Bessy
I think I do, yes. First, let me point out that nobody here on ILP is in that position. So it must remain in the abstract for [i]us[/i]. But let me answer your question with a question:
What about a person who was raised to be a racist, a cannibal, or a killer? A person who lead a reclusive lifestyle and never learned to be anything like what we would call a ‘good person’? If the standard of acceptance by God was whether or not you were a good person, Christianity would be obilgated to define what a good person was. No doubt, some aspects of that would be controversial- and someone could ask “What about people who have never had a chance to hear the controversial Christian message of what makes a good person?” and we’d be right back where we are now, right?
No, I don't either. Have you ever played a game in school as a child where the winner gets a candy bar, and then like five minutes later, everybody else gets a candy bar too? Why would God even have goodness and badness if that was the eventual outcome? What I'm more concerned with is not the 10's and 1's, but the 4.9's and the 5.1's- that's where most of us are, and [i]nothing[/i] you do with them is going to feel totally fair.
But what you’re saying is exactly the kind of problem I’m talking about- shifting the standard from “Acceptance of Jesus” to “Are you basically a good person” doesn’t help us. In fact, I would argue that it makes it worse.
Consider this: Members of the KKK, and abortion doctors. At various times in this nations history, those groups have people have been variously praised and hated. Who knows how they will be seen in the future?
Now, is it the fault of a KKK member that he did what he thought was right in his times- was probably praised and supported for his actions by his peers- and the fullness of history has revealed his acts to be evil? Is it the fault of an abortion doctor that he provided a service to a society that wanted that service- was probably seen as a hero by some- and years from now, abortion may be seen as an atrocity by all? But even if the goodness and badness of these people is up in the air, they could always call themselves “Good Christians”. A part of being a good Christian is always striving to be a good person, don’t get me wrong- but a part of it, a key part, transcends morality, for our conception of morality is always shifting.
Sure. Would you agree that the U.S. Constitution is much the same in that respect? By the way, you can get access to the Bible here:
I don’t intend to be confronting you on a personal level with anything I’m saying here. How Jesus feels about you, and how you feel about Him, is between the two of you.