What is required to be a good Christian?
Such strong language seems to indicate a rejection of the body, of human relationships, of human reason, or any good which is not God. Is such a rejection required if one is to be a true Christian?
Human relationships, the body, and human reason are presupposed to be good in Ms. Kreis's statement. Although Saint Augustine, the author of Confessions, would not consider those to be of the highest good (God), he would be hard-pressed to deny that each does not maintain some degree of good. Sin is defined as a lack of good by Augustine; when someone abandons the highest good for a lower good, he/she is sinning. A lower good is any good that is not God (i.e. consumerism, science, astronomy, sex, fashion, societal recognition, pride and prestige, etc.). An inordinate fixation on or passion for a lower good quickly develops into a distraction from the highest good when left unchecked. If one does not control the proclivity to indulge in lower......
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