As Good As You Are

Two days ago I attended the second RCIA session. A fellow participant, a Malaysian of course, asked me why I am becoming a Catholic.

This is of course a question that I have thought about for sometime.

The best correct answer, I feel, and that is the one I gave, is that I see many Catholics are good people.

What other answer can it be? It could not be because I feel connected with God, at least not yet.

For sometime already, I have had this experiment. Say, if I see or meet someone, without knowing what religion he practices, and assuming there would be no outwardly signs of his religion, such as wearing a cross or whatever, would I be able to tell from his bahaviours what religion he practices? Most all of the time, the answer is no.

If your religion is good, should you not feel or be obliged to be a better person? I think you should.

I was first introduced to Christianity at high school. I did not stick with it then. The main reason was because I could not reconcile with the idea told to me then that "to go to heaven all you need to do is to believe in Christ." I know that sometimes the person carrying such message is not necessary the expert on Christianity. Maybe they wanted to keep the message simple, or their objective was only to stuff the church with numbers. However, many followers seemed to fully believe that their salvation was assured with a belief in Christ, alone.

Personally, I find that statement shallow. Yes, believing in Christ can bring you salvation. But what is the meaning of 'believe'? I feel 'believe' includes doing all that Jesus said you should do, besides acknowledging Jesus as God's authority (or Son in this case).

That could largely exclude people who believe in the person of Jesus as the saviour, but ignore what he said you should do.

In one of the homilies I heard in my church. I remember the priest talked about a story of a very rich and in every way a very good man asked Jesus how he could be a good follower of Jesus (in today's parlance, a Christian). Jesus replied "give up all that you have and follow me." The rich man, despite him being an extremely kind man, meaning he had been helping others with his wealth, was unable to give up all that he had. And so he walked away, disappointed.

Today I am in RCIA, not necessarily because I see Catholics alone are better people than followers of other religions. All people who have and believe in a good religion, have equal likeliness to become better people.

Heaven or heavens must be created for people who have been good. If knowing Christ is the only condition for entry into heaven, would you, a Christian, feel more entitled to a place in heaven, simply on merit of your recognition of Christ the person, than say someone who have been doing everything good but never knew Christ the person?

Ultimately, your religion is only as good as you are.