined was traded for love. The pursuit of happiness in itself turns out to be quite futile and terribly elusive without love.
Perhaps you say, “Well, I have not uncovered the mystery of the need to be loved and to love—it is just the nature of humans—but since I know it as fact, logically, I will pursue it to the fullest, regardless of why the desire is there. Therefore, doing something such as caring for the oppressed, such that greater love is felt by me through it, serves my life goal of the maximum pleasure of love and in a very logical way.” Very true. And you are so close to the nature of love, yet unfortunately still misguided! Your statement would be true. Yet, the statement, though logical, has defeated the previous logical pursuits of what we consider good, trading them all for love. And love itself is not scientifically quantifiable or logical. So to move forward we must acknowledge that the scientific pursuit of understanding of our world as our purpose with logic as our guide falls short. The element of love must enter in, or if you reject that, then we are back to where we left off with each man pursuing what he considers good, which is personal gain and helping others when it serves our personal desires.
So who will care for the oppressed without abandoning the scientific and logical slightly, without the element of love? Why should it matter anyway, concerning the less fortunate? “Survival of the fittest…they are in that position for a reason.” Do you truly believe that concerning these fellow humans? Certainly saving the oppressed does not fit into what we could consider beneficial for society in all logic and scientific knowledge: Saving the weak who would otherwise die serves to increase the world population. Is the principle of “more people on earth is better” sound? In a world of ever-rapidly depleting natural resources, logic would dictate a population reduction, or at least a plateau: more for us and self-preservation. How about the prospect of giving away my wealth, position, and power for another? That is not logical if personal fulfillment is my pursuit, unless doing so personally fulfills me. At that point, we have circled back to the previous conversation that concludes with love. How about preserving the weakest in society? Doesn’t that serve to weaken society as a whole? It certainly does immediately, but perhaps you can reason out that those saved would be brought up and strengthened such that society ultimately benefits from them. What an optimist you must be to think in such a way—and you are right. So we have given up some of ourselves for the betterment of another and society as a whole. How noble! But is that logical? Not if personal fulfillment is our life’s pursuit, unless benefiting others more than ourselves does indeed fulfill us. Ah ha, that is the definition of love!(4) So love has become the center, once again, for anything good that we might do outside of pure personal gain.(5, 6)
The point of all this banter is that if we seek to serve science and logic alone, we will engage in a number of terrible behaviors, and only by love can we do anything truly good.(5, 6) In the other case, absent of love, where does the cycle stop? First we reject the oppressed or use them only as a stepping stone to personal satisfaction, next we apply this attitude and behavior to those we consider “second class” to ourselves, then to those just slightly worse off than us; meanwhile, those slightly better off than us and certainly those much better off are treating us the same way. This world then becomes a free-for-all, selfish quest for personal gain and the illusion of happiness outside of love. Love cannot be quantified by science, logic, or reason. God is love.(6) Without God, there is no love.(6) Without love, there is no selfless action, and without selfless action, we will tear ourselves apart until the last man stands and eventually dies a lonely death. Will you open your eyes to God’s love and take on a life of greater purpose and fulfillment than you could have imagined in all your human reason and logic?
(1) Isaiah 1:17 - “Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”
(2) James 1:27 - “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
(3) Luke 4:18-19 (Isaiah 61:1-2) - "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
(4) 1 Cor 13:4-8a (emphasis added) - “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails…”
(5) John 15:5 - “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
(6) 1 John 4:7-12 - “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
* All Bible texts are from the New International Version (NIV)
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