I’m frequently told that doing good things while expecting some kind of reward is actually a bad thing. The proper motivation (I’m told) for moral behavior is moral behavior. Just do the right thing because it is the right thing and if you do the right thing because it benefits you…then you did the wrong thing.

It’s usually God-haters that hold this position (which they got from Immanuel Kant) but Christians who lack discernment have also latched onto it. I won’t be able to help the God-haters because they’re not capable of rationality but for the sake of my brothers and sisters in Christ, I’ll explain why ‘doing good just because it’s good’ is impossible.

The pieces in a game of chess follow rules for movement. You can’t just move them wherever you want unless you’re an atheist. Atheism (Humanism, Progressive Christianity, whatever) does not have objective rules for moving chess pieces. So on your opening move, you can slide a pawn across the board, jump over other pieces, and capture your opponent’s king. Your opponent can then un-capture the King and hurl it into your eyeball. Then you can shove your opponent into a tank of piranha. Any move is legal in Atheist chess. Understand?

Godless Chess has NO WRONG MOVES.

Except…now the Godless Chess Players are telling you it’s wrong to declare yourself the winner. Striving to achieve victory is selfish and immoral. You are breaking the rules in a game that has no rules. Understand?

Pagans tell you that morality is built into you. You don’t need God to tell you right and wrong. You decide for yourself what’s right. And no matter what you decide for yourself, getting your morality from an ancient book…is wrong.

Understand?

Don’t believe the people who tell you it’s wrong to be righteous for some reward. Those folks will hit you in the face with a chess piece and call it morality.

(Matthew 10:41) “Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”