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Let me clarify a bit. Our salvation does not depend ENTIRELY on us, yet we are called to trust, be faithful and to obey the Lord and follow him. It's been said the Christian life is almost, but not quite, beyond human capacity.

There are some liberal 'Christian' pastors who preach that obedience is no longer necessary, which is not true and definitely not what I meant.

If Romney can't make up his mind as to where he stands on certain issues, then he's a flip-flopper just like the rest of them.

"Let me clarify a bit. Our salvation does not depend ENTIRELY on us, yet we are called to trust, be faithful and to obey the Lord and follow him. It's been said the Christian life is almost, but not quite, beyond human capacity.
There are some liberal 'Christian' pastors who preach that obedience is no longer necessary, which is not true and definitely not what I meant.

If Romney can't make up his mind as to where he stands on certain issues, then he's a flip-flopper just like the rest of them."

Agreed. We do what we can, and depend on mercy Jesus bought for us with his suffering, death, and resurrection. If we had to face God's justice without that mercy, there would be nothing but damnation for us, as we've all sinned, and fallen (far, far, far!!!) short of the glory of God.

Obedience is necessary. It helps to know what rules to obey. I'd not care to speculate too much on the thief's disposition; perhaps he did some works in his life that Jesus knew of, or perhaps he had no training in proper behavior, and simply followed what he was taught by his elders, and found himself in the company of someone even he could see was something very different from the people he had known, and that knowing was enough. We teach that we much teach, as best we can, correctly, because we will be judged harshly for leading others astray.

I must also state that I did not join the Church lightly; I spent more than three decades trying to find out which church I should belong to, if any.In addition to Christian churches, I also investigated Islam, Buddhism, and several forms of Hinduism, Wicca, and several other forms of neopaganism. When I finally followed my Baptist-minister-stepfather's advice to pray about it, I knew that the Book of Mormon was truly God's Word, as much as the Bible is. I learned that Joseph Smith was a prophet, called of God to do what he did.

If what I got in answer to my prayer wasn't an answer from God, I would have to wonder why he allowed me to be led astray. My guess, and that is all it is, is that he really doesn't care which church we belong to, as long as we follow, as best we can, his word. People who spend all their time arguing that someone can't be a "real" Christian because they don't follow the Nicene Creed should probably remember that the earliest Christian churches didn't, either, IIRC.

As far as Romney goes, it's possible he's seen the error of his ways, and is going back to fundamentals because they are the right thing to do. It's also possible he's going back to fundamentals because he thinks that can get him elected. I don't know which it is, and I'm hesitant to vote for him myself, because I see him as a flip-flopping Kerry-type politician. I could be wrong, I could be right, and I could be totally clueless...