John 3:16

[Udanor]

John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

A question that has been brought up about this is..

Can you be a horrible person and still be a christian?

We know that Jesus died for are sins, and so we are forgiven.

Lets say, this guy belives in Jesus with his whole hart and belives he is a christian, but he was a horrible sinner...

He comites adultery almost every night, he is a thief,lier, even murderer...
But he does this knowing that Jesus will forgive him...

Lets say Hitler believed in Jesus! Would he get to heaven?

Im wondering how hard we have to be on are selfs when it comes to sinning? Jesus will forgive us anyway right?

[justifyothers]

John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

A question that has been brought up about this is..

Can you be a horrible person and still be a christian?

We know that Jesus died for are sins, and so we are forgiven.

Lets say, this guy belives in Jesus with his whole hart and belives he is a christian, but he was a horrible sinner...

He comites adultery almost every night, he is a thief,lier, even murderer...
But he does this knowing that Jesus will forgive him...

Lets say Hitler believed in Jesus! Would he get to heaven?

Im wondering how hard we have to be on are selfs when it comes to sinning? Jesus will forgive us anyway right?

Well sadly, if you believe this type of behavior is OK, simply because it will be forgiven, you are missing the whole point of living out God's will in your life. I have personally experienced changes in the way I think and feel about people, things, life in general that I attribute to a change of heart brought about by God.

We discussed on another thread the idea of deciding who is a christian or not.....but I feel OK to say this - if one thinks along the guidelines you brought up in your OP, I would feel safe in saying that person is not only NOT a christian, but does not follow the will of God.

'Forgiveness of sin' is fine & lovely and does tend to help free us from our own guilt, but it is not the beauty of living out God's plan - living this way would never accomplish what God wants in our lives. Oneness with him and the rule of God within are what it's all about......not 'sinning' only to ask for forgiveness later.

There is also the issue of being a kind person. The hurt caused by the behavior you mentioned would be devastating to all involved. And eventually hurt the one causing it all. (I realize you were not using yourself as an example ) I just wanted to make the point that God has more to offer than just forgiveness of 'sin'.

Also, it is my belief that God is the God of us all and wants all His children with Him eventually, so, Ya, someday we may meet Hitler -- oh joy!

[McCulloch]

Your question is not a new one. The early apologist Paul dealt with this theme.

For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-- for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[twobitsmedia]

John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

A question that has been brought up about this is..

Can you be a horrible person and still be a christian?

We know that Jesus died for are sins, and so we are forgiven.

Lets say, this guy belives in Jesus with his whole hart and belives he is a christian, but he was a horrible sinner...

He comites adultery almost every night, he is a thief,lier, even murderer...
But he does this knowing that Jesus will forgive him...

Lets say Hitler believed in Jesus! Would he get to heaven?

Im wondering how hard we have to be on are selfs when it comes to sinning? Jesus will forgive us anyway right?

I believe what you are decribing has been referred to as "presuming on Gods grace." But simple belief isn't guaranteed to produce anything anyway. Faith is what changes the life.

[crystalmage]

John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

A question that has been brought up about this is..

Can you be a horrible person and still be a christian?

We know that Jesus died for are sins, and so we are forgiven.

Lets say, this guy belives in Jesus with his whole hart and belives he is a christian, but he was a horrible sinner...

He comites adultery almost every night, he is a thief,lier, even murderer...
But he does this knowing that Jesus will forgive him...

Lets say Hitler believed in Jesus! Would he get to heaven?

Im wondering how hard we have to be on are selfs when it comes to sinning? Jesus will forgive us anyway right?

I think the blood of christ washes sins away. So you might hafta bath in christ's blood or maby drink christs blood to go to heaven if your that bad. That might be why christians drink christs blood. If you just drink grape juice you might go to hell better get the real thing.

[realthinker]

I believe that the Catholic church teaches that if, on your deathbed, you have a True act of Contrition, a complete and unreserved regret for your past, that you will be awarded entry into heaven.

Of course I don't know what qualifies as that true act of contrition, and I don't know how anyone would, as they've not queried god regarding his grading scale. Mostly I think it's more appeasement of the masses, an other back door to salvation. After beating you up for a lifetime and making you feel as if you'll never be worth, they give you hope for a last chance, and even one that can never be taken away from you because of missed opportunity to do homage to the dogma or ritual.

[QED]

I believe that the Catholic church teaches that if, on your deathbed, you have a True act of Contrition, a complete and unreserved regret for your past, that you will be awarded entry into heaven.

Of course I don't know what qualifies as that true act of contrition, and I don't know how anyone would, as they've not queried god regarding his grading scale. Mostly I think it's more appeasement of the masses, an other back door to salvation. After beating you up for a lifetime and making you feel as if you'll never be worth, they give you hope for a last chance, and even one that can never be taken away from you because of missed opportunity to do homage to the dogma or ritual.

[QED]

I believe that the Catholic church teaches that if, on your deathbed, you have a True act of Contrition, a complete and unreserved regret for your past, that you will be awarded entry into heaven.

Of course I don't know what qualifies as that true act of contrition, and I don't know how anyone would, as they've not queried god regarding his grading scale. Mostly I think it's more appeasement of the masses, an other back door to salvation. After beating you up for a lifetime and making you feel as if you'll never be worth, they give you hope for a last chance, and even one that can never be taken away from you because of missed opportunity to do homage to the dogma or ritual.

Looking at this from the PR angle, it could be an attempt at salvaging a misspent life into yet another token of reality for a particular religion. I wonder how many tokens are needed to make it all real?

[k-nug]

Do you now, as a Christian, knowingly sin even though you know it's wrong? Have you ever lied, even a small lie like an excuse for being late to work knowing it is a sin, knowing that God is no respecter of persons? Do you think you put your heavenly reward at risk when you do? Lastly is there are difference between a lifelong sinner who honestly asks for forgiveness on his deathbed, and you, knowing God's grace sin even with a white lie?

[realthinker]

Do you now, as a Christian, knowingly sin even though you know it's wrong? Have you ever lied, even a small lie like an excuse for being late to work knowing it is a sin, knowing that God is no respecter of persons? Do you think you put your heavenly reward at risk when you do? Lastly is there are difference between a lifelong sinner who honestly asks for forgiveness on his deathbed, and you, knowing God's grace sin even with a white lie?

I'm not a Christian, and I don't believe in sin. So from my perspective the questions are a bit moot.

Should there be a god, which I don't believe is true, I count on the appreciation of the fact that the motivation for my skepticism is to know the objective truth. I trust that my desire to know the world as it was made, including knowing the attributes of Man and Mankind, would show enough respect to the deity that it might overlook my failure to embrace the preferred mode of expression of the respect it desires. I trust that my desire to be good and true and to know the truth is worthy. If the deity is petty enough to count my genuflections and how many times I've passed a prayer bead there's likely no way I could live up to the whole of its expectations anyway.

Put it this way. With the resounding disagreement as to the true expectations of a deity, should it exist, I'm at least as well off as the majority of man, since no religion is embraced by the majority.