“I haven’t killed anyone, yet people think I’m going to Hell because I’m an agnostic. He kills 75,000 and he’s praised for declaring he’s against the procedure later.”
“A serious question—anyone have any references to Christian writings on this sort of thing? Thanks in advance.”
Christianity says, (speaking to relatively “more righteous” people): “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.” (Rom 3:23-25)
Anyone can accept the gift of life in Christ—waiting for them—however, they cannot claim it and cling to their own rights...their own “just deserts” or really, their own sins—to be able to accept that gift. You either trust yourself and your own goodness/righteousness.... or trust Jesus’ righteous life standing in for you.... and then: “if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
This is how the one thief on the cross next to Jesus was able to go to Heaven: he trusted Jesus at His word, and rested in that—NOT looking to his own good deeds (which evidently being a thief weren’t so good anyway!) to save him. The same is true for any Christian—we are only beggars and thieves compared to Jesus Christ, and we find rest only in trusting in Him.
Anyone can accept the gift of life in Christ—waiting for them—however, they cannot claim it and cling to their own rights...their own “just deserts” or really, their own sins—to be able to accept that gift.
The above answer, from the Evangelical tradition, is excellent. Dr. Nathanson became a Catholic convert, which asks one thing more: Confession and penance. Someone in his position is required to confess his sins in private to a priest; to have real sorrow for them; to do whatever penance the priest prescribes for him, which in Dr. Nathanson's case probably involved extensive good works and public witness for the sanctity of life, perhaps in addition to daily penitential prayers and private mortification such as fasting; and do it all with a "firm purpose of amendment."
It's no walk in the park. Someone who is given a "walk in the park" by his confessor to amend for serious sin might do fine, if he is blessed with a full change of heart, but others need to do more to claw their way back to the faith, charity, and simplicity of a saint.
Dr. Nathanson's turnaround cost him more dearly in this world than any of us can know. He was the darling of the cultural elite, celebrated in the world's approved newspapers and feted in international capitals as the liberator of women and a wise and generous sage of medicine. Once he changed his views, he was shunned, and was soon accused of ignorance, lying, quackery, and lunacy—because he was the first to show the world, through his film, "The Silent Scream," that the unborn could feel pain.
RIP and thank you Dr. Nathanson. God help me do as well as you.