The Good Person Delusion

     "Nah, I don't believe in any of that Christianity stuff, but I'm a good person so I'm set." I've heard this statement and variations of it more than once recently and every time it leaves me puzzled. I don't see how those two mindsets are interchangeable, nor do I understand why people seem to think they are. I myself am a Christian but it's not because I'm a good person, nor do I think that me being a Christian makes me a good person. For those who know what Christianity is about, you know that Christ didn't say that you just have to be a good person to be saved. In fact, Christ pretty much said that not a single one of us was good, which is a big part of us needing to be saved. While I can see how these became related, I believe it's time to break the delusion that they are the same.

     One of the first things I question when someone says that they're a good person is what exactly they mean. Is a good person someone who pays their taxes on time and gives to charity? Or maybe someone is good if they do the classic act of helping an old lady cross the street. To challenge fellow believers, are you a good person because you go to church on Sundays, read your bible, and listen to "Christian" music, meaning songs that reference a verse have Jesus, Lord, or God sprinkled throughout? The hardest part in trying to determine if someone is a good person is having a standard by which to go off of. Without this, anyone's judgement is as legitimate as another's and you have to go off of opinions and varying perspectives. Often times it seems as though people base the notion that they're a good person based off of how they feel at a given moment.

     Although it can often have a religious connotation, the word righteous is a common synonym for good. According to Merriam-Webster, a righteous person is someone who is acts in accordance with moral laws. This can imply that a righteous person has character traits such as trustworthiness, honor, and responsibility. My test to anyone who believes that they have these traits is, how often do you live them out? Are you only a righteous person when it's convenient for you or when others will take notice? The famous UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said, "The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching." One of the challenges of labeling yourself as a good person is being able to sell that label to yourself. For most of us willing to admit it, we're probably not living up to the standard of being righteous all the time. Those who are fellow members of the body of Christ shouldn't be surprised. Paul states in Romans 3:10-12, "As the Scriptures say, 'No one is righteous—not even one. 11No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. 12All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.'” Reading this, it's pretty clear where we stand as human beings. Whether you're a believer or not, it's clear that humans and laws don't mix and that we've been breaking almost every law we can find from the beginning of time.

     Now that we've reflected on what a good person is and how none of us qualify, we need to look at what this means and what to do about it. First off, we need to remain humble and recognize our hypocrisy when we judge others by our "good" standards that we ourselves fail to live up to on a of consistent basis. Beyond that, the distinction between being a good person and being a Christian must be made clear. Being a Christian means accepting the above verses from Romans as true and realizing that the only way to move on and be saved from our failure is through grace. We fail, we can't live truly righteously, and we graciously accept the undeserved gift of salvation that has been freely given by the only one who is good. For some reason unbeknownst to us, God decided to give us a way out of our failure even though we continue to throw the righteous laws back at Him. Caution must be exercised with this; I don't want to give the idea that grace has granted us a free pass and that we can now act purposefully immoral. The saving grace that fixes our unrighteousness comes through faith in Christ, and only you and Him can know how true that faith really is.

     Overall, it feels good to do good. We naturally get a sense of worth and accomplishment when we do something that we consider qualifies in making us a good person. Trying to live your life as a good person is still a good idea and can lead to making your life and the lives of others around you better. However, it's  important to remember to balance your idealistic good person self label with a realistic full picture outlook at just how good you really are. As I've written above, it's hard to determine what being a good person means and even harder to live it out in your daily life. Above all, the sharply contrasted distinction between being a so called good person and being a Christian must be known and maintained. The first looks at yourself and highlights the well intended and moral actions that you have done. The second looks at God and highlights the utter failures and immoral actions that we have done and humbly welcomes the saving grace that says we're accepted anyway. Although Christians attempt to live out good lives, calling yourself a Christian and/or calling yourself a good person and considering them to be one in the same is simply a delusion.