> I forget where I found this quotation, but it sums up the parts of my beliefs that I'm trying to convey: "Love your fellow man not because an ancient book tells you to, but because you feel it is right. Do what is right not out of fear of punishment, but out of the joy of helping your fellow man. Love God not so that God will do your bidding, but because you love the universe God gave you to explore. Die not so that you may be martyred or eternally rewarded, but so you may rest."

I hate this quotation, because it so badly misinterprets and misrepresents traditional Christian positions on these issues.
Morality's relation to that "ancient book" is this; that the book is a direct revelation from God, and because God is all-knowing, he cannot fail to inform us of the correct and right thing to do, including loving our fellow men and women. If those beliefs are true, then it is perfectly reasonable to act in such ways because of the instructions given in a book. In either descriptive case, the ethical reasons beat out "I feel it is right" any day.

As far as doing what is right out of fear of punishment, only the most immature Christians act only or primarily because of such motivations. A more common, and more accurate, motivational attribution would be to say that Christians know God, and because God cares for humans and always does what is right, so we too are motivated by our love for God to love everything else He has made, and do that which pleases Him. But even for those who do what is right only out of fear of punishment, surely you don't believe that your own personal joy is a better motivation for doing right than fear? If it is (and that is an open question, needing reasons to accept one motivation over the other) it does not seem that one vague and partially reasonable personal feeling is much better than another as a motivation for right action.

This statement:
>Love God not so that God will do your bidding, but because you love the universe God gave you to explore
is really not any better. Why should love of the universe motivate anyone to love God in any way? It follows the other way; if one loves God, one probably will take on the same loves He has, which include the universe and the people and creatures in it. That, and only a badly misguided Christian would really believe that "loving" God would result in His "doing your bidding". Not only is the belief itself nonsense in its stated terms, it does not characterize the true motivations of anyone who actually loves God, as opposed to trying to bargain with Him.

As to the final statement about death, I am not sure exactly what kind of "rest" deists believe there is after death. I am not entirely sure, if this is in fact your own belief, that there are many other deists who believe as you do. In either case, eternal reward is better than "rest" (whatever sense that is used in); eternal reward, as described by Christians, includes at a minimum the concept of rest from the trials, hard work, and pain of earthly life, which is at least as good as the rest you mention, however it is conceived.

In short, that quotation is nonsense. In the future, it would be much better if you included in your statements facts about genuine religious beliefs (Christian or otherwise), rather than charicatures of those beliefs. If you do not accept the quotations you make as factual or correct, try to use better sources. Otherwise, you make deism seem not only pale and worthless, but also disingenuous and false.

frum