Karma vs. Christianity

Karma: what an appealing concept! Regardless of the flaws of the legal and economic systems, Justice will win out in the end. God, the gods, the Universe, your subconscious Mind, or quantum cartoon waves emanating from your head will see to it that good deeds are eventually rewarded, and bad deeds eventually punished. Even the Objectivist teachings of Ayn Rand imply a form of karma. Exercise “irrational” self-interest through criminal acts or mooching from the government, and the metaphysical contradiction will eat away at your mind causing it to melt down like a computer on Star Trek, albeit more slowly. What is there not to like about Karma?

Plenty, actually.

Believe in karma and complacency or outright callousness readily follow. See those Untouchables condemned to a miserable life? They are paying for their sins in a past life. As for those inspired to do good deeds: Is it altruism? Or is it simply metaphysical self-interest? Love and karma are oft at odds.

Nonetheless, the Bible does teach a doctrine of Divine Providence which resembles karma in many ways. The Bible is littered with promises and examples of earthly rewards for righteous behavior. But Divine Providence differs subtly from karma. The nuances can mean the difference between true love and charity, or a hard heart.

Perhaps the Pharisees of New Testament times mistook Divine Providence for mere karma. Perhaps this is why Jesus attacked the rich and praised the poor – despite the many promises of earthly rewards found in Scripture. If so, then the successful Christian capitalist can hope, at least as long as earthly success is buffered with sufficient humility and charity.

If so.

Let us dig deeper to see if this hypothesis has merit.

Promises of Divine Providence

Let there be no doubt: the Bible promises material prosperity in return for following God’s laws. Behold the quotes above. They are not about the afterlife. Reread the quote at the beginning of this page; the resemblance to karma is striking. Be good to others and good things happen to you. Moses preached extensively on the matter in the final chapters of Deuteronomy. Here is a sample:

If prosperity is the fruit of wickedness, how do you account for passages such as these? These passages state that material prosperity is the fruit of righteous behavior. (The passages which follow are curses to the nation of Israel should it worship false gods or otherwise break the Law.)

Granted, the Deuteronomy promises above apply to a nation as a whole, vs. individuals. The same can be said for the promises in Malachi. Believers in the Prosperity Gospel should take this into account. Many of the prosperity promises are group promises.

But the promises in Proverbs cited above apply to individuals. Moses also included individual curses for those who failed to obey the Law:

Interestingly, Jesus himself made at least one promise of prosperity in this life, which is not a national claim:

In the very same passage where Jesus said it is incredibly difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom, Jesus promises a hundredfold return on investment in this life. Maybe there is a misprint here. Maybe what got translated as “in this age” meant something else. But to translate verse 30 to pertain only to the afterlife requires an afterlife that involves new family members and fields This is possible; most afterlife promises refer to the resurrection upon this planet, not life up in Heaven, popular notions notwithstanding.

But persecutions? That doesn’t fit any other picture of the afterlife – at least not for the righteous.

While not a national promise, this may or may not be a group promise. The early churches did create their own economies, and functioned as a family, so maybe Jesus was referring to this future more than making individual promises. Or maybe he was doing both…

Evidence of Divine Providence

What do Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, Josiah, Job, and Daniel have in common?

They were rich.

Abraham had so many servants, that he could field an army. Joseph became governor of Egypt. Daniel became governor of the Babylonian empire. It is safe to assume that these were high paying positions. Solomon lived a life of sexual pleasure rivaled only by the likes of Hugh Hefner.

The faithful kings of Judah have enjoyed fates such as these:

Conversely, the faithless kings of Israel suffered less pleasant fates:

Faithfulness to God and his laws paid quite well back in the day. So how is that rich men cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven?

With examples like these it is easy to conclude that poverty is the result of sin, and thus the poor, the sick and unlucky should be despised.

Perhaps this was the big mistake of the Pharisees, and why Jesus attacked the rich. Maybe Jesus was emphasizing that riches were not a sure sign of divine favor, and that poverty was not a sure sign divine disfavor. Jesus used hyperbole to make a point elsewhere. This is generally acknowledged; few Christians today cut off offending body parts. So maybe there is hope for Christian capitalists after all.

But still, when Jesus uses hyperbole, we should pay attention. It was his way of shouting across the centuries, past translation errors and writing which lacked modern punctuation.

Differences between Karma and Divine Providence

Let us step away from the Bible just a little bit and indulge in a bit of speculative theology. Imagine you are The Creator, and you really enjoy creating worlds. But as the worlds add up, administering your creation gets to be a distraction. You would like to delegate some tasks. You create some angels for the task and run into problems. The angels with built-in obedience are too robotic, and cannot handle all situations without supervision. The angels given more free will sometimes get uppity and set themselves up as gods, causing all sorts of mischief.

So, how do you get administrators who have free will and do a decent job of running things without much supervision? The qualities you want are:

1. Willingness to obey orders even when not watched.
2. Benevolence towards those they supervise.
3. Leadership and administrative skills.

So, how about creating a few billion mortal beings with free will and selecting those who freely display these qualities?

In order to test their willingness to obey orders, you need to give them orders, but then go into hiding to see who follows through without evidence of supervision.

True benevolence is a tricky one. You can start by giving your mortals the experience of being ruled, but this by itself is not enough. The persecuted can become the persecuters. You want those who behave benevolently towards others without a direct payment for those benevolent actions. You want altruism in the original sense of the word: benevolence from the heart.

Finally, those who demonstrate these qualities need some practice in leadership. This entails allowing them wealth and/or governmental authority – or maybe owning a farm, with stewardship over a bunch of animals (and maybe some farmhands). Or it could entail being part of a commune as was the case of the early New Testament churches.

Does any of this sound familiar?

I won’t claim that this theological picture is correct; it certainly violates some of the omni-this-that-and-the-other assumptions of many theologians. See the Homework Assignment for another alternative.

But it does fit the data rather nicely. It fits with having a Supreme Being and an Adversary without devolving into dualism. It fits with the picture of the Afterlife given in the New Testament, of the righteous Believers given offices and kingdoms. It fits with how the Bible seems to oscillate between an emphasis on by-the-letter obedience vs. benevolence. It fits with how Divine Providence seems to work, and why it is a very dangerous assumption to assume that someone’s bad fortune is the result of sin.

Rewards are Often Delayed

Jacob spent a couple decades in exile dealing with his crafty father-in-law. Joseph was a slave and a prisoner before he was made governor of Egypt. David spent time in exile dodging the wrath of Saul before taking the throne. Daniel was a slave (and probably a eunuch) before being given high office in Babylon.

These men experienced plentiful persecution before being elevated to positions of power. Cultivating divine favor is not the quick path to riches. There are faster, easier ways.

Actually, it’s worse than that.

Rewards are Often Posthumous

Many a Christian martyr was done away with long before receiving any farms or other rewards as per Mark 10:30. The same is true for many Old Testament saints. Most of the prophets lived rough lives.

Or consider Moses. He went from living in the household of Egyptian royalty to being a herdsman and then leader of a mob wandering in the desert for 40 years living on a boring diet of manna.

The Book of Hebrews goes into the matter in great depth. Sometimes there are earthly rewards for righteousness; sometimes all the rewards come later.

But it gets worse.

God Reproves Those He Loves

Divine love is not described as motherly. Christianity and Judaism are not cuddly New Age religions suitable for the self-indulgent – despite the lyrics of some modern praise and worship music. The Bible describes God as a demanding father figure who is preparing you for greatness. Or consider an Eastern sensei. He levels his harshest criticism at his promising students.

The closer you get to God, the more nit-picky He becomes. Note how quickly divine punishment arrived during the Exodus. Complaining could get you killed. Note how Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead from lying in order to withhold a donation [Acts 5].

Bad luck can be a sign of partial divine favor. Those who are beyond hope are simply given a pass for their transgressions in this life. St. Paul discusses the principle extensively in the first chapters of Romans. Here is a small sample:

The Jews get both the rewards and the wrath first, according to Paul.

But similar trials are in order for all who follow Jesus. Recall that He said:

Do not confuse Divine Providence with The Law of Attraction.

Altruistic Rewards

Solomon asked for good judgment to judge the people of Israel, and was rewarded with riches beyond belief. But he was offered a wish in the first place because of the faithfulness of his father David. The first is a selfish reward for altruistic behavior; the latter is an altruistic reward for obedient behavior.

There are other examples in the Bible. The blessings of the Jews and Israelites come from Abraham’s faith. Sodom and Gomorrah could have been spared the price of great sin had there been a few righteous people in town. There is one incident where God threatens to destroy the Israelites en masse, but for the intercession of Moses. (I’ll leave you to look that one up for a homework assignment.)

Such altruistic rewards reward benevolence without tainting motives.

The Mistake of the Pharisees?

The Bible does indeed promise rewards for righteousness. But such is not the express path to riches. Tests and delays generally come first.

And I speculate (with much scripture to back it) that the rewards are not exactly payments for services rendered, but tests of responsibility which follow evidence of becoming the sort of being that should have power.

Now consider the attitude of one who expects Divine Providence to be a more fast-acting phenomenon, with payments in accordance to deeds done. Would this not inspire scorn to the unfortunate? And would it also not inspire deference to the rich and powerful – at least those who showed outward signs of proper religious practice?

Now consider Jesus’ criticisms of the Pharisees. Are they not a correction of this bad attitude?

If so, there is hope for the prosperous Christian. Just keep ever in mind that lack of prosperity need not be a sign of divine disfavor. And be very wary of Prosperity Gospel teachings.