Judgement and rewards

Michael: Let’s hear about the tee shirts, please.
Eleanor: Eeh, OK. I’ll tell you – but it doesn’t make me look great, so don’t judge me.
Michael: That’s literally the purpose of this entire exercise.

(Season 1, episode 8)

The idea of evaluating a person’s life comes up quite a bit on The Good Place. This is an important theme in Christianity too, but in a different way: not to determine if people are worthy of heaven (which is a free gift and not earned), but as a time of getting everything out in the open. Every person will stand before Jesus individually and answer for the things they did on earth, good and bad.

For those who are already forgiven, this isn’t a shameful time of having their nose rubbed in their sins – a terrible lie some people believe – but an opportunity for Jesus to reward his people for even little things they did out of love, and publicly praise them (which will be overwhelming). Those who haven’t accepted God’s forgiveness will see the reality of their lives, which will cause a lot of grief.

If Jesus is the judge, we might want to be sure he will evaluate our lives fairly. When the group are talking to the “judge who decides on disputes between the Good Place and the Bad Place,” (pictured above – I love Maya Rudolph’s facial expressions), Jason makes a surprisingly relevant point:

Jason: You can’t judge humans ’cause you don’t know what we go through.
Michael: Amazingly, Your Honor, he’s right. I didn’t really understand people until I went to Earth.

(Season 3, episode 11)

Jesus knows what it is like to be human, including all of our frustrations, temptations, weaknesses and suffering. He will certainly judge people fairly. Like the judge in The Good Place, he has experienced it all firsthand:

Judge: Oh, brother. That was rough.
Eleanor: Right?
Judge: Sheesh. Earth is a mess, y’all. Woof! Also, I guess I’m black? And they do not like black ladies down there.

Even if Jesus hadn’t come to earth, whatever he did would be fair and right; that’s his very nature. But having our judge be the same person who cared enough to enter into our situation and die for us means that we can know his judgement is just (if anything, it is tipped in favour of mercy).

Another issue that The Good Place brings up is our motivation for doing good things. At one stage Eleanor tries to increase her points by being nice to people, but her motivation cancels it out:

Eleanor: There’s no way to increase my point total because everything I’m doing is out of self-preservation.
Tahani: I don’t understand.
Eleanor: My motivation is corrupt. Even when I do nice things, I’m only doing them so I can get something out of it, the ability to stay here, which means none of this had any real moral value. It doesn’t count.

(Season 1, episode 11)

If Christians are promised rewards for things they do on earth, does that mess up their motivations?

Not at all. The difference to the point system is that it is relational, not contractual. God says, “I value what you do out of love for me and other people – so much that I will remember it for eternity.” The rewards are: praise from God; sharing in his glory; being entrusted with more to do for him (“reigning with him on his throne”); being in his presence. Being as lavish and generous as he is, God also includes material-type rewards as well (a restored paradise to live in), but those are not the main focus. What makes heaven heaven is being in the direct presence of God and his love.

So the motivation is not to do things for people just so you can get something out of it (which wouldn’t be acting out of love anyway). It is, “God values even the small things I do – how amazing. And it will all be remembered, so there is reason to persevere when it feels hard sometimes.”

People do all kinds of things because there is a reward at the end. They invest in their partners because the end result is a better relationship. They go to the gym and eat well for the reward of being fit and healthy. They keep practicing a musical instrument for the reward of being able to play beautifully. There is nothing inherently bad about wanting a reward. Aiming for a reward that lasts forever is by definition a wise and worthwhile thing to do.

Doing an activity that is worthwhile (i.e. has a reward) is the opposite of feeling useless and ineffective, and that your life is meaningless. Chidi had a low point when he believed nothing he did really mattered:

Chidi: The true meaning of life, the actual ethical system that you should all follow is nihilism. The world is empty. There is no point to anything, and you’re just gonna die. So do whatever.

(Season 3, episode 4)

People often search for a sense of significance and meaning in their lives. If what you do on earth has effects for eternity, that says a lot about your true significance.

Next: Why judge at all? What is the point of judging the lives of human beings anyway?