Lily Philips - can she be a 'true' Christian?

[mids2019]

https://www.premierchristianity.com/opinion/lily-phillips-has-been-baptised-i-pray-its-accompanied-by-change/20772.article

This article made me think about what it means to be Christian especially about the concepts of sin, judgment and redemption.

In my view Lily of course is a Christian being baptised but to not give up a lucrative adult film career possibly does cause angst amongst more traditional Christians.

We are taught not to judge 'Let those without sin cast the first stone' and to accept the universal unconditionally of forgiveness. (We pray every day about the forgiveness of sin) so it is difficult thologically to condemn others.

However does any fellow Christian need to remind Lily she makes money from a profession where many women with less choice are coerced and manipulated for thr gratification of men? Wr have moved away from a less judgmental Christianity but how do you view participation in Christian life with such a job?

Ex-Christian atheist here.

There are over 50k different Christian denominations in the world. So how do Christians decide what is the correct one ?

And the same applies to what rules Christians follow. There are about 635 Mosaic laws in the Bible, and different Christians groups decide to keep some but ditch the others. And this is on top of what is in the NT. So who decides, or who knows, what are valid and what are not ? And of course, what rules say she is wrong to do what she does ?

Re sex work. It reminds me of Abraham in Genesis 20. How many times did he pimp his wife Sarah out ? Was it 3 times ?

Sarah was also Abrahams sister as I recall, but that is a different issue.

It's not for us to decide who is and is not a true Christian. Given that we are commanded to love our neighbour as ourself without reference to whether or not that neighbour is a Christian, what difference does it make? Given that there are huge divides between what different Christians firmly and faithfully believe, the chasm between my views and Lily's on the ethics of the porn industry are no wider than the chasm between my views and those of an anti-abortion pro-lifer. It is not for me to judge. Wisdom comes as and when God sees fit to grant it to us, and until that happens we are probably very wrong about a great many things. Fortunately the grace of God is big enough to redeem that all in time.

It’s a load of click bait nonsense, she just wants attention and views

Being baptised doesn't make you a Christian, any more than reading the bible does. They can be outward signs of an inner faith, but in and of themselves, don't make you Christian. I'd be more interested to see how she lives her life from now on - does she show the fruits of the spirit and so on?

Matthew 7: 1-3

What does make you Christian?

That was not meant to be goady but to provoke further discussion. If a belief in Christ in your redeemer is the absolute fundamental necessity for eternal life then isn't the rest of religious observance and interpretation of morality pick and choose especially in 2026.

Revelation 21: 8

Quote " What does make you Christian?"

Yup.. I am reading about the Scottish reformation just now. Catholics burning Protestants, Protestants burning Catholics. Religion of peace indeed.

Quote :"If a belief in Christ in your redeemer is the absolute fundamental necessity for eternal life then isn't the rest of religious observance and interpretation of morality pick and choose especially in 2026."

And that does seem to be the only requirement to get in. Belief in Jesus. He does not actually give a list of things you have to do. Just believe in him. No matter what you have done, or when you start believing. On the cross he said this:

Luk 23:39 -43 And one of the evildoers who were hanged was slandering Him, saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us. And the other answering, was rebuking him, saying, "Do you not even fear God, that you are in the same judgment? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving back [things] worthy of what we did, but this One did nothing out of place"; and he said to Jesus, "Remember me, Lord, when You may come in Your kingdom"; and Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise." (LSV)

And there is this.

Luk 15:7 I say to you that [more] joy will be in Heaven over one sinner converting, rather than over ninety-nine righteous men who have no need of conversion. (LSV)

There is only one sin that Jesus considered really bad. And that is persuading people who do believe in him, to not believe in him. And that is a capital offense according to Jesus.

Mat 18:1-6 At that hour the disciples came near to Jesus, saying, "Who, now, is greater in the kingdom of the heavens? And Jesus having called near a child, set him in the midst of them, and said, "Truly I say to you, if you may not be turned and become as the children, you may not enter into the kingdom of the heavens; whoever then may humble himself as this child, he is the greater in the kingdom of the heavens. And he who may receive one such child in My Name, receives Me, and whoever may cause to stumble one of those little ones who are believing in Me, it is better for him that a weighty millstone may be hanged on his neck, and he may be sunk in the depth of the sea.(LSV)

I think if any Christians say there is a "moral code" to get in, that is a list of what to do and what not to do they will be judged against, then they should publish that information. If that is what they believe of course. If they don't believe that, and they go by "Red letter Christianity", then there is maybe no need. Deathbed conversion being sufficient.

Is that was Jesus wanted? Or what people did to each other 2,000 years ago?

It's no accident that God shows human character flaws and weaknesses in scripture even to the most praised saints and patriarchs like Abraham.

The main protagonist of the Bible isn't man, it's God and only God is perfect.

Isn't she exactly the kind of unwell/lowlife/shady/un-respectable types Jesus associated with?

@orangehandles 'Is that was Jesus wanted? Or what people did to each other 2,000 years ago?'

Neither.

Hell is the result of a free choice to reject God. God respects our free will and if, by our actions and choices, we reject him, he will not force himself upon us.

While we might say no one “deserves” eternal hell, if they choose to reject God that is the consequence of that choice.

No Idea. I just posted a verse number same as you.

In that case, perfection must be genocide, incest, slavery .... etc.

Yes, but because Jesus associated with such people it doesn't mean that he is satisfied to leave evildoers in their evil; nor does he leave the good to their own efforts.
He calls everyone to what is truly good: fellowship with himself.

I'm not sure how you come to that conclusion ?

I'm not a Christian (or anything at all) but I think Jesus did reach out in particular to the damaged, less fortunate and socially unacceptable etc. But I'm pretty sure the idea wasn't that they merrily continued to be murderers, thieves, sex workers or whatever once they joined his new religion.

If she has truly repented and come to faith in Christ that's wonderful. However she should then feel the prompting of the Holy Spirit to change the way she makes her living. Her body is a temple of the Holy Spirit so it would be wrong to continue on as she has been doing. However these changes don't always happen overnight, but they should happen. Jesus accepts all sinners, but doesn't affirm their sins, if that makes sense. Change is expected.

@RedTagAlan 'And that does seem to be the only requirement to get in. Belief in Jesus. He does not actually give a list of things you have to do. Just believe in him'

That's what Protestants & Anglicans believe ^

Catholics have a different outlook.
.
It’s not just believing in Jesus, it’s believing in what Jesus said, and then faithfully obeying what he told us to do. So John 3:5, “Unless you are born of water and spirit, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” John, Chapter Six, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life within you.”

And yet Mark makes no mention of Jesus preaching at the 'tax collectors and sinners', just that he ate with them as an implicit sign of solidarity that pissed off the Pharisees.

OP, you mention ‘let those without sin cast the first stone’ but the whole context of those verses answers the question (I think).

After Jesus said that in John 8, he went on to talk to the woman who was just about to be stoned and this is what happened next..

“They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.””
‭‭John‬ ‭8‬:‭6‬-‭11‬ ‭

You’re right that we shouldn’t be a judge of others but to become a Christian means to literally become ‘a follower of Christ’. Jesus himself said to the woman ‘go now and leave your life of sin’.

In other words, if nothing changes in your life and you continue just as you are and do not commit to literally ‘following Christ’, then that’s the biblical test for who is a Christian.

As for Lily - I guess time will tell!

I'm pretty sure that Protestants, Anglicans, Methodists, Mormons and the rest really don't believe you can sleep with 100 men in 24 hours for money and call yourself a Christian.

If she were a Catholic and went to confession with a firm purpose of amendment, she'd be as much as Christian as anyone.

I mean, there's quite a long tradition of sex worker saints -- Saint Mary of Egypt, St Thais, St Vitalis, Mary of Mesopatamia.

Protestant Christians believe that by placing our faith in Jesus we can receive forgiveness of sins, the Holy Spirit and eternal life (along with our own resurrected bodies when Jesus returns)

When Jesus forgives our sins he does not make sin good. And seeing as God paid such a high price (the crucifixion of Jesus) for our salvation, Christians should logically want to reject all things God has revealed as sin from now on.

A person who says they are a Christian but continues to openly sin in a way that the Bible clearly condemns is either:
Misguided or
Struggling to give up the sin or
Lying

And most often its a mix of all three. That person is in need of grace, compassion and wise guidance from the Christian community around them.

When you say a "firm purpose of amendment", do you mean an intention of renouncing that life? Or are you saying that she need only attend confession, tell the priest she's very sorry (effectively) but then continue regardless.