How Metallica’s Generosity Makes a Godless Universe Unlikely
Only a Christian worldview can make sense of James Hetfield’s recognition that human generosity represents an uprising of something better against a nature distorted by sin
“There’s not really a better feeling in this world than helping someone else and doing it without telling everyone about it,” Metallica lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield noted in a recent interview on The Metallica Report. “There is something fantastic about that. It goes against everything that humans are: ‘I need this. You give me that. I need to take this….’ Despite everything I’ve learned, the corniest saying ‘it’s better to give than receive’—it’s so true.”
Think for a moment about what Hetfield recognizes here.
“Helping someone else… without telling everyone about it… goes against everything humans are.”
From a purely naturalist perspective, Hetfield is right. Helping others does go against everything human beings are. If your worldview is framed by a cosmos with no God, there is no rational reason why anyone should help another person with no increase in survival and no hope for reciprocity. And yet, James Hetfield helps others—and he even admits Jesus was right about the better blessedness of giving (Acts 20:35).
“Despite everything I’ve learned, the corniest saying ‘it’s better to give than receive’—it’s so true.”
If the cosmos is wholly naturalistic and natural selection is the sole explanation for our actions, evolution ought to have eliminated such patterns of behavior.
Yes, there’s an undeniable bent toward self-preservation and self-promotion that touches everything that we do as human beings; that reality makes complete sense in a godless cosmos.
And yet, if we are creatures whose behaviors are determined by natural instincts formed by natural selection, there is no satisfying reason why any group of people would choose to give generously to others without any likelihood of greater personal survival, benefit, or return.
More to the Cosmos than Mere Matter
I am not suggesting, of course, that everyone who practices unreciprocated generosity is a Christian. There are, after all, plenty of philanthropic atheists in the world. What I am contending is that no one would pursue such generosity unless there is more to the cosmos than mere matter and naturalistic causes. From the perspective of naturalistic evolution, what contributes best and most to human survival is “to favor kith and kin, do down our enemies, ignore the starving, and let the weakest go to the wall.” Traits that work against natural selection include “self-sacrifice, honor,… faith, hope, and charity”—yet these are precisely the traits that are necessary to sustain generosity without any hope of reciprocation. How is it that people exhibit deep selfishness and yet simultaneously behave in ways that natural selection can’t adequately describe?
Christians alone have a worldview that explains both human selfishness and human generosity. According to the Christian metanarrative, we have been created in the image of a generous God, and God designed us with a regard for the dignity of our fellow image bearers. And yet, we are simultaneously rebels against this divine design. Thus not only do we habitually seek our own good at the expense of others but we also act generously at times, ever living as fallen images of God at war with our own deepest design. It’s only the Christian worldview that can make sense of James Hetfield’s recognition of this conflict within human nature. We are broken yet beautiful images, with a nature that is—in the words of C.S. Lewis—“both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth.”
Very good
Wow! Thank you for this article. I'm a Christian author, but also a diehard Metallica fan. So nice to be able to view them through a lens that doesn't cause me cognitive dissonance. I think that if one starts to look around, there is evidence of God in all directions.