We're Basically Good

Pope Francis did a rare thing this past week. Hardly ever does a pope do a sit down interview on TV. He usually meets the press in a public press conference type of manner. Yet this past Sunday, he did a face to face interview for 60 Minutes. In one of his answers during this interview his true colors came out. Norah O’Donnell of CBS asked the pope, “When you look at the world, what gives you hope?” The pope responded, “Everything. You see tragedies but you also see so many beautiful things. You see heroic mothers. Heroic men. Men who have hopes and dreams. Women who look to the future. That gives me a lot of hope. People want to live. People forge ahead. And people are fundamentally good. We are all fundamentally good. Yes there are some rogues and sinners, but the heart itself is good.” If this doesn’t show that the pope is a heretic and that Catholicism is a false religion, I don't know what will.

In an effort to be inclusive and loved by the world, the pope spoke some type of postmodern philosophy that everyone is good. That is the basis and starting point of all of humanity: we are generally good people. He wants to deliver a message of hope to build up people’s self esteem and outlook on life. This should not be too surprising. His track record speaks for itself. Since day one he has been trying to be more inclusive and accepting to everyone in the world. He has, on more than one occasion gone against traditional Catholic teachings and beliefs. It appears he wants to change the image of the Catholic church after it has taken a hit over the years due to the child abuse scandals. And that message is a very humanistic one, which plays well in our postmodern world. He is very calculating in lining up with how the world currently thinks. But it is anything but biblical.

It is very interesting indeed that the pope gives a message that is what the world wants to hear, instead of what the truth is. It is very attractive that he speaks something that builds up people's pride and self image instead of actually helping them. It is startling that he is accepting worldly philosophy instead of biblical theology. For the bible (the same scriptures that the Catholic church accepts) gives a different, in fact an opposite view of what the pope said on 60 Minutes.

First the bible says that absolutely NO ONE is good in the world. “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20) Yet the pope says there are just a few “rogues and sinners”. Romans 3 says, “As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one…For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (V10-12 & 23) The book of Psalms says, “...no one living is righteous before you.” (143:2) And that we are actually born sinners (51:5).

Then there is the issue of the heart. According to the pope, “...the heart itself is good.” Yet the bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) But don’t worry, even though God says no one understands it, the pope says he actually does. Also Jesus taught, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery…”(Mark 7:21) And for those that do not follow God, “...their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Romans 1:21)

This misleading teaching by the pope is terribly damning. His instruction gives people the belief that they deserve heaven as they are. That there is no need for saving because they are already “good”. That pretty much no one will go to hell except for maybe a few “rogues and sinners”. But this is why the bible doesn't say any of these things. Because people need to know their true plight (no matter how hard it is to swallow) to see why they need a savior. This is why God teaches that we need a new heart and  He will be the one to give it to us: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26) This is why David prayed to God to “...Create in me a clean heart…”(Psalm 51:10) because he knew it was not “good”!

And this is also why the pope and the Catholic church are not Christian. Because what they're teaching is not from God! Saying we are good is prideful, humanistic and self-centered. Not godly! Our hearts are very wicked and deceitful. We are not good, but very selfish, sinful and evil. We desire to disobey God all the time. We want to follow ourselves more than we want to follow God. And this is why we need Jesus to save us. And it is only facing the harsh reality of who we are that we will realize this.