OutcomeBasedMorality

14 Dec 2008
Outcome-based Morality - Hellboy III - Abortion

Something's been on my mind a lot lately - should we do things because of the outcome it brings? Do you believe in God so that you don't go to hell? Do you reconcile a relationship so you have it back? Do you forgive others so that there is no spiritual barriers to friendship? I've come to the conclusion that outcome-based decision making is not good.

I watched the movie Hellboy II last night. Definitely comic-book superficial. Some fun scenes. One big-time plot writing faux pas. For example, the whole premise is that the Prince is trying to get the 3rd piece of a crown, worn by his sister. Big beast is set out to find her (and the piece). Beast meets our hero. Hero wins the fight. Prince comes to avenge the beast's death with some big organic pod-flower thing. Standing 20 feet away from the princess, the prince seems oblivious to his original goal. Why doesn't he just grab her now, unprotected? Forget her, just grab the crown piece. Same scene happens later.

I had to get that off my chest. Anyhow, back to what I was saying. Woven throughout the plot is the fact that Hellboy (the hero) is getting disappointed in humans. Sure enough, we'll have a Hellboy III where he turns against humans, and then reconciles all of life and eventually turns out to be a good guy again. My observation is this: if Hellboy is doing everything for the accolades from humans, he's set up for failure. It's not that he's doing something slightly wrong. He's just never going to find worth and value by the feedback others give.

And so it is with your belief in God. No church or family or culture is going to be the proper feedback to keep you in line with God. You do this God-thing because you believe it to be true. Not because it gets you anything. No outcome-based religion! What if you think, "I have to do xxx in order to protect yyy from harm." No go. That doesn't fly. You have to reconcile whether you should do xxx even if it didn't have an outcome of protecting yyy.

Let me put this into terms everybody can get upset about: abortion shouldn't be done to protect the life of the mother, nor should it be done to avoid the (we know it's going to be) terrible life of the child. Or, look at it the other way: nobody should force someone to give birth to a child in order to protect that child's life. Either way, it's not about what happens IF you do something (protect the life or eliminate the life). We don't control the future. Yes, yes, yes, I know.. there is overwhelming evidence that some outcome will happen. That's not relevant. Point to where in your religion you believe in statistics and surveys as the reason to be any way or do anything. Do you believe an an active God or not? Then let God choose the future; you just live the now.

Instead of outcome-based reasoning, come to your same conclusion (if you wish) by other means. Having an abortion is right or wrong in and of itself not because you think it's going to have a certain outcome. Hellboy protecting humans on earth is right or wrong in and of itself. Trying to reconcile that relationship is simply right to do. Believe in God? Your choice, but don't base it on where you'll spend eternity.

---

Created by brian. Last Modification: Friday 24 of June, 2011 16:26:34 CDT by brian.