Recently I sat in a presentation by a friend of mine who spent some time talking about the “Meritocracy” approach to relationship with God. This is the idea that doing things we think He will approve of will cause us to be looked upon with favor, whereas neglecting such things or (worse) doing things He disapproves of will cause us to be looked upon disfavorably. There are many religious traditions which brainwa… er, teach people this way, and I happened to be raised in one. Perhaps you’re familiar with this train of thought:
Today, I did something good! Now I get to take one step closer to God. Whoops! I did something bad too… hope He doesn’t burn me!
As with most things in life, there’s an analogy from either Monty Python or The Matrix. Python wins this one. Nobody could’ve said it better:
When will we ever learn?