According to a recent report by the Huffington Post, Pope Francis has declared that faith in Christ is not necessary for redemption, a clear and completed move away from biblical Christianity and, apparently, to some form of Christian Universalism (contradictory terms, by the way). This is part of what he said:
“The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can… “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!”.. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”
Ok, he's a heretic, but I at least appreciate his honesty. It gives many trusting Catholics a clear picture of their own faith-tradition and what logically happens when you tie good works to redemption. If the pope is right (which he's not, according to Scripture) then it makes more sense to be atheist than Catholic, wouldn't you say? All of the pleasure, none of the guilt? He can take off the white coat, leave the priesthood now and get a woman. He just needs to make sure he keeps up the good works.
The Truth, according to Scripture is that “It is by grace you are saved through faith and that, not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9, emphasis added).
If we believe this and trust in Christ alone for redemption (which is the clear teaching from numerous passages in the New Testament), then it will naturally lead to good works, which, yes, are an important part of Christian life (James 2:14-26). These good works, though, are clearly a fruit of salvation and not the root of it. Get that wrong and you get it all wrong!
