We all agree that any works done are to be attributed to Christ. What we stress is that you must cooperate with Christ in order to acheive these works. I am not compelled to leap out of bed and start helping the poor or feeding the hungry. I am not a robot. I have to decide with my human mind to cooperate in doing Jesus' work, or not.
It is in this sense of cooperating in the works that the Catholics stress. We all agree that one who does not show these works is not really saved. So if someone claims they are saved but has nothing to show for it we know that they are not saved.
You say that works must naturally follow from placing your faith in Jesus. We say that you must have works or your faith is not real. There is no essential difference except...
We recognize that people can have an emotional episode and feel that they are "saved" but that this can wear off. Or 20 years later a "Saved" person can have doubt or fall into sin. Our lives are not changed by a one-time decision, but rather by a lifetime of decisions to help be Jesus to the world.
SD
If someone is saved, born-again, then it does not matter how they "feel". Our feelings come and go, but they do not dictate our salvation. There are times when I am not pleased with my wife or children, to be truthful it is usually the other way around ;^), but that does not negate our family relationship.
King David wrote in Psalms 51:12,"Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit."
David did not ask for his salvation to be restored, just for the joy of the salvation that God had given him to be restored.
Maybe I misunderstood what you meant.
On a side note, in reading through this "thread" (can anything with well over 2,000 posts be rightfully called a mere thread?) I have seen you infer a couple of times that relying on sola scriptura could lead one to believe in two Gods. Would mind explaining to me how this is so?
Thanks.
-ksen
Matt. 20:10ff
So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. `These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, `and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'"But he answered one of them, `Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
We recognize that people can have an emotional episode and feel that they are "saved" but that this can wear off. Or 20 years later a "Saved" person can have doubt or fall into sin. Our lives are not changed by a one-time decision, but rather by a lifetime of decisions to help be Jesus to the world.
True, this does happen...the "warm fuzzies" fade, the "spiritual adrenaline" wears off...and we learn to walk faithfully, by the strength He supplies, getting our nourishment from the word and the Spirit, and not rely on "feelings." He transforms us into His image "from glory to glory. This is the work of the Spirit, but we cooperate by our obedience....yet our resolve and enablement for obedience *also* comes from Him. It all goes back to HIM, which is why all glory is due Him.