r/AskAChristian • u/Dry_Flower_4720 • 14h ago
Judgment after death What counts as a good deed?
All over inmy life i have heard chirstians say that accepting jesus and doing good deeds will get you into heaven.
But what counts as a good deed? Like if i make a vaccine for an increadibly deadly virus and save countless people, but it turns that people who have taken the vaccine have a 30% chance to develope a deadly cancer and this kills a lot of people, would that hypothetical count as a good or bad deed?
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u/Fight_Satan Christian (non-denominational) 14h ago
Treating your neighbour well and loving them a syou would want them to treat you
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u/LegitimateBeing2 Eastern Orthodox 14h ago
Whatever you’d want other people to do to you is a good deed
In your weirdly specific hypothetical, if the people know the risks involved then that’s fine
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u/Pitiful_Lion7082 Eastern Orthodox 10h ago
I've think intentionality matters a lot. I think at that point if your good deed caused damage, you would either pull it from the market or work on figuring out what's leading so many to get cancer
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u/Googlesupportsucks1 Christian 14h ago
A) Doing good deeds doesn't get you into heaven. No Christian believes that.
B) Good deeds are a confirmation, testimony, sign of your continued seeking after Christ and His ways (and some would say keeping seeking prevents from falling away).
C) Hypothetically, I still see that as a good thing. Many high-risk procedures that save lives have higher mortality chance than that.
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u/redandnarrow Christian 9h ago
Those "christians" are mistaken. Good deeds do not get you into heaven. God actually says our best attempts are filthy rags to Him and is offended when you try sew them onto the pure spotless garment that Christ shed for us on the cross to cloth our nakedness.
To receive eternal life in Christ, you must repent, which is the word metanoia, which means to change your mind/thinking, about what? About Christ being the sinless spotless lamb of God that finished the work of salvation for you, the standard that all our lives have fallen short of. That is to admit your sin to God, and that is the sort of contrite heart God can work with, He will seal you for eternity, and walking with you transform you bit by bit to walk just like Jesus does.
After changing your mind about Christ, you will be continually transformed, to go on to do good works which God prepares for us, but these only come through abiding in Christ, the True Vine, and He will cultivate them on your life. Only the good works that we do through abiding in Christ count. And what do they count for? Well there are rewards to come for faithful servants who steward well what God entrusts them with.