Spot the good christian?

Question

Person 1- Never had a bad word to say about anyone. Treated everyone nicely and never complained about anything. Gave back to his community and ultimately died to protect his friend.

Person 2- Spent a great deal of time spreading the word of Jesus and speaking out against sin and immoral society

Person 3- Killed an innocent man, robbed a liquor store, injured 2 other people and ended their career.



Here is who they are.

Person 1- Atheist, my beat partner.

Person 2- An excommunicated catholic priest who patrols my old college

Person 3- A highly respected member of the catholic church, followed the bible completely until the end. And, the man who shot person 1, myself, and my trainee.

My point? Being a good christian is meaningless. Being a good person making sound decisions for yourself is far more powerful. If you can honestly say the Atheist is not in heaven (if it exists) you are crazy

Answer 1

John D, that is a wild story. I'm not saying it is not true, I'm just saying that it reads like a plot from a Hollywood movie.

As a fellow police officer, and strictly in the interest of officer's safety, I would love to read all the particulars about that case. Is it still pending? What was the outcome? What was the excommunicated priest's (I think you mean defrocked) role in this story?

Did the atheist repent and accept God at the last moment? Did he persist in his disbelief and keep his back turned on God to the very end?

Was the ex-priest even involved in this ordeal? If so, was he also killed in this shootout? Did he regret and repent of whatever caused him to be 'excommunicated' from his Church?

Was the robber/shooter killed in the shootout? Did he ask for a priest as he died? Did he otherwise make his peace with God, regretting his actions, repenting and asking forgiveness?

That covers the three you are asking about and don't you mean, "Who was saved," rather than 'spot the good Christian?'

Answers:

#1: An atheist, by his own admission, is not a 'Christian,' good or otherwise. His life (according to your description) was certainly exemplary and 'Christian-like,' but from what you are saying, I can only discern that he rejected Christ. As much as we'd like to, how can we say, "He was the good Christian?" The question of his Salvation is entirely up to God, as during his life he chose to alienate himself from the Almighty. In this he cannot blame God, he cannot blame religion and he certainly cannot blame you or me. I hope he is in Heaven, but I'm not the one who encouraged him to be an atheist so don't say 'I am crazy.'

#2: An ex-priest, one who better than anyone should know the Truth, has brought shame unto himself by breaking his vows and leaving the priesthood; reserving judgment (for God alone judges in these matters), hardly one to earn the title of "the good Christian."

#3: A 'Bible' Catholic you say? In some circles that would appear nearly oxymoron, but it tells us something about him. This person's actions--robbing and shooting people yet projecting all outward appearances of being a 'highly respected member of the Catholic Church'--fits the profile of someone who is troubled and confused. Perhaps he even suffered from some kind of psychological disorder, such as multiple personalities, hyper mania, attention deficit? Did he attempt to govern his own life by self-interpreting the Bible while professing to be a good Catholic? Then he was actually a 'Bible Christian.' Far too many Catholics don't know their own Faith and are 'Catholic' by Baptism and in name only. If he was sincerely reaching out to God, but hindered by mental illness, even Man's laws would hesitate to condemn him. His actions say he was not "the good Christian," but his Salvation hinges on God's wisdom and mercy.

To answer your question, your story is a perfect example of why one can never be sure of his own Salvation until he is in Heaven.

H

Answer 2

I can agree with some of what you said and disagree with some of it, too.
Being a Christian does NOT suddenly make you a saint, or a good person. And, being nice doesn't make you a good person either.
You can be Jewish and be a good person.
What matters is how you treat others, what you stand for, how you live your life, and if you are obedient or not. These are the most important things.

You cannot judge a whole group of people because of a few "stray" ones who don't follow the teachings.
Like you can't say all Athiests are bad people or are going to burn in hell just cuz you met one bad one. The same for the Christian's. You can't say that Christianity is a crock just cuz you met a few bad ones. Come on now, we need more common sense here.

The real fact here is how each of us choose to live our lives. That's what matters the most.

Answer 3

The different personalities listed are common scenario. But the common denominator is that all of them are sinners whether they did great or have shown exemplary work. It is only God who have the right to judge these persons as to wether they are christians or not.

Nobody in the entire race was able to follow the bible completely because God is not finished with us yet.

Heaven is God's dwelling place so how can an Aethiest believe in Heaven when he doesn't believe in God. Well, I'd rather be crazy believing in God and heaven rather than nothing.

Answer 4

He must have shot you for a reason, I don't think you are giving us the full story and are painting 1 & 2 in a nice light and delibrately misleading us all as they are clearly guilty of something...number 3 found you out, knows, as we all do, that the law is corrupt as hell and couldn't get you thrown in the slammer where you would learn the true meaning of justice so took justice into his own hands...

Blessed is the avenger!

The atheist should go to the slammer, and why the hell did the priest get ex-communicated if he wasn't guilty as sin...

Man, I can read you like a book

Answer 5

i can do that too.
person 1, a lovng man, happy passionate, even though he has spent years in prison, being beat for what he believes in. he is a pastor in the underground church in vietnam.

person 2. a boy who got a girl pregnant after a one night stand, and had to pay child support. but the child died of unknown causes when he was justa fiew months old. this guy is an athiest, a friend of mine since childhood.

person 3.a man adopted 33 orphaned children after the war invietnam. gave them a good home, taught them well, and gave themeveryhitng they needed, and now all of them are sucessful in all areas of their life. this man is my uncle, a msiionary to thailand.

point? God can do anything, even bring you out of the worst possible situation. People's beliefs, religion, ideas are meaningless, but God is unimaginably big.

Answer 6

HAHA. John D you are incorrigible.

You know that Person 3 will go to heaven because God forgives ALL our slights.

Person 1 is doomed because he never accepted JC as his personal blah blah

Person 2 is totally f*cked because he is excommunicated and has little hope of St. Peter giving him the thumbs up. But you never know.

God truly is a bastard.

Answer 7

lover of God, truth, righteousness, justice, peace, and goodwill.

being a "good Christian" doesn't mean that you get it right every time, but it means you surely do work at trying to do so. "Christianity" is in the character / the pudding, not in the doctrines and/or religious texts you can articulate.

i don't agree with you about the altruistic matter. I would argue that Jesus died for the sake of righteousness. That was a heroic gesture, not one of altruism.

Answer 8

Oh sure, the affection is in person who is professional.. i like it, and I can see this, in people who are truly... it's only lovely. This summer time a tree, used to be hit badly through a hurricane, and lengthy tale brief, it had to be reduce and eliminated. So firms have been referred to as, and the guy who got here, used to be person who mirrored such mild, i knew directly... so I requested him and we shared on this uncommon assembly... the sort of delight to satisfy any person and recognize immediately! it is a uncommon reminder, that our Light is robust... our countenance does contact others.. God bless Lovingly Kar

Answer 9

As I read your "question," I got really pissed off. THERE IS NO QUESTION. Don't get me wrong, I like what you're saying but if you're here you want to get answers to something you asked not trying to make a point. If you want to make a statement, do what everyone else does... put it in your freaking blog ok?
By the way, the atheist isn't in heaven because he chose not to believe in God, therefore, closing the pearly gates for him.

Answer 10

I don't mean to be disrespectful to the atheist, for he appears to have been a good person, but I don't believe he is in Heaven. For good works alone will not get one into Heaven, but a relationship with the Almighty God, and doing one's best to live their life for God will.