|
In my view it's all about the motivation of the person doing the good deed. There are people who do deeds for self righteous reasons, and I can honestly say I know some people well enough to know that they are doing good deeds for non-selfish reasons.
Since the bible has already been mentioned, and there is a good illustration found within, I am going to add a biblical parable to this post.
From the gospel of Luke.
"And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had."
This little story illustrates my point about motivation. The rich men could have had some of the selfish reasons listed in this thread. Self import, increase of own well being, or better fitting in with the crowd. But the story shows the contrast of a widow, who would be living in exceedingly depressed and dependent condition of a poor man's widow in the countries where our Lord was. She was unlikely to contribute anything to a charitable purpose, but she did.
I feel it would be hard to show selfishness on her part.
There may be other points to this parable as well, that I have not mentioned.
|