Are you good enough?
FAQs and Faith
Frequently asked questions.
This page will try to deal with tough questions which you or your friends may have. We promise to be as honest and open as we can, but we also want to honour God. To this end our answers will always attempt to be true to the Bible’s teaching.
Christianity has never claimed to have a monopoly on good works or being nice. There is no doubt that lots of people who would never enter a church do really good things. Indeed, if someone from another faith (e.g. a Buddhist) was to do something good, to say they were therefore Christians could be an insult to them. So we must not confuse good works with being a Christian. The real problem lies in whether we are good enough to be accepted by God. Will our good works earn us the right to go to heaven?
Some people (a majority?) really believe they are good enough to go to heaven, or to use the language of the Bible they are confident in their own righteousness. Jesus told us about such people:
"To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: `God, I thank you that I am not like other men- robbers, evildoers, adulterers -or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:9-14
Jesus is making a very important point. He is saying that confidence in our own good works is not the way to get right with God. Our emphasis should not be on the good things we have done (though they may be plentiful) but rather on the ways we have failed God. We have to recognise our own failings and come before God with humility. Our confidence therefore, is not in ourselves, but in God, as the one who promises to forgive.
John Chapman, with typical Australian bluntness reckons that good people think they are better than God:
"The trouble with really good people who aren't Christians is that they rewrite what God has said. God says, 'You can't make it on your own'.
They say, 'I can make it on my own'.
God says, 'Be perfect'
They say, 'Be the best you can'.
God says, 'Repent'.
They say, 'I'm good enough as I am'.
God says, 'You are only acceptable to me because of the death of my Son'.
They say, 'My life is acceptable as it is'.
God says, 'You need forgiveness'.
They say, 'Look at my goodness'
In the end if I hope that I will be OK because of the good life I lead, I am setting myself up as better than God".
The final word on this goes to the apostle John, who tells us that only the deceived believe they are good enough.
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:8,9.
Further reading: John Chapman, "A Fresh Start." Available from The Good Book Company.