Rufus Johnson is very firm in his beliefs. `"I lie and steal because I'm good at it!..... When I am ready to be saved Jesus'll save me, not that lying stinking atheist,'" (p.359). Rufus may be the trouble-maker and sinner but he sees straight through Sheppard if he were a window. Rufus and stays on his beliefs of God while Sheppard stays stuck in the mud with his atheist ideas. Flannery O'Connor's "The Lame Shall Enter First" shows that a sinner who has God and follows the Bible will be forgiven but the non-believer who has to much pride for God will not.

The sinner and one of the main characters in "The Lame Shall Enter First" is Rufus Johnson. Sheppard gives him a key and tells him to stay, yet still he shows no respect for Sheppard or for his young son Norton. Rufus treats Norton...