Tuesday, 22 May 2007

Aren't all good people Christians

This is one of the enduring legacies of Christendom. Is can be expressed as aren't all good people Christians or sometimes as I'm a Christian, I'm British. It is the assumption that a set of moral characteristics or nationalistic ones makes you a Christian.

We need to be probing and getting people to examine that idea. What is a Christian? is the fundamental question to ask. Once people see that actually to be a Christian is to be a follower of Jesus Christ it begins to raise questions about whether they are or not. It also may enable us to talk about who Jesus was and what he did with them.

The other question to ask is what good is. How do you decide who is good. Romans 3 says "there is no one who does good, not even one." That is quite a stunning statement, and provokes much discussion and debate. Ultimately the question of good is one of relationship to God, whether we have rebelled against God and decided to determine right and wrong for ourselves is the decisive factor in determining whether we are good or not.

However, this question also allows us to ask one back - what do you think grace is? Can a bad person go to heaven?

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