Jesus's reaction to an atheist of good character
This was a response to a question over at Conversations at the Edge on "Character or Faith; Which is Better?" Would Jesus accept an athiest of good character, or a person of bad character but of faith.
The atheist with good character is first, not a narcissist. I’ve known several people like this. He/she lets themselves be guided by the goodness that hangs above man’s narcissistic existence, particularly in nature. Romans 1 and Psalm 19 touches upon this truth.
Jesus said we can judge a tree by its fruit. That is a sweeping statement. Jesus wasn’t merely a “Christian”. He is God. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus teaches that we will be judged by how we treated the least among us. The point being, the sheep saw what God was doing for us, and joined Him by doing the same for others. The goats were narcissistic, waiting for some subjective rule to be put in effect. They ignored the hungry, the sick, the naked, and the prisoners. The parable mentions nothing of joining a “faith”. Jesus shows us here the general revelation of God, to do good to others.
If an atheist is honest, kind, and humble, I don’t think he’d reject Jesus when he sees Him, nor will Jesus reject him.
Of course, this begs the question, Why not accept the specific revelation of God through Jesus Christ?
6 comments:
I found the question too bizarre to answer. Among those who consider themselves "people of faith", James says, "Faith without works is dead." Thus, it is not possible to have "a person of faith" who is not a person of character (or least a person who is developing good character).
It seems like a false dichotomy. "You can either have faith (and no character) or you can have character (and no faith)."
But to me, the ultimate dilemma was what the original question was meant to convey. "If Jesus had to make that choice which do you think he’d prefer?" Choose ... for what? To spend time with? He chose those with poor character. To have in His kingdom? He required perfection. Choose ... for what?
I guess my point was that an atheist of good character is borrowing from theism. Those atheists I've known who might fit this category held the Golden Rule in high esteem. The GR is predicated on a Deity.
JJ
Even people who believe in the Christian God can get things right once in a while ;)
The "Christian God" is God, JT. ;)
Furthermore, it is the consistent witness of the OT that the person who "says in his heart there is no God" is a fool. This is not an intellectual judgment so much as a moral judgment--the atheist is weighed in God's moral balance and found severely wanting. Paul goes so far to state in Romans 1 that the person who denies God suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. I have a hard time reconciling the Scriptural portrayal of the character and thought of Christ with the idea that he would accept an "honest, kind, and humble" atheist who by very definition would reject him. More likely the response would be, "I never knew you."
More likely the response would be, "I never knew you."
Agreed.
Here's a question. Scripturally, is death the last possible stand the person can take in relation to Christ?
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