Weighing the Incentives to Serving God
Overview: Evaluating the variable motives in serving God after granting that Torah is divinely-inspired. Motives of love, fear, a sacred mission, and the win-win gamble.
Each for their own
Facts are facts; no matter what we feel about them. But the way we react to those facts is a personal matter and is different for each person. For one person, fact X can be extremely relevant but to another person it would mean nothing. This is because we all have different life situations and different biological makeups that have us relate to each fact differently. In search for the incentives to serve God, we will bring various motives that most people should relate on one level or another. Some might relate to one incentive more than the other.
We have attempted to establish the likelihood of there being a God and Him communicating to us through the Torah. Of course along the way we have also poked holes in the evidence, making it from absolute fact to likely fact. In life when we make decisions, we weigh the incentives and outcomes in order to know whether or not is it worth it to do or invest in the specific thing that we are unsure will yield the outcome. Sometimes it is worth it to invest in something that is so great even if there’s only a 40% chance of it being beneficial or profitable. We will now go through various motives in serving God. In the event that God doesn’t exist, one might say that we have “wasted our time” serving God. But we will show how the life of an observer is usually happier than the life of an acting atheist. Therefore from a pragmatic perspective as well, it would make sense to serve God – even if there’s a chance that He doesn’t exist. We will start off on the premises that Torah is true and we’ll finish off with the premises that God doesn’t exist.
“Love thy God with all your heart” (Deut. 6:5)
Love is the human expression of connection and gratitude to another being. Someone might love eating pizza but that just means that they enjoy the taste of when the saucy cheese with its crunch meet their taste receptors. But then there’s love to a conscious being like a friend or family member. In that kind of love, there’s an emotional connection to the other person. As a result, the lover will feel gratitude towards the person and would go out of their way to do favors for the person they love. The more the love – the more the person goes out of their way for the person they love.
Many people feel a love for God – and for good reason. God is the Creator of the beautiful world we live in (despite all its ugly elements like suffering[1]). He’s the reason we exist and the reason we have the ability to do the things we enjoy doing. It’s like the love for nature, except that this nature actually has a consciousness.
God is also loved because He is man’s greatest salvation. This means the best thing for a person in this world is for Him or her to serve God. As a result, God will reward the person substantially either in this world or more likely in the afterlife.
God is also loved in response to the love He showered on us. He chose us as His Chosen Nation and initiated a relationship with us in the Covenant of the Mitzvos. An entire biblical book, Song of Songs, is dedicated to the parable of love between husband and wife to describe the relationship God initiated with His Chosen Nation, the Jewish people. It’s a natural human reaction to love back whoever shows appreciation and love towards them.
Some people might even love God in realization of how He is the ultimate truth. Meaning, once all limitations of everything are stripped, we are left with the ultimate existence alone – God. We all appreciate truth. It comes from our natural yearning for truth. Truth is something beyond our selfish motives that we strive for although there’s no personal gain from it necessarily. This is why we usually feel guilty telling a lie, even if the lie benefits us. This is why we pursue justice for those who committed evil. If we only cared about selfish gains then we wouldn’t feel the need to return a lost item to its owner. We all hate hypocrites because it is inconsistent and many other examples that demonstrate our longing for truth. So if we love truth so much, imagine how much more so we should love and yearn for the ultimate definition of truth, which is of course, God.[2] For further discussion of this see the article on “Is God a Nice Guy?”
It is with this love in mind that many feel the need to perform the tasks God ensures us with. If your parent or spouse ask a favor from you, you’ll probably feel the obligation to perform it. Same applies here.[3]
Of course, like every incentive this one too is limited. So much the love so much the amount someone will go out of their way. This incentive may not have the person dedicate 12 hours a day for God, but it should push the person to serve God at least a little with real sincerity of the heart.
This motive is the one most desired by God as it is considered to be the most selfless (called lishma in Heb.)[4] [i] Now, because this is the motive most desired by God, Judaism encourages and esteems it with high regard.[ii]
“So that you revere the Lord and fulfill His Law” (Deut. 6:2)
Fear of God is the recognition of God’s glory and greatness. When we realize the magnitude of God’s infinite state of being, we realize how much greater He is than us.
If a highly esteemed and honourable person requests a favor from you, you will probably go out of your way for them more than you would for a casual acquaintance. Take the president of the United States or Albert Einstein for example. Out of respect you would grant their request and feel honored to do so. The Creator of the universe far surpasses the greatness of all the greatest people in world put together. For further discussion of this see the article on “Is God a Nice Guy?”
“Precious is one hour of tranquility in afterlife than all this world” (Avos 4:17)
In all likelihood, Torah believes in an afterlife. Certainly Rabbinic Judaism believes in the afterlife. We don’t know much of this World to Come besides for that it’s the place where God’s Justice prevails. All man is judged before Him when they are done their time down in this world. The righteous are rewarded and the evil are punished.
It is human nature to do what ends up benefiting them. There’s nothing wrong with that; it’s our nature. So, understating that serving God will end up benefiting us in the long-run, we certainly feel the need to invest in this World to Come.[5]
The reward for a Mitzvah is a Mitzvah (Avos 4:2)
According to Kabbalistic and Chassidic philosophy, there’s intrinsic value in a Mitzvah that has everlasting spiritual effects. We may not be able to see the spiritual effects (until the World to Come) but there is still the effect. This makes sense since if that weren’t the case, why would God create the world?![6]
Many people devote their life’s mission to finding a cure for cancer or to save the environment or any other mission. As humans, we feel how limited our selfish being is and we strive for something greater than ourselves. We strive for a mission that is grand, superb, and long-lasting. This gives us purpose and meaning in life, beyond the more self-centered day-to-day tasks that we perform.
According to Jewish thought, God created the world for a purpose – a grand mission He had for this world. And that mission is achieved through performing Torah and Mitzvos. (see here). By preserving the Covenant with God, we are essentially contributing to the ultimate mission of all times – the fulfilment of the purpose of the entire Creation plan of God. Unlike like all physical and limited achievements, this grand mission of Creation is everlasting and we shall one day see its effects. We will one day come to appreciate the accomplishments of the work itself that we perform. This is will be in the World to Come when we will have the ability to see spirituality by being out of the limitations of our physical body. Thus: the reward for a Mitzvah is the Mitzvah itself and all that it accomplishes.[7]
This sacred mission is a motivation for many to perform the Mitzvos to the best if their ability.
Win-win situation
Till now our discussion took for granted that God exists and that He set a mission for us and will award us accordingly. But let’s imagine for a moment that our belief system was entirely wrong: there’s no God, no mission, and no afterlife.
Life is truly better for most of us if we act as if Judaism has a big chance of being true. There’s the benefit of a loving family and community, optimism, hope, idealism, purpose, meaning, belonging, high moral and civil standards, self-discipline, tradition, ritual, and family structure that all come along with staying true to our family’s tradition – be it the truth or not. Jewish culture is far superior in most ways then secular culture. So even by an atheistic or secular perspective, Judaism is the right choice for most people. Many studies show that religious people tend to be happier and make healthier life-choices than non-believers.[iii] Sure it is pragmatism, but pragmatism is the best life decision in an atheist’s world and certainly in an agnostic’s world. And sure Judaism may be hard to keep (at least some elements) but what good comes with no effort?
Worst comes to worse, by serving God and practicing religion we followed our evolutionary tendency to seek spirituality and connection with the divine that we created in our heads. Just as evolution makes us feel that murder is wrong (see here) – and we feel no reason to fight that embedded feeling – the same may apply with religion. Why fight this evolutionary inclination to seek meaning in our life?! Evolution wired us to seek meaning since, by doing so, we generally live happier lives. So relying on the possibility (and I would argue – strong possibility) of religion and serving God being a real thing and not merely a construct of human imagination is not the worst bet to make. In most cases, it is truly a win-win situation.
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[1] As for the problem of suffering see here.
Some find issue with God’s character in the Torah often portrayed as an angry and vengeful God. For example, throughout their travel in the Wilderness, the Israelites were struck by God’s wrath multiple times for their sins and were many died in the plagues brought upon them.
So first of all, we must realize that the same Torah also describes God in loving and merciful terms. There are different verses describing different “emotions” of God.
But why would God display anger and vengefulness? It would seem that He does so in order to show us how important the Covenant is for Him and for the mission of the world in general. If God would show no distress when we fail to pursue our relationship with Him, then we’d have good reason to worry. A true relationship has emotions of anger and distress when the relationship is put into jeopardy. This refers on our end as well. It is healthy, in a sense, to get angry at God every now and then. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that God actually gets angry. It may very well be that God just makes as if He is getting angry in order to show us the severity of sinning. It would be comparable to a parent who displays anger to a child just on order to show the child the severity of their wrong action.
A parent punishes their child for the sake of the child learning proper behavior so that they will one day be thankful for being taught to do the right thing. God uses the same standard parenting skills with us. He punishes His Chosen Nation with exile and the curses described in Deut. 28 so that they will pray for the Redemption and repent. Ultimately, it is for everyone’s benefit, if not in this world, then in the World of Justice.
Some may see God’s treatment of the Jews as a tyrant who threatens punishment for disobedience (see Deut. 28 for example). But this question stems from the wrong attitude. God is not a human. A human tyrant is evil since they are attempting to control other humans who are essentially their equal companions. What gives them the audacity to act superior to us?! But God isn’t taking control over us – He inherently is the boss. He is superior by virtual being the God of the heavens and earth. This gives Him every right to demand that we follow His rules. We may not be happy about those rules, but we must remember that we are guests in His house. Sure He created us and put us in His house, but unless we’re suicidal then we do want to live in His house. Getting angry at Him for demanding that we follow His rules, is a misunderstanding of God’s nature. He is not human.
[2] Truth by definition means something that is eternally independent. That’s exactly what God is. See also chapter “Where Do Our Morals Come From?”
[3] Although God isn’t “asking” us to perform the Mitzvos (but is rather commanding), still we recognize that He is commanding us for our own benefit like when a parent demands that their child do the right thing.
[4] While it is in a sense selfless, it does boil down to the person. Literally every action one does is for their own benefit or pleasure. Even the kind act of charity has a selfish motive. While consciously it is indeed a sincere gesture of giving for the sake of the recipient (and we therefore call it “selfless”), it really boils down to the person, because the person will feel guilty if he doesn’t give and feels good when he does. It’s all about satisfying that feeling. This is not a bad thing, as it is only natural for every single human on earth with every single action of ours. So too with love or a favor. Yes, it is labeled as “selfless,” but it still boils down to the good feeling one gets when returning a favor to someone he loves (or avoiding the negative feeling that would come if the favor isn’t done).
[5] However, focusing on the negative—the punishment—isn’t a healthy approach in life as it can cause us to become overly worried and obsessively nervous. While the punishment is certainly negative, it isn’t accurate to describe it as a scary hell. The punishment, otherwise known as Gehinnom or purgatory, is explained (Likutei Sichos vol. 22 page 335, vol. 5 page 135 and sources therein) as a cleansing process to remove the stains put on our souls via transgression and enable our souls to enter the higher realms of paradise, otherwise known as Gan Eden.
Perhaps the worst part of Gehinom will be the guilt felt for not doing the purpose one was created for. While in this world, we don’t feel much the need to constantly pursue the objective we were created for (i.e. to build a relationship with God via Torah and Mitzvos—see beginning of “The Jewish Attitude Towards Gentiles”). But in the World to Come, when we leave our physical boundaries, we’ll see almost eye-to-eye with God who desired for us to perform the Torah and Mitzvos devoutly. Imagine the shame when we realize how much more we could have done for the cause of creation.
On the same note, imagine the happiness and pleasure we would experience after being cleansed and being pure with our Lord. At that time we would appreciate all the good we did while down in this physical world and we’d appreciate our contribution to the purpose of creation.
[6] But then there’s the possibility that we, perhaps, just don’t understand God’s reasons.
[7] Even if we take the approach that the world wasn’t solely created for mankind (discussed here) but rather each creation has its own purpose in creation, the same idea still applies. Indeed it wouldn’t be the ultimate plan for Creation, but it still would be some spiritual plan that transcends the physical by infinite myriads. There is very likely a spiritual effect being achieved when we serve God and that spiritual effect is as grand as grand can get. It is eternal and not bound to the physical pleasures of this world which die with us to the grave.
[i] Rambam Hilchos Teshuva ch. 10.
[ii] Avos 6:1, Berachos 17:1, Rambam Hilchos Teshuvah 10, Sanhedrin 105, and more.
[iii] For example: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/religion-happy-atheism-psychology-faith-belief-emotion-mental-health-christianity-a8766376.html
For a comparison of well-being and happiness by group and religion see https://news.gallup.com/poll/152732/religious-higher-wellbeing-across-faiths.aspx
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