Someone told me in the US, some denominations require more works than faith, some require more faith than work

Question

some claim that simply through the grace of God you are saved. Is that true? If so, which denomination is the most influencial? Thanks.

I somehow believe "justification by faith" is not enough. "Sanctification" as a lifelong effort is the way to heaven. Certainly it's a joint effort between men and the Holy Spirit. We must do our work. I tend to emphasize more on our own part, partially b/c I am in China where oriental philosophy influences Christian churches. What do you think ?

Answer 1

We are saved by grace, not by works, so that no one can boast.
We are saved by grace alone. Recall that in Acts 16:31 the jailer asked Paul and Silas how to be saved. They responded, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." The jailer believed and immediately became saved.
Close to 200 times in the New Testament salvation is said to be by faith alone - with no works in sight. Consider the following:
John 3:15 tells us that "everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."
John 5:24 says, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."
In John 11:25 Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies."
John 23:46 says, "I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness."
John 20:31 says, "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
If salvation were not by faith alone, then Jesus' message in the Gospel of John - manifest in the above quotations - would be deceptive, stating that there is one condition for salvation when there are allegedly two - faith and works.
I must emphasize that we are saved by faith for works. Works are not the condition of our salvation, but a consequence of it We are saved not by works, but by the kind of faith that produces works.

Eph 2:8-10 God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this: It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Answer 2

Yes, you have it about right. Traditionally "Catholic" denominations emphasize faith and works, while traditionally Protestant denominations emphasize faith alone. But all of these depend on the assumption that Christianity removes the guilt of sin. Many Eastern and/or Orthodox denominations do not accept that premise, and so interpret justification as sanctification (or the process through which the individual gradually stops sinning).

Answer 3

Requiring that you are a Christian in order to work for their organization is what's known as a "Bona Fide Occupational Qualification" or "BFOQ." Using the BFOQ, an organization can select which qualifications in regards to the protected classes (i.e. religion, ethnicity, gender, etc.) are necessary for the role that they are filling provided that the qualification is "bona fide." For example: Let's say you are a movie producer. You are making a movie in which the main character is a young, black female. You do a cast call and a young, white male auditions for the role. An occupational qualification for this role is that the individual be young, black, and female. Clearly this person does not fit the qualifications. The qualifications are bona fide because of the nature of the business. Therefore discrimination did not occur. This is also how Hooters gets away with hiring only attractive females. It is a bona fide occupational qualification due to the nature of their business. Add: It appears that it is a common misconception that privately owned companies are exempt from Title VII of The Civil Rights Act which prohibits discrimination based on the protected classes (i.e. religion, ethnicity, gender, etc) and can hire based on whatever criteria they wish. This is not the case. Just because a company is privately owned does not give them the right to discriminate.

Answer 4

The bible clearly answers this question at James 2 :24-26

24 YOU see that a man is to be declared righteous by works, and not by faith alone. 25 In the same manner was not also Ra′hab the harlot declared righteous by works, after she had received the messengers hospitably and sent them out by another way? 26 Indeed, as the body without spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Answer 5

true Christians believe in justification by faith and faith alone. but the Apostle Paul said that faith without works is a dead faith. if you could get to heaven on works alone, then any athiest could go to heaven is the love their neighbor, feed the hungry, and the all of the other things that catholic nuns do, besides praying.

Answer 6

It's true that we are justified by faith alone.
Romans 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

What occurs with faith (trust) in God through Jesus Christ is we become recipients of the Holy Spirit:
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

That Spirit spurns us to do the works that God wants us to do:
John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

So the works that we THINK that we might be doing for God can actually be us fooling ourselves into thinking we are doing them. And what we should be doing is trusting God to move us to do his will, not by a flurry of actions hoping that we get one right, but by the patient waiting for God to move us to do them. Will God want us to go to heaven without having served him? I don't think so. So trusting God is not only the key to savaltion, but it is also the key to living the rest of our lives.

Sin is no longer a focus, eat this, don't do that: But the focus is on Christ, the Author and Finisher of Faith ( Hebrews 12:2 ) , who moves us to do the works he would have us do. It is by those kinds of works that brings me to tell you this.

That's what I believe.

Answer 7

Denominations are founded by men. God provided man with the Word, and in the Bible He clearly explains how one chooses to become a child of God. A Christian pursues a Godly life, but cannot achieve such a lofty goal as we are not gods, rather God's creation. We strive to please God and all that is given us is from God, and all that we accomplish is for God. We must study the Bible, keep our eye on God and repent our sins regularly and truly decide to not to continue those sins again and again. Life on this world is all too brief to love sin, following God's word will bring eternal happiness in glorifying God. Thank you for asking. I hope to return to China soon!

Answer 8

For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Faith without works is dead. Man is not called to follow after any denomination, he is called to follow after Jesus Christ. He does this by reading his bible and been obeidence to the things he have read by faith. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith (believed) in them that heard it.

Answer 9

Salvation is a GIFT from Jesus to us. To think that we can work or good deed ourselves into salvation is an insult to the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.

Jesus says it himself .................
Jesus says ... I am The Way and The Truth and The Life ... no-one comes to the Father except through me (Jn 14:6)

Once you receive salvation from Christ Jesus is only natural to do the works, but it is not how you receive salvation.

Answer 10

Justification by faith is more common, because "works" take... work. Anyone can SAY they have faith!