A Workingman’s Blues

(this post was written by Kyle on July 26, 2007, and it concerns & & & )

While doing some Wikipedia research on Martin Luther, I came across this chestnut: “In the introduction to his New Testament — published in September 1522 and selling 5,000 copies in two months — he explained that good works spring from faith; they do not produce it” (emphasis added).

Now, maybe it’s because “I was…I was raised a Catholic!,” but something about that idea just don’t sit right.

First of all, the first part of the italicized phrase is just bullshit. Even those without faith are capable of doing good works (unless, of course, there’s no such thing as “good works” without the intention of a God behind it, as in, only that which God [or an agent acting on His behalf] produces is “good;” all else is human intended and thus cursed by the stain of sin; but even though I’m open to myriad definitions of “good,” I’m pretty sure that’s not one of them; thus, shit).

Sure, taken together, the whole phrase makes sense, but only if the faith you’re talking about belongs to the person doing the good works, as in, if you do good works, they will not produce, in you, faith.

But if you turn your self-involved little head around and look out at the world, maybe you’d realize that, if you do good works, you may produce faith in other people. Those upon whom your good works are done will find themselves living in a better world. If they did not before, they may begin to feel faith. Your good works will produce, in the world, faith.

Perhaps not faith in your god. But still, your works will, in the other person, produce faith in the world.

Is it any wonder that America’s current downward trend occurs at the same time that the power of Protestant fundamentalism is rising? With Martin Luther, they believe that their faith matters more than their works; in other words, their faith tells them that they don’t have to do good, as much as they have to believe right.

But what they need to understand is that, if they want to make the world a better place, they need to do good works. Believing the right things only improves, in their eyes, your chances of getting into heaven. But you don’t have to “chance” the world; you’re already here. Make it heaven.

The best way to do that, as a wise man once said, is to “perform Acts of Random Kindness.”

And fall in love with the wand fairy.