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?

Sorry, are you a Christian who supports abortion?

No wonder you are so elastic in your views. Your post is an argumemt that we can do as we please as it’s not possible to know what is right or wrong anyway.

Unfortuately for you that is not the view of Jesus. He was quite clear in his ‘go and sin no more’ stance.

Church teaching is clear that Christians should strive to follow Christ. Which means seeking to be Christ like.

So no, being a Christian is not some sort of post-modern moral relativism free for all.

I thought Christian baptism was putting away the old way of life and starting a new Christian way of life? Being forgiven for your sins and then trying to live your life in a Christian way? If someone professed to be a Christian and was still living an 'immoral' life id not consider them a proper Christian. I'd think they were a hypocrite like the pedophile priests, tv evangelical preachers etc. Why profess to be a Christian and then deliberately live an 'anything goes' life? Im not judging just my opinion.

Yes, Jesus did say the gate of salvation is narrow, but the gate to Hell is wide.

Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

I the thing is the gay priests don't imagine they are spending their after lives in eternal damnation........

Of course they don't. They'd soon repent if so! I really hope they do realise.

What do you mean by “unfortunately” here?

Is there an implication that you think God does consider homosexuality a sin but you wish he didn’t? Is it appropriate for a Christian to think that?

This isn’t intended as a goady or hostile question, just one I think is fascinating. Christians believe that God gave us free will and judgment. Does that/should that extend to judging morality independently of (what we take to be) God’s view?

(Disclosure: I’m not a Christian myself, though I grew up in a very sincere Christian household)

The Church of England is just a branch of the progressive left nowadays though. It’s made itself irrelevant by becoming this. I am sure it’s one of the reasons why the CoE is dying but evangelical churches are growing. Evangelicals Centre God and the Bible in a way the CoE does not anymore. And why bother with church if God is not at the Centre? When I attended evangelical churches they never mentioned politics, only God and His word.

Is it appropriate for a Christian to think that? Am not the poster to whom you addressed this but Christians are human just like everyone else and will be tempted just like everyone else, and so there will at times be the urge to try to justify a sin as 'not really a sin'. Simply because we want our cake and to eat it too. I'm sure we've all be guilty of doing that! However we should realise we are in the wrong, sometimes it takes another Christian to point it out, or else we can live in denial for a long time.

Really good point. I suppsoe that question actually leads to schism especially within the C of E so maybe it's an important and difficult one. I think some Christians in 2026 will passionately argue homosexuality is not a sin and there is no need to repent and her consider themselves wholly to be Christian. I would like to ask the question of my vicar 'do gay people go to hell' and I suspect he would very quickly divert the subject (summer fairs looking good this year). I suspect you would not find many C of E congregations being open about homosexuality being a sin.

Yes that's why I left the CoE - I am now with a more 'fundamentalist' evangelical church which is God-centric and focused on understanding the Word.

The C of E leadership do not consider homosexuality a sin. I suppose as I said earlier once you discount homosexuality as a sin then obviously people will be obviously think other forms of sexual sin are up for debate . To my relatively uneducated mind it becomes a human debate one not necessarily about God.

I think generally the definition of sexual sin makes it digging to discuss this aspect of Christianity more publically.

Jesus never said homosexuality was a sin. He did say ‘don’t judge’.

If you stick to what Jesus actually said, there no issue here. Mind you, try telling some churches.

Looking at the response to the Arch bishop of Canterbury's views on same sex blessings it is obvious the C of E do not feel homosexuality is a sin. I suppose though is that once you start to reject one form of Biblical sexual sin then it is hard to be authorarive about others (Lily I guess). Does this ambiguity about sexual sin in general lead to Hams where people like Lily can state with conviction they are committed Christians as the whole sexual sin debate (and division) leads to an absence of authority to allow a definitive call of 'you are sinful'.

This argument is often used. We have no record of Jesus explictly talking about homosexuality, however He also didn't talk explicitly about other sins like drunkenness or child sacrifice. He answered questions as they were asked, and some were recorded for posterity, I'm sure many not.

However, Jesus did talk about marriage being strictly between a man and a woman. He was a Jew and would have followed the Levitical teachings (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13) which clearly state that homosexuality is a sin. He also showed compassion towards those accused of sexual sin and offered them forgiveness, yet at the same time called them away from their sin.

Jesus never said 'filming yourself having sex and asking money for the rights to view is a sin'. Again the intention is not to make a joke but ask the question as society evolves can we rely on taking the Bible literally as source of definitive sexual sin or do we have to use our mortal minds to continually interpret the word of God as time passes or reach consensus on sexual sin through meetings of the faithful?

He also said ‘go and from now on sin no more’.

Christianity is not a moral free for all.

Anyway, to answer your question about Lily. My guess is one of two things are happening.

1). She is content creator who needs to keep the public interested and her profile high. It’s hard to know where to go after having sex with 100 men in one day to keep people interested. She may have decided on conversion as a clever way to keep her profile high and people talking about her. There is a former porn star who converted to Islam ( though she abandoned porn on converting). This may have given Lily the idea.

2). She is a very confused person seeking some sort meaning or sense in her life and this is part of her journey to that.

Whatever is in her heart and mind, the life she is choosing to live is not a Christian life.

Who defined morality. Without biblical text does mortality become a human endeavour ultimately? There is common agreement about morality on a lot of things in humanity but sexuality has some disagreement e.g. most people think now homosexuality is perfectly moral but Biblically and for long periods of history it wasn't. You can extend the argument to sexual sin where activities like promiscuity become blurred in their definition when it comes to maybe an absolute concept like sin.

I believe we can rely on it. God knew at the time the Bible authors wrote what they did that 2000 years on people would read the words. He gave us commandments for all generations. He didn't say these works come with an expiry date beyond which you humans will need to figure it out yourselves! Human nature naturally wants to rebel against God and His commands, so if we leave these decisions up to people then we will naturally fall away from what God wants for us. Even amongst Christians!

By the way I do appreciate your thoughtful questions!

The Bible has to be the primary source. Saying Christian’s can just chat and decide their views can replace bibilical teaching makes Christianity meaningless. What would be done there is just secularism.

Well obviously in Christianity, morality comes from biblical teachings. That’s what I mean when I say Christianity is not a moral free for all. Morality comes from the Bible.

Uhhhmmm why does it matter if she’s a Christian?? If your god was so inclined, he would pop down from his white cloud and stop her mid sex scene ..:.obviously he has not which probably suggest that he’s not real!!

You are probably right in reality but it still brings into question what ultimately is a Christian life. The one thing preventing her from living a Christian life is her adult film career which I presume she will maintain is her means of living (even if some find it amoral). I suppoe agree many would agree Lily may be amoral from a sexual perspective but if homosexuality is now moral biblically what sin do you nail Lily with (no pun intended).

I suspect like me there is some underlying anger here that Lily can argue that she is Christian because we are in a stage of society and church development where the whole concept of sexual sin is a tinder box of a subject to discuss (possibly due to the status of homosexuality)

Jesus said that he wants believers to do the will of God. The Christian faith is a walk and a journey and you can believe without doing the will of God, however if it remains you may not have done the will of God in your life. I do wish them the best and have never heard of them before.

As for homosexuality you can be gay be abstinent. The Bible is against fornication. Last I heard it was being looked into about the meaning of the word effeminate meaning malakoi as the Bible does not support unequal domination of others (Galatians 3:28). This is not official news and needs to be updated.

I suppose he has benefited from. God's bounty (30 million quid)???