I was just going to use my default title, "Because Everyone is Entitled to My Opinion" but I changed my mind. I think this is rather serious.
I'm a fairly conservative Apostolic Pentecostal woman. At the same time, I am almost on the lunatic fringe of liberalism within my own denomination as a whole. I am fairly open minded and I don't preach hellfire and brimstone. We should show others the love that Christ so mercifully bestows on us. We are all called by The Great Commission to seek lost souls; we are never called to judge or condemn. If we do that, we are taking over God's job.
While we are made in God's image and called to follow the example of Jesus, we are not called to be God. We are not called to set up guidelines to save our soul. They are in the Bible. We don't need a lot of rituals and legalism (although I do believe that standards can be a benefit to helping us continue on our walk with God).
I think that if the pope makes it to heaven, provided he repents, he will be mighty surprised to see that the Catholics aren't the only ones in heaven...
Love the sinner and hate the sin. Love your neighbor. You can't do any of that if you are busy passing judgment on who will and will not make it to heaven.
