I had an interesting, spiritual conversation with a Jewish friend of mine today. He believes Judaism. So I asked him how righteous does a Jewish person have to be, in order for him to be considered righteous. He replied, telling me that this was a tricky question. I said, "Well, there must be a dividing line where the righteous are on one side, and the unrighteous are on the other. People cannot be both righteous and unrighteous."
He said, "You can be righteous in some areas and unrighteous in others." But... a little leaven spoils the whole lump! If I put a little poison in a glass of clean water, which water in the cup would you be willing to attempt to drink? If a bunch of roaches had been in your loaf of bread, which piece of the bread would you feel safe breaking off and eating? A little unrighteousness makes a person fall short of God's perfect, holy, righteous standard, against which He will judge us. ...