I am a 'bad' Christian

David's recent post titled 'counterfeit christians' prompted this reply from yours truly:

There was a time when I strived to be a 'good' Christian...

And would beat myself up, mercilessly, when I failed to live up to the ideal..

I found, more often than not, that I was attempting, in my striving, to be something other than genuine.

I was, as I see it now, pretending to be, or more specifically, trying to be, someone other than myself.

So, I now see myself, as a 'bad' Christian...

Hoping, against hope, that God is indeed merciful and that grace is His defining characteristic.

Are you a 'good' Christian?

Honestly?

Comments

[rick]

Depends on how one defines "good". "Why do you call me good?" Remember who asked that? I guess being a "good" Christian would mean following Jesus into the world and standing for what Jesus stood for. Somehow Jesus' life has come to mean living by a certain moral code in some circles. Jesus lived on the fringe with those who had been excluded by the "religiously correct". We need to move toward the fringe of society if we want to see the back of Jesus' head. (Follow him)

I always say that I don't have the guts to follow Jesus so I settle for being a Christian.

[Korie]

I don't think there's such thing as a 'good' christian, or a 'bad' christian. Being 'good' doesn't make you any more christian. One doesn't receive more of God's grace by being 'good'. Either you're a christian, or not.

[cjmybad]

There are bad christians! They are the ones who deliberatly do things that want to do even if it hurts others just to get what they want. Then to ease their conscience they ask for forgiveness, they might truely be sorry for sinning but they don't stop what they are doing or make amends to those they hurt, that would be the christian thing to do, but then they wouldn't have what they want. I was a christian for 40 years and bad christians is what turned me away from church and religion!

[M400]

I am the way the truth and the life