2007-09-15 21:38:21 · 13 answers · asked by Put_ya_mitts_up 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
The 1st 3 answererers are not only mistaken;
but, Waaayyy off base.
Since u asked this Q of J's W's;
then J's W's would be the 1's w/ the CORRECT 411.
And not 1 of the 1st 3 that answered are.
Is anything more than faith needed in order to gain salvation ?
Eph. 2:8,9 (RS)
"By grace ["undeserved kindness," NW]
you have been saved through faith;
and this is not your own doing,
it is the gift of God---
not because of works, lest any man should boast."
The entire provision for salvation is an expression of God's undeserved kindness.
There is no way that a descendant of Adam can gain salvation on his own,
no matter how noble his works are.
Salvation is a gift from God given to those who put faith in the sin-atoning value of the sacrifice of His Son.
Heb 5:9 (RS): "He [Jesus] became the source of eternal
salvation to all who OBEY him."
{caps, my own, couldn't add italics}
Does this conflict with the statement that Christians are "saved through faith" ?
Not At All.
Obedience simply demonstrates that their faith is genuine.
James 2:14,26 (RS) "What does it profit, my bretheren,
if a man says he has faith but has not works?
Can his faith save him?
For as the body apart from the spirit is dead,
so faith apart from works is dead."
Acts 16:30,31 (RS) " 'Men, what must I do to be saved?'
And they [Paul & Silas] said, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus,
and you will be saved, you and your household.' "
If that man and his household truly believe,
would they not act in harmony with their belief? Certainly.
Faith without works is dead---James 2:24-26.
There's 1 more 1 want to add, lemme go find it, I'll B-R-B.
I couldn't find it. But it goes like this:
"Show me your faith apart from your works,
and I'll show you my faith by my works."
Works demonstrates Obedience to your faith,
what you believe.
This text is in harmony with the Scriptures I did provide.
2007-09-16 00:10:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 9⤊ 0⤋
JW's are actively involved in the preaching ministry in compliance with Jesus' last command to his followers: "Go make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you." Matt. 28:19, 20.
By saying that one is saved by faith alone gives people an excuse to do virtually nothing. They go to church on Sundays and sit on their hands while a professional clergymen does the preaching for them. After service, they go about their business. Easy enough, isn't it?
Jehovah's Witnesses know full well that they can do nothing to earn salvation, as if Jehovah owes them something. They know salvation depends on their faith in the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ. However, that faith is backed up by works that Jesus commanded.
SirWilliam has been eating too much sugar.
2007-09-16 04:24:25 · answer #2 · answered by LineDancer 7 · 9⤊ 0⤋
Jehovah's Witnesses are not trying to prove ourselves righteous by adhering to organizational requirements; things like commenting at meetings, turning in field service reports, pioneering, and whatever.
Regardless of how much we may do in God's service, we cannot prove ourselves righteous in God's sight except by putting faith in God's Son. Everything else should be incidental to our obedience to the faith.
2007-09-17 09:31:58 · answer #3 · answered by keiichi 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I was going to answer this question right off, but then the Holy Spirit led me to read through first.
I 100% agree with TeeM!
My exact answer was going to be with FAITH, and LOVE.
LOVE gives HOPES.
With LOVE you automatically teach other's that "With God all things are possible." Need to share love, and teach other's about Jehovah God is a perfect example of LOVE.
2007-09-16 15:19:23 · answer #4 · answered by Debs 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
The Greek of John 3:16 concerning 'faith' or belief denotes as one commentator said:
'Living Faith' Thus, Everyone who as a Living Faith in Jesus will be saved.
Faith like Love requires action or it is a hollow, empty word.
.
2007-09-16 09:59:32 · answer #5 · answered by TeeM 7 · 5⤊ 1⤋
Hello there. The Bible is, of course, the inspired word of God. Therefore, I also will ask you one thing. If you tell it to me, I also will tell you. The Bible teaching in the book of James that pointedly says faith without works is dead; that faith without works cannot save a man; that Abraham’s faith worked along with his works and by his works his faith was perfected; that a man is declared righteous by works and not by faith alone; that the demons have faith and yet shudder in fear; is this teaching from men or from God? If you say it is from men, why are we being false witnesses of God? If this teaching is from God, why do you question it? If you believe God inspired the exhortation at James, do YOU have works to show?
Hannah J Paul
2007-09-16 01:24:50 · answer #6 · answered by Hannah J Paul 7 · 6⤊ 1⤋
Both.
"Faith without works* is dead"
James 2:17
* Works can be defined as DOING, or PRACTISING. You can have faith that God is love, but the works will make YOU loving too.
SirWilliam - Faith in Jesus isn't the ticket to salvation either, even Satan and the demons have faith. You can't just quote one scripture and say "there". You have to take the bible as a whole.
Name calling like labelling JWs as a cult is just childish. It would be much appreciated if you keep all your insults and lies to yourself.
Maranatha - same goes to you
Unsilenced Lamb - Yes it is true that JWs are very pro-active, but is it better to be pro-active (teaching others all around the world about God's Kingdom hope for the righteous and judgment for the wicked), and going to church almost very other day to keep up the faith?.....OR....just be content with having our ears tickled (2 Timothy 4:3, 4) at church once a week, who’s’ ministers aren't even bothered whether an individual strictly abides by biblical teaching? (2 Corinthians 13:5)
At work I work with a woman who considers herself to be a strong Christian. One minute she’s telling people that God loves EVERYONE and that it doesn't matter who you are and what you do...The next minute she's really judging everyone at work, backstabbing and saying that they will be going to hell if they don't watch it! From what I can gather from her conversations is that her minister chums up the members by basically saying everyone else is going to hell except their church goers.
Churches nowadays focus too much on God's merciful side, they'd rather just skip the whole of the Old Testament because of Gods judgment. God wanted the whole bible in tact because he wanted people to consider the WHOLE bible. The Old Testament is full of examples for us and parallels to our day. For example, Gods people back then were claiming to be his worshippers, they went through the motions (sacrifices, temple worship etc) BUT their hearts weren't in it. God was not happy with them just the same as God is not happy with people today simply going to church and thinking they're all ok.
JWs teach that a relationship with God is earned. Obviously God loved us first (He reaches out for us), but we, as individuals must prove our love for Him, it's not just a case of being baptized. God gave us life, giving that life to him through our work today is what we can do to show our appreciation. This world today is hard, but the future is the REAL life.
Faith (and appreciation) in Jesus ransom sacrifice is one of the things required for "salvation", without it, we would not be forgiven. So obviously Jesus' disciples is going to say that faith in Jesus "saves", but everyone who got baptized quickly back then already had a relationship with God and were living by His standards. You can't be immoral and expect to be saved simply by believing in Jesus.
The apostle Paul had to counsel the Corinthian church about a man who was sinning. He told them to put him out the church. Does that sound like faith is all that is required?
2007-09-16 08:10:42 · answer #7 · answered by Paul S 4 · 7⤊ 0⤋
It is a very works based religion..i know, because I tried to work it for 22 years...they will tell you that it is not, but one of their favorite scriptures is " Faith without works is dead"
Never ever heard a sermon on Grace in a kingdom hall...EVER...
They teach you that if you do not Go to 5 meetings a week..go door to door..Have a family Bible study...read all watchtower materials....Daily texts,....Plus conduct home bible studies weekly with anyone out in the field that asks, you may not make it into the new order...but they are not works based.
They will never tell you that salvation is through accepting Jesus as your savior, and that is what you need to do for salvation,
2007-09-16 19:29:19 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 5⤋
I think that they believe that we are saved through faith, but that our works "prove" to god that our faith is strong...
2007-09-17 04:52:55 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
This is wild. This is what they believe about salvation:
"You must love Jehovah's universal socereignty just as his Son Jesus Christ does; you must uphold it and proclaim it and remain true to it at all costs until it is vindicated. Only then may you survive Armageddon."
"The justice of God would not permit that Jesus, as a ransom be more than a perfect man; and certainly not be the supreme God Almighty in the flesh."
"So from among mankind only 144,000 persons will ever go to Heaven."
2007-09-15 22:12:59 · answer #10 · answered by D.A. S 5 · 1⤊ 6⤋