SPIRITUAL: Good & Bad People (an overgeneralization)

I have occasionally participated in conversations on the topic of “good people.” Why are so many Christians bad people in the world? Why are so many non-Christians good, loving and helpful?

Here is my final answer: I don’t know.

This is certainly not a new phenomenon. The Bible is full of stories about the giants of faith who made miserable mistakes—David arranging the killing of Uriah, Abraham lying about his wife in order to save his life, the disciples wanting to call down fire on the Samaritan village.

And we also find the opposite in the Bible. When the Centurian came to Jesus with his request, Jesus said he hadn’t seen such great faith in all of Israel. The Centurian, a hated Roman oppressor, was praised for having more faith than the children of Yahweh. That’s gotta hurt.

Maybe this question stems from false expectations. There are good and bad Christians. There are good and bad non-Christians. We expect all of one to be perfect and all of the other to be devils, but that’s just not how the Bible describes reality.

Jesus told the parable of the wheat and tares—good and bad people (Matt. 13:24-30). The context is either the world or the church, and I've been told it's the church. He said to let the wheat and tares grow together, and in the end he would set it right. He’ll weed out the wolves in sheep clothing (excuse the mixed metaphor) when he comes back.

Conversely, in Revelation 14 we learn that God recognizes the existence of his kids outside of his formal church. He says, “Come out of Babylon, my people.” His people, his presumably good kids, are actually in Babylon. There are truly good people outside the church, and they are God’s also. No matter how you intrepret Babylon (the world, apostate religions, a certain false Christian denomination, etc.), some of God's children that will live forever are still there.

I don’t really know why, but in reality there are good non-Christians and some pretty evil people who carry the name of Christian. God knows who belongs to him.

Two portions of the Bible that relate to this topic have interested me. The first is in Matthew 7:21-23 when Jesus teaches that some people who do miracles in his name will be rejected at the 2^nd coming. Clearly, discerning who is truly following Jesus is not so clear.

The second is at the end of the same book, Matthew 25:31-46. Here Jesus reveals his true followers. They are the ones who have fed the hungry, clothed the poor, helped the sick, given shelter to the homeless, and visited prisoners in jail. Even though they don’t know Jesus, they are welcomed home for their kindness to him.

God is gracious in his inclusiveness, but let’s not push the limits of grace by staying in Babylon as long as possible. Let’s work each day to take care of those in need and to offer a personal invitation to everyone we can reach to come out of Babylon.