Being a good person

[DarkProphet]

Is it possible to be a good person without being a Christian?

Is it possible to be saved without being a Christian?

Given the way that Christians act, what does it mean to be a Christian?

 

[Criada]

It is possible to be a good person, there are a lot of good people who are not Christians.. and some fairly nasty ones who are.
But.. it isn't about being good. However good you are, you will never be perfect.. you will always get it wrong sometimes, because you are a human.
And God is perfect.. and wants us to be like Him. That is what He asks.. not goodness, but perfection. And we can't do that.. no one can. Which is why we need grace, and forgiveness, and His cleansing. That is what being 'saved' means... God looks at us and doesn't see the sin, He sees the righteousness of Jesus.
So, yes, it's possible to be good.
But I don't think it is possible to be saved, without Jesus.

The way Christians act can be horrible, or wonderful. But, God loves us the same, and He is working to change us. Being a Christian is about accepting that we can't do it ourselves, and letting Him work in us. It doesn't mean we never mess up.. it means we are forgiven.

 

[heron]

Is it possible to be a good person without being a Christian?

Of course! That is just sensible. I think of goodness as having a sense of decency toward others, and there are plenty of thoughtful people out there.

Is it possible to be saved without being a Christian?

Saved from what?
The reason I ask -- we could be saved from ourselves, or destructive nature. Or saved from real guilt, with a clean slate declared. Or invited to heaven, a specific destination with specific people. Saved from a frightening judgment. Or given favor in the eyes of God, because of His grace and our faith.

Some people seem to forget what saved is, and use it as a star-belly label.

In Jesus' teachings, the default is death, and the offer is eternal life.

Given the way that Christians act, what does it mean to be a Christian?

Oh my. Loaded question.

When I first became interested in Christianity, the Christians I knew were kind, humble, generous, outgoing, not fearful, well-grounded, at peace with themselves.

The Christians I know now are more bound with fear of rules, fear of failure or success... maybe I just know them better, or they are more open about their weaknesses. Some people astound me with their patient reactions to conflict. Others astound me with their irreverence.

There are some odd teachings out there, that God doesn't care how good we are. For salvation, maybe, but He certainly made His points in the Old Testament about valuing respect for others. What I know of God makes me think He looks on non-believers who are thoughtful and kind, with delight.

Forgiveness and redemption were sealed, once for all. We step out in faith, trusting that God means what He promised. This decision to accept the grace, with repentance, seals our fate.

 

[GreenMunchkin]

Is it possible to be a good person without being a Christian?

Very much so, yes.

Is it possible to be saved without being a Christian?

No... only Christ can save us. Because, being good isn't enough. I know by our standards being good is a lot, but if God is truly, profoundly, wholly perfect, can we meet that standard?

Even the tiniest drop of dark ink will distort a pot of white. Christ blots out the black ink, if we allow Him to, so we can be reconciled to God. And He's the only One who can do that.

Given the way that Christians act, what does it mean to be a Christian?

Only God knows, DP. I really believe Jesus rebuilds us and makes us new when we follow Him. The Bible tells us that we shall be known by our fruits, and it's obvious that not everyone who says they're a Christian is one... at the same time, we're just flawed human beings who are doing our best.

But doesn't that tell you how amazing God is? That despite our failings and the myriad ways in which we let Him down and fail to bring Him to the people He loves, He forgives us and goes on loving us. It's really not about how rubbish we are, so much as it's about how awesome, and loving and generous and forgiving and honest and true He is.

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

I think that the only Christian is one who is being used by the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is in a person they will be saved when He resurrects but to act as a Christian is only in following the leading of the Spirit moment by moment. jmho

 

[arunma]

1.) There are no good people, Christian or otherwise. The only good person who ever lived was Jesus Christ.

2.) No, it is not possible to be saved without confessing Jesus as Lord. Practicing other religions (or atheism) is the surest way to hell.

3.) Given the way non-Christians act, what does it mean to be an unbeliever? Maybe I'm statistically different than most Americans. But some of the worst behavior I have seen has come from non-Christians, particularly atheists and agnostics. And the best people I have met have been Christians. From atheists, agnostics, and liberal Christians I have experienced hatred, stupidity, racism and a host of other things (much of this before I was a Christian myself). Notice that I don't illogically argue that atheism and agnosticism are false because of these things.

 

[Bobby1812]

Hi

Most of us want to do good deeds to others. You can find good people with or without religion. And the world will always benefit from having more good people around. And the 'good' definition is always subjective to different people.

A Christian on the other hand, recognizes that he is born with a sinful nature and hence, he is cut off from God's presence. Moreover, with the sinful nature, he will be eternally lost in Hell unless he receives God's only solution: Jesus Christ who came and died (or pay) for our sins. When we truly accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior (i.e. recognizing and acknowledging what He has done for us), we are no longer in our sinful nature. The important point to note here is how God sees us and not so much what we think about this problem. Because we accept God's solution through Jesus, we are no longer cut off from God's presence. We can enter boldly into God's presence because God no longer see us as in our original sinful nature, but rather see us in His righteousness through Jesus Christ. Simply put, a christian is someone saved by God.

From the Bible, then it is not possible to be saved without being a christian.

Of course, it is up to the individual to accept or believe what has been written in the Bible. And no one can force us to believe except by our own freewill. Even God does not force us to believe or overwrite our will to take a stand in the above matter.

Lastly, as to good works and christian, you will always see good and not-so-good deeds exhibited by Christians. THere is no guarantee or force action on Christians to do good after they converted. If there are Christians who do good, it is a result of their outward appreciation of God's love in them.

I do not mean to sound preachy but this is just my simple contribution. Hope it helps a little.

Bobby

 

[drich0150]

You have alot of good responses so far, I would however, like to add that being "good" is a subjective term outside the standards of God.. What was once considered a good deed or an acceptable practice may no longer be considered acceptable by our society today, but God's standards remain constant. Even so his standards are set so high the we could never be good enough to deserve heaven..

This is what he sent Jesus for. (To pay our sin debt.)

So now if you except Jesus's sacrifice to start and maintain a relationship with God then your actions (good or other wise) will have nothing to do with you being worthy of salvation. In fact Paul tells us that we can never be good enough, because even as Christians we are still slaves to sin. So in actuality being a Christian doesn't mean your a better person or someone who sins less than others, and because of the reduced amount of sin in our lives we get to goto heaven...

On the contrary we are still who we were. but it is the Love God has for us, and the love we have for him in excepting Jesus so that we may have a relationship with him, that sanctifies us.

The Good works that follow are like the efforts of a man that has fallen in love with a woman that loves him.. The flowers, candy and all of the rest of his efforts are the result of his love.. These efforts in of themselves are meaningless.. Like if the woman he loved didnot love him in return, or if she did love him, but for whatever reason he was unacceptable to her, his efforts would mean very little to her. If the relationship is not right the no amount of effort will buy true love.

Just like being in any relationship, The Love you have for God is the binding agent that make any of your good works acceptable.. On their own (without Jesus) they mean nothing.

So you can do good works in the eyes of your peers so long as you can keep up with pop culture, but to God our good works are like dirty rags without Jesus.

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

There's good people and bad people everywhere. Satan has his counterfiets, just because someone looks like hamburger, while claiming to be a vegetarian, does that qualify them as one? just a question

 

[ebia]

Is it possible to be a good person without being a Christian?

clearly

Is it possible to be saved without being a Christian?

One can only be made fit for the Kingdom of God through Jesus, and indeed the Kingdom of God is in Jesus Lordship. Ultimately it's self contradictory to be part of a kingdom and not accept the king.

On the other hand, the word Christian barely occurs in the bible and its connotations have as much to do with later accumulations than anythng else.

Given the way that Christians act, what does it mean to be a Christian?

Being in Christ should involve being a light in the world - a clearly visible signpost of the future Kingdom of God. Not the Kingdom itself yet, but at least a pointer in the right direction.

 

[Emmy]

Dear DarkProphet. When God made us in His image, He made us good. Adam and Eve, our proto-types, were good, UNTIL temptation, in the guise of the serpent, reared its ugly head. Adam and Eve were good, but not wise enough to recognise falsehood and lies. They were banished to earth, and we all know from the Bible, what happened then. In time temptations became more crafty and more sophisticated, and men and women became their willing slaves. In time Jesus came, showed us God how He really is, and told us to repent of our selfish and wilful ways. He died that we might live, and He is the Way to becoming as we once were, good. Although Christians follow Christ, we are not perfect yet, but a Christian will strive to become as God wants us to be. Loving God first, and loving others with no strings attached, loving and treating others as we like to be loved and treated ourselves. The endresult will be good to perfect. We have years to become better and better. I say this humbly and kindly, DarkProphet. Greetings from Emmy, sister in Christ.