If a person willfully does an act that can be described as heinous, abominable, horrendous, despicable or evil...can that person...

1. Be a Christian before he does the act?
2. Be a Christian while he plans and/or commits the act?

No you tell me.

good one zzz! anyway...as an atheist my answer is yes because all christians sin, and the bible says nothing about christians only doing "minor" sins. (if you even believe there are minor/major sins)

depends on how a person defines a christian.

You say "as an atheist", so would you presume that some/all/most Christians should think otherwise?

no i dont think they should, but i know they do since i've heard it so many times. its like admitting hitler could have been a christian somehow brings their religion down a peg. goes against what their religion teaches imo.

So to clarify my thoughts a bit now that I'm on my laptop...

I don't think any Christian would say a person that murdered one person couldn't be a Christian after, or while planning the murder.

I don't recall anything in the Bible that would suggest if someone murdered 100 people, or 1,000,000,000,000 people it would be any different.

It's "thou shall not murder", not "though shall not murder and murdering over (x) amount of people means (x).

So, no matter how horrific we deem an act, it can still be forgiven whether you were a Christian going in or one who converts later on.

This Christian says yes to both. Thought OP would know this already. I mean what Christian have you heard ever say differently? Butcho, since you've heard it so many times can you clarify this for me? Ive never heard this before.

Truly, the only Christians are those who will be in heaven in the end of time. Until then, people only say they are Christians or not.

But I would say someone who does not follow Jesus's commandments is not a good Christian, but they may be trying to be, so perhaps they are...I don't know. Again, we'll find out at the end of time.

We're supposed to hate the sin and love the sinner, bro, so there you have it.

St Peter was a Christian. He cut off someone's ear. Are you proposing that he stopped being a Christian while slicing and became one again afterwards?

Virtually anytime Hitler is brought up on this board, most Christians are quick to point out that he wasn't a Christian.

While I agree that point is up for debate depending on what information you're looking at, I've never heard a Christian acknowledge that he may have been a Christian.

Why is that? Why couldn't they just say, "Well, if he was a Christian then he's another example of how we are all sinners, etc..."

It seems the more atrocious the act, the less likely a Christian is to entertain the idea that person was a Christian themselves.

The Christian God is is the biggest mass murderer in history - at one point wiping out all of humanity save Noah's family - so I don't get the logic behind it myself.

If I were a Christian I'd be quick to correct other Christians who vehemently deny anyone's Christianity. Instead, I'd mention that while we all struggle, some of us have more demons to overcome than others. We can't judge whether or not someone is truly a Christian based on anything they do. We have to take them on their word.

What made Hitler a Christian?

The catholic church i believe.

He thought like you in every single way. The only difference is that he was commanded by God to kill Jews and you weren't.

Maybe God will command me to show proof to atheists who refuse to follow His Word and see the proof themselves.

But you refuse to follow his word too.....

I do my best most of the time.

Afaik according to most Christians your not one unless you accept the part of Gods word where it says to accept Jesus as Lord. So until you are one of them telling me to become one them is kind of ****ed up.

I have asked Jesus into my life.

Ok cool now you wont be a hypocrite when you tell other to accept Gods word.

Just because someone is unable to do everything regarding God's Word, does not make them a hypocrite when it comes to believing in God.

Telling others to accept Gods Word when they themselves have not accepted it is.

I have accepted it for years now. Just because there were and still are many truths that are not shown to me yet, doesn't make me a hypocrite for following it and spreading The Word.

No.

See when you tell someone like me, who knows what's required to accept Gods Word (accept Jesus as your savior), to accept Gods word but you haven't done that it makes you a hypocrite.

Are there boundaries to the nature of these heinous acts would you say, or rather is there a point where your act makes you not a Christian?