Mainly, the hard things to account for in contemplating these ideas are: what about those who do seemingly great things? Are we willing to say that Ghandi was ultimately selfish? Ghandi’s actions were not necessarily aligned with a religion, nor was he acting in his own self-interest (of course, one could argue that we don’t know his true intentions, which is a valid point, but this would be speculative at best).

I really appreciate your point on the rewards/consequences model of salvation however. Thinking critically about our motives for salvation is a very healthy thing…especially in the Church. Many people consider salvation in a selfish manner…which really flies in the face of many of Jesus’ teachings.

One thing I would like for you to further delve into (because the determinism vs. free-will debate is something I’ve been especially interested in lately, on a personal level): how do you account for responsibility in a deterministic mode, both on an individual and communal level?

Also, if salvation is somehow connected with reason/knowledge, how does one account for the community of the mentally challenged?

Lastly, there is a subset of culture which tends to run counter to normally accepted logical ends, beginning with the author of Ecclesiastes…those who equate strife, pain, difficulty, etc…with beauty or gain. I think there are answers here which get overlooked, especially in our self-focused culture.