One of the things traditional Christianity has going for it is that any adherent is supposed to accept, at core, that they are not an inherently good person.
Doesn't mean everything you do is automatically terrible, but in many Christians it does encourage self-reflection and self-awareness, because of the knowledge that any given impulse you have may actually be a selfish one that's terrible for other people.
...granted, it doesn't always work that way in conservative US evangelicalism. Even there it does sometimes, though.
The Inquisition was a truly horrible desecration against many unfortunate human beings.
What I know of the Gospels makes me believe the Inquisitors were in no sense followers of Christ.
(Of course, the Inquisition has nothing to do with the point I was making, but that point was itself a rabbit trail, so I suppose turnabout is fair play.)
Doesn't mean everything you do is automatically terrible, but in many Christians it does encourage self-reflection and self-awareness, because of the knowledge that any given impulse you have may actually be a selfish one that's terrible for other people.
...granted, it doesn't always work that way in conservative US evangelicalism. Even there it does sometimes, though.
/rabbittrail