What Do Christians Think Of Death Bed Confessions?

[Le Chat]

Reading a comment from Wildwood on an earlier post made me think....
What do committed Christians really think of death bed confessions?
Wouldn't they be a bit miffed if they'd struggled all their lives to follow the word of God, often going against their own inclinations, always wondering if they'd done enough to 'get into heaven;' then some geezer comes along, who'd led a life of self interest, doing what he wanted and when, maybe even living a life of crime and selfishness, suddenly on his death bed decided to confess and convert.
Would they not feel a bit cheated?

[jno]

no more than I feel cheated when someone else wins the Lotto, I suppose. If the repentance is genuine, they would welcome him as a lost child who has found his way home. There's no envy and malice in heaven.

[ttfn]

Repentance is not a matter for committed Christians to sit upon in judgement.

[atalanta]

A christian would answer that with the parable of the labourers in the vineyard. (Matthew 20.)
But - as an atheist - I labour in a different vineyard.

[paddywak]

Doesn't really matter what you confess to on your death bed, when you're dead, you're dead. It doesn't matter what you believe you all go to the same places either into the ground or into the oven.

[birdie1971]

Jno - “... There's no envy and malice in heaven...”

Spoken with such conviction. And without a single shred of evidence that such a place even exists; let alone that this entirely hypothetical dwelling place for the dead is devoid of certain basic human emotions.

[Svejk]

It was a method of filling the coffers.

[naomi24]

It's the easy way out. ;o)

[sandyRoe]

I would secretly think: Good on you, you had it both ways.

[naomi24]

Birdie, //Jno - “... There's no envy and malice in heaven...” Spoken with such conviction.//

You can always trust Wiki. ;o)

[Le Chat]

Would be good to hear from a devotee on this one.

[naomi24]

Le Chat, You have heard from a devotee - jno answered you.

[modeller]

It's a bit like all the apologies you hear on TV. Tho only thing they are sorry about is being found out.
If they are // committed Christians // they would believe that God would know if it was genuine or not. and if it was genuine
as //committed Christians // they would not be // miffed //but would glory in another sinner saved and all the rest of the garbage.

[coccinelle]

I think it's only catholics who have confessions and last rites etc. I was brought up CofE and never heard of it. Catholics have another hurdle to C of E members as there's purgatory. Anyway, God listens to your heart not words ...

[WaldoMcFroog]

There are some religious folks - the more evangelical types, generally - who like nothing more than a death bed conversion. They like them so much that when a well known atheist dies, they put it about that the unbeliever had one at the last minute. There's still people who believe the debunked Lady Hope story of Darwin's supposed conversion 130 years later.

More recently, there were claims that Christopher Hitchens had converted on his death bed, and in India, Basava Premanand, a prominent skeptic with terminal cancer was aware that claims were going to be made about him converting on his deathbed so he issued a statement in anticipation; http://nirmukta.com/2009/09/22/premanand-in-abhirami-hospital-coimbatore/

[Hopkirk]

It's the way to do it really, isn't it?