Christians - You are your own enemies. Why?About 3 days ago, I posted a question on seeming contradiction?

Question

between Paul and James. I said Paul said you are "justified, not by your good works but through faith in God only", while James says you are "justified by your good works through faith in Jesus only". Most of you said there's no contradiction. You essentially said James was correcting the wrong impression from what Paul said. One cannot claim to be justified without showing the work of that justification. In fact, James 2 (verses are in brackets) is explicit

[14] What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him?
[17] So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
[22] You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works,
[24] You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Today some of you lynched on me when I said this. Don't you think the way some of you are brash on issues like this is undoing your work?

Answer 1

Heh, and instead of dealing with the issue you put up here, they continue on the Faith vs Works issue. Not surprising

Yes... this does erase any "Work" they have done to spread the Gospel. Ooops... I said the W word. Maybe, on this, you should post what Jesus himself says... just look up in the 4 Gospels where he's speaking about Salvation itself. I'm sure you'll find just what you need when it comes to the Faith vs Works issue. Maybe they should stop and think about this. If it is faith alone... there would be no need to Repent (which is a Works). They also wouldn't need to do anything Jesus said. They would just have to believe he said it. lol

Answer 2

The definition of works is very importance in explaining the texts from these two persons. I have made some proposition to recanonize the Bible without all the epistles except the 4 gospels, the Acts and the Book of Revelation. That was suggested to minimize contradictions to some who are unable to connect those that have been written above and those below, ie not to explain anything out of context.

Now let me say something. If the definition of works as I see it, is really the will of God and the Jesus commandments: the great commission, to love one another then all Christians will not have failed to be saved unless they only sit without lifting his finger to tell the gospel to his dear ones, the spouse, the children, the friends etc. Now even I regard works can include your action or attitude you show that you are a follower of Christ. That is the meaning of works I find. You see, any Christian claims that he works or does good works is robbing the glory of God. That is not forgivable. God detests such a pride. So who does all the works, to be correct God or the Holy Spirit is doing all works on our behalf. So give God and Holy Spirit all the glory. Yes, we become a vessel through which God can do all for our salvation. Fantastic but very hard to understand. Even my remarks that we are the vessel, or the conduit or God's attachment. These are not apt statements. God forgive me. So James and Paul are all right to say as what they say if we read the up and down. The best take them all out of the bible and include them just as guidel book to proper living. You may ask me are the Christians who does no such things safe. I think they are, they will go to heaven and be subject to the Judgement seat of Jesus. Well, they may get their punishment to be staying outside the new city of Jerusalem.

Answer 3

They admit it is a contradiction if they claim Paul was in error. They make fun of the few true Christians who say there is no contradiction, but say that faith and works are important. Faith without works id dead being alone. Faith with works is alive and active and well and healthy. Only those who have been deceived into believing that it is faith only without works is what saves you.
will contradict themselves on this.

Christians who read the bible to mean what it says ans says what it means will get this, those who try and prove their man made doctrine will not get it.

Answer 4

Works are part of faith. They are not separable. We Catholics understand that idea, but most Protestants don't seem to.

Faith has many components, just as a car has many working parts and systems.

Just as a car cannot function properly unless all of its key components are in good order, so it is with faith. If any of the components of faith are absent, or are not "working," then our faith is dead -- just as a car, if it has an inoperable main component, is dead.

Paul wrote that we are justified by faith alone.

Elsewhere in the Bible, though, Paul writes on how we will be judged -- for good or for ill -- by our deeds. Our deeds are connected to our faith, serve as a vital part of it, energize it, and (most of all) keep us out of trouble!

The more we do good works, the less likely we are to do bad ones. And the more we do good works, the stronger our faith is.

This is why James writes that faith without works is dead -- just as a car without a working engine or transmission is dead.

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Answer 5

ok I see what you are getting at....
1st: The bible is made up of seperate "chapters" all written by different men. Each of those men have their own versions of what happened.
2nd: Of course there will be contradiction, because it is written by different viewpoints. Its like when a crime is committed. You have different "truths" as to what happen. The victim, the perp, and the witness. You have to put the stories together to find the truth.
3rd: The bible IS NOT the basis for Christianity, Jesus Christ is.
Look at the bible as more of a guidebook for like. A what to do/not to do thing.
4th: The bible is written in semantics, so what one person gets from a passage isn't necessarily what another gets. (ie... division of churches) If we all got the same info from it, there wouldn't be any debates and we would all worship the same.

So those who believe the bible is the basis, and the only basis for Christianity and live their lives as such, yes I do believe they are killing themselves and Christianity.
Putting a book, before their lord is pure sacreligion.
Jesus said, "look inside yourself and I will be there"
That is all we need.
I don't know your last question or how it was worded, but that is usually the problem as to why a person gets yelled at for a question. You have to word your question as a legitimate search for answers and not as an accusation.
Good Luck.

Answer 6

I guess the problem is that people are chomping at the bit to prove the bible inaccurate and wrong. If you want to believe that then nothing we say can change your mind. You have already made your decision. Contradictions can be explained but so many don't want to hear it because they want to live life with their rules and not Gods. It only takes faith to get to Heaven. Jesus died once and for all, for all who Believe.....but once you place your faith in Him your works become your "ethic", shall we say. So someone who doesn't live as a Christian or has poor "works" is said to be dead because once becoming a Christian you WANT to do good works for Christ. Hence, Faith, without works, is dead.

Answer 7

The point is that good works are not enough if you don't have faith in God and Our Savior Jesus. When you are a true believer, the works come naturally. It becomes a part of you. You want to be a living testimony of God and have His will be done on earth.

May God Bless you.

Answer 8

It seems you are puffed up in your own thinking so what can men teach you that your high and lofty knowledge would truly accept.

However if you will be sincere, seeking the truth, humble and see what Paul was saying and what James was saying you will see not a contradiction but faith that is alive and working - lets look at it.

Paul says that no man is justified by works before God. This was in reference to Jewish practices that were trying to be righteous before God by their own works, it did not involve faith on their part they just went through the forms and rituals and thought that God had to accept it, since that is what he required of them to do, but they did it not by faith in God to accept what they gave as coming from the heart not from a legalistic mindset.

James says faith without works is dead, where Paul was speaking of before, James is looking at the fruit of faith that is that which comes behind afterwords, and says faith will produce a caliber of works that define that you have believed, what kind of works? Repentance, tunrning from sin, believing, showing, sharing with God's people, praising God, loving God, continuing in the Word of God, worshipping with fellow believers, attaining unto the teachings of the faith, going on into a deeper walk with God - these are evidences of things not seen that you have believed and what is produced is works declaring the faith that you have accepted that God's word is true as Paul said lead you to believe wholeheartedly in Christ. Through no merit of yourself, it is by grace that you are saved through faith and this not of yourself lest any man should boast - that they had done it by their own power and ability without Christ.

Answer 9

Ask 10 people, and you will get 10 answers....if at least 9 of those people don't know what they're talking about.

To be honest, this is a great example of why it is important to have Tradition in order to interpret Scripture. Otherwise, people are free to say just about anything they want, as long as they can find SOME passage in the Bible that seems to match their claims. I suspect most of the answers you received were either from non-Christians, or from Christians who do not belong to a church that has apostolic succession.

Answer 10

I think what James was saying is that if you really have faith, works are a natural outpouring of that faith. If you say you follow Jesus and treat your fellow man poorly, it would make me question whether you really have faith. People who truly get it and have faith put other people before themselves, help those that need help, etc.