Just thought I Would Ask...

[Testicular Diabeetus]

This question popped into my mind while i was playing a video game.

The question... Or should I say questions.
I'm just curious.
No one is forced to answer it.

What makes you a good Christian, and how are you a good Christian?

 

[the_kill_from_yesterday]

...i hav an answer like iv asked the same question and got the answer but i cant remember it right now. ask your pastor and im sure he'll giv u the right answer.  

[Azkeel]

The only thing that makes me good is the Messiah, I do nothing.  

[Kyramud]

Well, first you'd have to ask, what is the meaning of the word "good", and second what makes a "good Christian"?

I'd argue that there are no good christians, but that's just me... stare

Aren't video games just so useful for coming up with the most thought provoking questions? The other day I was playing me some Black ops, and I started thinking about just how many cyber dudes families are left without a daddy, thanks to the insatiable desire for sensless violence demanded by the consumer sheep of the modern gaming industry. I mean, the number of people killed in video games is just staggering. I think the kill count was numbered in the hundred millions last night...

(Now I find myself wanting to write an essay on how to deal with the loss of a loved one... xd )  

[On_Fire_4_CHRIST]

Azkeel

The only thing that makes me good is the Messiah, I do nothing.

Once again I find myself agreeing with Azkeel's statement. We do NOTHING! We were originally sinful. We were stuck in sin and separated from God and were in no way good. Thankfully, Jesus saved us from Hell and also allowed us access to the Kingdom of Heaven...AND relationship with the Almighty God!

Now Christians are good, but only because of God. And even then we are still sinful. It is not us who are the good ones, but God who does work in us and makes us pure.  

[Gregar828]

Being a good Christian? Be a kind person, as a general overview. Try to live by some of the lessons that the bible stories teach: love your neighbor, show kindness, show sympathy, be reverent. Sometimes you won't live by these principles, or forget to for a time. That's cool, being human means making mistakes. As long as you are genuinely sorry (not the "I'm sorry" you say after getting caught for a small lie), God will forgive you. Being Christian means to be a good person, but being human means that we cant always live up to the expectations we have set for ourselves as a good Christian.

Fire and Azkeel, I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree. Yes, god may be our MOTIVATION to be good people, and may have dispelled sin from earth before, but it is ultimately humans who choose to be good or evil. Believing in God is not the definition of a good christian, acting in a way that would make God proud is.

Out of curiosity, what game provoked this question?  

[faithful quenga]

Azkeel

The only thing that makes me good is the Messiah, I do nothing.

I am a sinner... "1 John 1:8"

I agree with this. It's like the "are you a good person" quiz that all people fail.

I think obedience to to the Lord is the only thing that could ever make us "good" but even then, we are still such sinful creatures that we could never be considered truly good. We are all deserving of death for the sins we commit. God is only good within any of us.

...Saved by God's grace "Acts 15:11"

 

[Azkeel]

Gregar828

Being a good Christian? Be a kind person, as a general overview. Try to live by some of the lessons that the bible stories teach: love your neighbor, show kindness, show sympathy, be reverent. Sometimes you won't live by these principles, or forget to for a time. That's cool, being human means making mistakes. As long as you are genuinely sorry (not the "I'm sorry" you say after getting caught for a small lie), God will forgive you. Being Christian means to be a good person, but being human means that we cant always live up to the expectations we have set for ourselves as a good Christian.

Fire and Azkeel, I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree. Yes, god may be our MOTIVATION to be good people, and may have dispelled sin from earth before, but it is ultimately humans who choose to be good or evil. Believing in God is not the definition of a good christian, acting in a way that would make God proud is.

Out of curiosity, what game provoked this question?

Don't get me wrong I'm not giving us an excuse to do evil; heaven forbid. I am however saying if you submit unto the Messiah and our Father and allow Him to work in us we will be made perfect. We are the clay he is the potter. He's the one the shapes us if we allow it. That's why we're saved by faith because it's our faith that allows His work. We belive enough to completly submit to Him then He can work through us. Our works and deeds are like dirty rags but the work of our Father and His son is salvation.  

[On_Fire_4_CHRIST]

Gregar828

Being a good Christian? Be a kind person, as a general overview. Try to live by some of the lessons that the bible stories teach: love your neighbor, show kindness, show sympathy, be reverent. Sometimes you won't live by these principles, or forget to for a time. That's cool, being human means making mistakes. As long as you are genuinely sorry (not the "I'm sorry" you say after getting caught for a small lie), God will forgive you. Being Christian means to be a good person, but being human means that we cant always live up to the expectations we have set for ourselves as a good Christian.

Fire and Azkeel, I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree. Yes, god may be our MOTIVATION to be good people, and may have dispelled sin from earth before, but it is ultimately humans who choose to be good or evil. Believing in God is not the definition of a good christian, acting in a way that would make God proud is.

Out of curiosity, what game provoked this question?

Well first off, if you read Romans (can't remember exactly where) it talks about how we were slaves to sin and how when we were saved we became slaves to righteousness .Also, think on it from the perspective on who made the separation between good and evil? Man, who is fully sinful certainly cannot come up with it on its own. And we have been taught "repay evil for evil" while God teaches "bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you ( Luke 6:28 )." The world teaches us that our life is ours and ours alone, while on the other hand...."I know, O Lord, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for a man to direct his steps. (Jeremiah 10:23)." So in a world filled with sin that teaches do whatever you want, and particularly favoring the evil side, you tell me that humans can decide what is right and wrong? Who made the barrier in the first place? Sinful man, or righteous God? Either way, it is through God and God alone that we are able to do good and really do do good.  

[On_Fire_4_CHRIST]

Azkeel

Gregar828

Being a good Christian? Be a kind person, as a general overview. Try to live by some of the lessons that the bible stories teach: love your neighbor, show kindness, show sympathy, be reverent. Sometimes you won't live by these principles, or forget to for a time. That's cool, being human means making mistakes. As long as you are genuinely sorry (not the "I'm sorry" you say after getting caught for a small lie), God will forgive you. Being Christian means to be a good person, but being human means that we cant always live up to the expectations we have set for ourselves as a good Christian.

Fire and Azkeel, I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree. Yes, god may be our MOTIVATION to be good people, and may have dispelled sin from earth before, but it is ultimately humans who choose to be good or evil. Believing in God is not the definition of a good christian, acting in a way that would make God proud is.

Out of curiosity, what game provoked this question?

Don't get me wrong I'm not giving us an excuse to do evil; heaven forbid. I am however saying if you submit unto the Messiah and our Father and allow Him to work in us we will be made perfect. We are the clay he is the potter. He's the one the shapes us if we allow it. That's why we're saved by faith because it's our faith that allows His work. We belive enough to completly submit to Him then He can work through us. Our works and deeds are like dirty rags but the work of our Father and His son is salvation.

Isaiah 64:6

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.  

[Gregar828]

@Azkeel: Oh no, I wasnt accusing you of giving humans an excuse to do evil (we've already got too many of those), and I do agree that accepting god is one of, if not THE, most important part to becoming a more pure/faithful christian..........actually, scratch that, it IS the most important part. I do disagree, however, with the assumption that that is all you do. God does not make the choices for us, we make our own choices. Someone can still believe in God, yet commit terrible things. There is strong evidence that Adolf Hitler was a practicing christian, and accepted god as his savior. I'm doubting that he got into heaven.

@Fire: Now I have another thing to disagree with you upon. I must admit, mankind in general is a sinful people, but WHOLLY sinful? No, that is incorrect. Yes, humans sin, thats why were human. Even those who accept god into their lives and allow him to, in your words, "do the work in us", will still sin from time to time. But for the most part, humans will make decisions based on moral judgment for good, even if they do not factor in religious beliefs. I have a friend who's an agnostic, and he's one of the kindest, most morally righteous people I have ever met. If a human met another human at random, and they had a choice between "kill this guy" and "dont kill this guy", most people would choose the obvious "dont kill this guy", even those who do not have god's love. And because I can see how this post could easily be misinterpreted as me saying "we dont need god", I'll say this: I believe we DO need God to have forgiveness for our sins, but HUMANS are the ones who make the choice to be evil, or to not be evil.

As far as the barrier of good and evil is concerned, that is why humans have judgment and common sense. If we were not to make those types of decisions, why did God give us the ability to reason?

(DISCLAIMER: The name Adolf Hitler used in this post was used purely for sake of making a point, and was in no way an offensive statement tageted directly or indirectly at any person who may or may not take offense to it)  

[On_Fire_4_CHRIST]

Gregar828

@Azkeel: Oh no, I wasnt accusing you of giving humans an excuse to do evil (we've already got too many of those), and I do agree that accepting god is one of, if not THE, most important part to becoming a more pure/faithful christian..........actually, scratch that, it IS the most important part. I do disagree, however, with the assumption that that is all you do. God does not make the choices for us, we make our own choices. Someone can still believe in God, yet commit terrible things. There is strong evidence that Adolf Hitler was a practicing christian, and accepted god as his savior. I'm doubting that he got into heaven.

@Fire: Now I have another thing to disagree with you upon. I must admit, mankind in general is a sinful people, but WHOLLY sinful? No, that is incorrect. Yes, humans sin, thats why were human. Even those who accept god into their lives and allow him to, in your words, "do the work in us", will still sin from time to time. But for the most part, humans will make decisions based on moral judgment for good, even if they do not factor in religious beliefs. I have a friend who's an agnostic, and he's one of the kindest, most morally righteous people I have ever met. If a human met another human at random, and they had a choice between "kill this guy" and "dont kill this guy", most people would choose the obvious "dont kill this guy", even those who do not have god's love. And because I can see how this post could easily be misinterpreted as me saying "we dont need god", I'll say this: I believe we DO need God to have forgiveness for our sins, but HUMANS are the ones who make the choice to be evil, or to not be evil.

As far as the barrier of good and evil is concerned, that is why humans have judgment and common sense. If we were not to make those types of decisions, why did God give us the ability to reason?

(DISCLAIMER: The name Adolf Hitler used in this post was used purely for sake of making a point, and was in no way an offensive statement tageted directly or indirectly at any person who may or may not take offense to it)

Well for one thing, this argument isn't about free will, which you seem to be leaning towards. It's about "what makes a Christian good." And man is not the creator of good.

How can you tell who is good besides God? We are simply man. Our wisdom does not surpass God's. And like I Corinthians 1:25 says, "God's foolishness is greater than man's wisdom." How, then, can we ascertain what makes a person good or bad? Recall the good person test the Faithful Quenga mentioned. We were liars, thieves, etc. and what did that make us? Bad people. It was God and God alone who purified us and made us new. If He had not, we would still be those bad things and therefore be bad people. So then, being a bad person is inevitable unless you have Jesus. If our works - which are like filthy rags - can't get us into Heaven with a just and good God, how can we excpet that works can make us good people? They can't, only God can make us good.

Also, who gave us the difference between right and wrong? God did. If God had not, we surely would not know what is good or bad. Then we still would not be able to ascertain what is good or bad or what makes a person a good person or a bad person. Adam and Eve had a relationship with God. Of course they'd pass down God's law further down the generation. Where atheism and other bad things came...I don't know how they came along the line...but that shows all the more how people are bad without God. God gave us the rules which were passed down generation to generation, and we base what is "good" off of God's commands. So even if you were using the invalid argument of works making people good, people would still be unable to be "good' without God. Because God has shown us what is good and bad, and without Him showing us, we wouldn't know.

In a really small summary, only God can make us good from either perspective. From the invalid "works makes us good" persepctive, God showed us the difference between right and wrong. Without God, we wouldn't know. From the valid, "God has made us new (II Corinthians 5:17)" persepctive, only God can make us good because we were all bad people - sinners until Christ died for us.  

[Gregar828]

Alright, now let me correct YOU. This thread is not "What makes a christian good", its "What makes a good christian." And acting with moral principles and kindness in a way that would make god give you a high five, and being genuinely sorry and asking forgiveness when you dont act that way, is how to be a good christian. And you're absolutely right, man did not create good. But man is the one who uses either good or evil in this world.

Humans have something called Judgment and Common Sense. That's how I can tell good from bad. My agnostic friend can tell that stealing is bad, even though he does not accept god (fully, at least, but I'm not really at liberty to share his personal story). And whaddya know, god said that stealing is wrong, making the choice to not steal the right choice. So that means (brace yourself) that even though he did not accept god, he made the right choice! Now I'm not saying that he will get into heaven if he keeps rejecting God, I'm saying that humans can tell right from wrong with common sense.

Yes, god gave us the guidelines for what is right and what is wrong. Now then, who exercises those choices of right or wrong? HUMANS. Just because a person has been shown what is good and what is evil, does not mean he will make the good choice. On the opposite spectrum, Just because a person has not been specifically shown what the good or bad choice is, doesn't mean that he will make the bad choice.

So far, this has been what I've gotten from your argument: Just because we wouldn't know the difference between right and wrong guarantees that we will make the wrong choice. Please correct me if I have misinterpreted what you are trying to say.

And I'm sorry to break this to you, but even now, even for the people who have accepted god, they are still sinners. Accepting god does not make you immune to sin, it grants you forgiveness for past, present, and future sins (provided that you are truly sorry when asking for forgiveness).  

[rosadria]

I think the question that first needs to be answered in "What makes a person a Christian?" Not everyone who claims to be a Christian is one.

After the dust from that settles, we can answer the original question. You either are Christian, or you are not. No one of us is better than any other of our brothers and sisters. Yes, we all have different roles in the body of Christ, but a body without a lung or a kidney is in pretty sad shape.  

[Testicular Diabeetus]

The game I was playing when this question popped into my head was...
Harvest Moon: A Magical Melody.