There is no secret moral behavior required for knowing or pleasing God, or what some call “salvation,” beyond becoming a loving person in mind, heart, body, and soul yourself.
John Paul II on Heaven and Hell
Even the conservative Pope John Paul II said that heaven and hell were not geographical places, but primarily states of consciousness–which are in themselves very real and lasting.
Between Two Cultures: How to Be Evangelical Without Evangelizing
Bottom line: I will be your friend whether or not you ever come to know Jesus. I liked you before and I’ll like you after. But I will, at all times, be honest about who I am and my own relationship with Jesus.
I can not tell you how many wonderful, meaningful conversations I’ve had about Jesus with people who would never set foot in a church, let alone say his name beyond an expletive.
It turns out when you genuinely care, when you don’t have an agenda, and when you’re not trying to secretly move someone toward conversion, they love to hear about Jesus.
.. Because I’ve written a couple of books on young adult identity development, I am frequently asked in interviews, “Why is it young adults are walking away from faith?” or “Why are they leaving church?”
I don’t know the answer to this. There are scholars out there who have studied it in depth. But I would caution the evangelical church against offering young adults a kind of faith, a kind of Jesus, that can not stand in the face of relativity, contradiction, and dissonance. Young adults today face social and economic challenges that call everything about their lives into question, especially their faith.
Do Churches Fail the Poor?
Despite the stereotype of religion as something that people “cling to” (to quote a different moment of condescension from this president) in desperate circumstances, actual religious practice has collapsed more quickly among Americans with weaker economic prospects than it has among the college-educated upper class.
.. A church that pays out to help the poor, but doesn’t pray with them, looks less like a church than what Pope Francis has described, unfavorably, as merely another N.G.O.
But even from a secular perspective it’s a problem, because (as Putnam’s work stresses) the social benefits of religion are stronger further down the socioeconomic ladder, and these benefits are delivered through community, practice, and belonging.