As someone who was raised Christian and considers myself one, I think Christianity has a few fundamental philosophical flaws (every religion does).
The major issue is hinging everything on an abstract ideal of faith. Under Christian doctrine one can only get into heaven by believing in Jesus. He is the only path to salvation.
This creates a mk Oral quandry. Could the worst person in the world beleive that Jesus is their Lord and Saviour and get into heaven? Perhaps not, they must also aspire to live a Christ-like life, and the worst person likely isn’t doing that.
Let’s instead imagine the most Christ-like and righteous person in the world. What if they don’t believe in Jesus? According to Christian doctrine, they will burn in hell for eternity.
If this is the case, what’s the point of living a good life? Can’t we all just believe in Jesus and just coast through life being morally ambiguous and still make it into heaven in the end?
What you end up with is a religion where it starts to feel like only one thing matters - do you believe in Jesus? It doesn’t take long before moral principles are thrown out the window and people start judging others less so by their thoughts, words and deeds but instead by just how much they beleive in Jesus.
Other religions have their flaws but particularly Eastern religious philosophy at least attempts to tackle how to live a good life a bit more directly.
The deeper you go into the Christianity, the more obsessive it becomes about faith and the less concerned it is with how to live a good life.
Which is pretty warped if you think about it - shouldn’t the whole point of religion be to learn how to live well?
Francis’ words are a departure from traditional Christian dogma which is that those who know of Christ and do not become Christian are choosing not to believe in him and are destined for damnation. Its why the church takes spreading the word so seriously, to the point of seeming aggressive at times, because those that are sharing the message feel that they are quite literally saving you.
There’s a reason a spokesperson immediately intervened with