Is altruism ultimately a fatally flawed idea?
I learned from my father that the word "altruism" was coined by Comte to avoid having to use the God-laden word "agape." Bad move because such love is impossible without God's empowering grace.
Loving others as oneself is fully possible only as one fully loves God with one's whole self, body and mind and soul and strength. Loving others is our response to God first loving us; we become imitators of God by depending on God's grace to help us act towards others for their good without no reciprocal demand, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us.
Acting altruistically rather than graciously will lead to frustration, resentment, and worse. Without God, we will end up saying with Cain, who killed his brother, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Altruism's appeal is that it appears to agree that I am my brother's keeper, yet it offers no way to overcome the sinful drive to favor oneself first.
Altruism is a lie that depends on appearing to be like agape yet really being so only superficially. Such a masquerade, typical of the work of the Father of Lies, is exposed when one walks in the light of truth that is the way of Jesus Christ, begotten of God, the Father of Lights.
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I am not against the notion of altruism. It is useful for common understanding in ethical discussions. What I find objectionable is that the ungodly make no effort to find common ground with those faithful to the reality of the Living God; they take the argument from the common ground and inevitably strive to move it towards a place in which there is no place for speaking of God. The postmodern mind emphasizes difference rather than reference, thus avoiding accountablity; the Christian mind must continually revere reference to God in all things for His judgment alone determines what is true.
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