This is responding to your most recent comment along this line of comments.
You are simply pointing out what the Bible says? Well so am I.
Paul says:
"By grace we are saved through faith..."
Then he says:
"...not a result of works..."
It is clearly saying that works do not equal salvation, as it would so appear that you are arguing.
Then James says that faith doesn't work without work. That does not mean that he is saying that works are what save you, as that would contradict Paul.
Then love comes in. Paul talks about love. Faith saves us only as long as it is alive. It is alive if it has love, as Paul says, and as James says, if it has works, which are the embodiment of love.
So, without love, we have nothing. Paul says that directly. Jesus says that though "love your neighbor as yourself" as the golden rule, and James says that you should follow the golden rule.
I'd say doing the loving thing is doing the works. And that's the works James talks about in the Bible. Because you've never seen a person who can follow the law perfectly, but you may see a man who loves the Lord with all his heart. That's what the dead faith is missing when James says it's missing good works.
Oh, really? If Christians only want Christian religious law in their country then they should really be caring about the atheists’ absolute domination of the law. It’s going downhill from here. Over time, America will fall further and further into sin.
The reason Christians are against Shariah law is because it calls for things that they cannot agree with, like marrying multiple women at the same time and intense Muslim focus.
The Bible calls some things in the Quran ridiculous, so how can a Christian accept Muslim law? The Bible also says that homosexuality is evil, so how can they support that either? They can respect other people who are in sin, but that doesn’t mean they can’t disagree with them too.
If I was king, I would strongly discourage homosexuality. I don’t think I would completely illegallize it but I would discourage it.
Woah, woah, woah! When did I say faith and grace are the same thing? James explicitly states that faith can be dead, not grace, which is essentially the part where you are saved. Don't pull the strawman on me. GRACE is what leads to good works, not FAITH, but FAITH can lead to GRACE, but not necessarily, like the wick in a candle. That's why James says that faith (not grace) can be dead without works.
I don't switch between the questions, I am simply supplying what I would consider the real reason good works is good in the first place. I don't know if you think that I believe that good works is not important, but if you do, you'd be wrong. Works are PROOF of the grace.
A lot of your argument hinges on the idea that grace and faith are the same thing. You'll need to change that accordingly. James says that faith, not grace is dead without works. He means that faith does not lead to works if you haven't received grace.
That's right, good works are not impossible. What's impossible is never breaking commandments. Through Christ, we are capable of much, but on our own, so if we haven't been saved by grace (fueled by faith, but not faith), we cannot reach the kingdom of heaven. Without Jesus, we can't make it to heaven.
In the description in my paragraph above, 1 Corinthians 15:10 doesn't contradict. It says, "yet not I, but through Christ in me." A clear message that we commit good works AFTER receiving grace, not before.
Finally, I may as well say the exact same last paraph you just created. Works don't equal salvation, but works can't be considered unimportant.
What we are saying in comparison are similar and yet so different. Or are they? In my analogy, I did not once say that you can have the flame without the light and heat, I said that if you have the flame you are guaranteed the light and heat, no "works is optional" works is a given, if you have grace. That's why it is more of a proof than a cause. Through grace we are saved by faith, leading to works.
I explained that those verses wouldn't contradict before, and I'll explain it again. Paul is not saying that works save you. It would genuinely be impossible to make it to heaven if that were so. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) says that we can't even be angry with another man, which we can't help. He says we can't lust after another woman, and that too, we are incapable of stopping. [He says divorce is considered adultery.] He says we can't swear on anything, we should not take an eye for an eye, and we must love everyone. Do you think that is in the least achievable? According to the Christ himself, everyone "will be liable to the hell of fire." (Matthew 5:22)
We are judged for our works. We are all judged by them, Paul speaks along these lines too, as you are quite sure of. And we all fall short of heaven. Each and every one of us. NONE of us deserve to go to heaven, so, because good works will never get us to heaven, God has sent us our savior. Jesus came for this very reason.
I didn't say that Paul is anti-works. You brought up the verse yourself. "created for good works." Ephesians 2:10. We humans should do good works. But don't think that he is saying that works is what saves you. 'Tis not.
I can't say I recall that you addressed the contradictions I found if your view was so, after I explained my argument. Some people say not to question God, but honestly, that's the dumbest thing for a Christian to do. Debate the meaning of the Bible. Question the validity of the cosmological argument. Address the problem of evil.
It's good to debate with a fellow Christian who doesn't call me an idiot every other sentence. We're all people capable of logic. Everyone makes a misinterpretation of the logic, but we're still brothers, or, may I say, comrades.
