There is an old saying that goes something like this: If you and I are being chased by a bear I don’t need to be faster than the bear, I only need to be faster than you.
I sometimes wonder if this is how our personal judgment will go? If the bear represents hell, do I only need to be better than the guy next to me to eek my way into purgatory? I guess what I am wondering is—does God grade on a curve?…
Read the rest of Patrick’s post at the National Catholic Register.
February 1, 2010 at 2:24 pm
In a curve yes, but not compared to others. Rather you'd be compared to your better self that has been blessed with grace and to your worst self that has been weakened by sin. Everything will be taken into consideration – circumstances, intent, your nature so the judgment will be strict, yet fair.
February 1, 2010 at 5:44 pm
From William Roper's biography of his father-in-law, St Thomas More: "But if you live in the time, that no man will give you good counsel, nor no man will give you good example, when you shall see virtue punished, and vice rewarded, if you will then stand fast, and firmly stick to God upon pain of life, if you be but half good, God will allow you for whole good."