What Is a Bad Christian?

So this morning, Donald Miller’s blog featured a “Sunday Morning Sermon”–a short video in which author Anne Lamott talks about how she got sober. Her story isn’t so incredibly dramatic, but I find the words she uses to express herself to be captivating. Take a look below, and then I’ve got a question for you to think about with me:

So toward the end of the video clip, Anne Lamott mentions that she is a very “bad” Christian. For some reason, this statement stuck with me, and I began to mull it over in my mind. I began to wonder: what actually constitutes a “bad” Christian? What makes one person a good Christian, and one person a bad one? And why does Lamott think of herself as a bad Christian? What is the criteria?

Is a bad Christian someone who stumbles frequently?

Is a bad Christian someone who doesn’t meet the standards other Christians impose on them?

Is a bad Christian someone who doubts?

Is a bad Christian someone who struggles with addiction?

Is a bad Christian someone who “majors on the minors?”

And who actually decides these things?

There are those, for example, who probably think I am a bad Christian because I fail to attend Sunday church services, or because I maintain a blog that likes to poke holes in the inconsistencies of institutional Christianity. Does this make me a bad Christian, really?

So that’s my question: what is a “bad” Christian, as opposed to a good one? For the few of you left hanging around this here blog, feel free to discuss. 🙂