One of my favorite members, Betty Langford, gave me an editorial by David Waters, a local writer, that asks, “What Makes A Good Christian?” Is it what you think? What you say? What you do? How you vote?
An academic researcher has narrowed it down to 59 choices. He calls his study The Religiosity Scales Project and it is supported by Boston University.
If you want to know if you are a “good” Christian you can go to www.religiosityscalesproject.com and answer 59 questions and rate them on a scale of one to six.
Here are some of the things you’ll find listed on the survey that suggest that ‘perhaps’ you are a good Christian:
3. You do not drink
8. You do not gossip
24. You participate regularly in a church or other religious community
30. You avoid worldly vices
46. You do not judge others
57. You watch or listen to religious broadcasting
After making his readers aware of this Religiosity Scales Project to measure who is a “good” Christian, David Waters concludes his editorial this way:
“You can take the survey yourself. Just go to religiosityscalesprojects.com.
If nothing else, the 59 measurements on the survey show that there is a wide range of possibilities for what makes a Good Christian. Everyone should be able to find at least one that’s ‘absolutely essential.’ I found nearly a dozen.
I was struck more by what I didn’t find.
Not one single measurement includes the word ‘love,’ which Jesus used 66 times, according to one concordance.
‘Love God with all your heart, mind and soul.’ ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘Love you enemies.’ ‘Love one another.’
Maybe they’re saving those measurements for the next survey: WHAT MAKES A BETTER CHRISTIAN?”
More than what you believe, I prefer to know who do you love? Good Christians are those who love. Period. Richard Hipps