Both are, first because in justice God recognizes the act as objectively good, and second, because anything good that people do is an expression of faith in Christ, however badly recognized by the doer. When an atheist helps a woman across the street, he is at that moment guided by the light of Christ.
Our salvation is the cake, which would have been made perfectly if we were never in the kitchen. But like the mother, God lets us participate, under full supervision. He gives us the ability to "come to our own decision" to accept Christ into our lives, so we feel like we did it. However, the truth is really that we had nothing to do with it.
The analogy is quite acceptable, but not the conclusion. The mother bakes the cake in the first place in order to teach the girl how to love others. If the girl was not moved to help, the cake may still end up in her belly, but that cake would not be likened to salvation if the girl did not attempt to participate in its baking.
Note that you chose a cake, something important because of its use in a celebration. This is a good analogy because the celebration requires the right attitude from the girl. The girl participated in the work of the baking just like a Christian will participate in the work of the Father on his soul, to culminate in the celebration of the beatific vision. Had you chosen something only important for its nutritional value, like a ham sandwich, the analogy will be with divine providence feeding our bellies perhaps, but not with salvation.
Exactly!
God has written onto EVERYONES hearts the Law of Love. Even a person who has never heard of Jesus Christ can "know" this law. If a person loves, He abides in Christ.
God is not just good, but goodness itself. Where there is goodness, there is God.
***A believer and a non believer can both help the same little old lady across the street, but only one was a good work in God’s eyes***
If she didn’t want to cross the street, neither one did a good deed! :>)
Both are, first because in justice God recognizes the act as objectively good, and second, because anything good that people do is an expression of faith in Christ, however badly recognized by the doer. When an atheist helps a woman across the street, he is at that moment guided by the light of Christ.
Really? I have never heard this before. Does God really look at the act itself, rather than the heart behind it? Could an atheist work up enough good deeds such that his "expression of faith in Christ" would be sufficient to get him into Heaven? I think the Bible actually says just the opposite:
Eph 2:10 : For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Who do you think is "we"?)
James 2:18 : But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
James 2:22 : You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.
John 14:15 : "If you love me, you will obey what I command.
John 14:23 : Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
And finally:
Gal 5:6 : For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Is the view you're expressing from the Fathers? I've just never heard before that God looks first at the outward act while ignoring the heart in judging righteousness. Does the Church have scripture to back this position? I don't understand how an atheist is accorded "faith in Christ" by doing what we would normally call a "good work". I don't see that in the scriptures anywhere.
[Re: my mother-daughter baking a cake analogy:] The mother bakes the cake in the first place in order to teach the girl how to love others. If the girl was not moved to help, the cake may still end up in her belly, but that cake would not be likened to salvation if the girl did not attempt to participate in its baking.
The mother offered to the girl that she "help". Because of the relationship, established by the mother, the girl naturally accepted with, and in, love. Had the mother been wicked, the girl would have had no interest in "helping", but since the mother was loving the girl NECESSESARILY had the interest.
This is a good analogy because the celebration requires the right attitude from the girl. The girl participated in the work of the baking just like a Christian will participate in the work of the Father on his soul, to culminate in the celebration of the beatific vision.
I'll accept that my writing may have sounded like that, but it isn't what I really intended. It was my intention that the little girl be young enough to be relatively helpless, and totally dependent on her mother (parents) for everything. She was not wise enough to know what was best for her, or even to avert dangers we grown-ups take for granted (in terms of avoiding, like hot stoves). That is how I truly see well developed Christians. That is, totally dependent on God for everything. How can it be that even the most devout amongst us still sins regularly? It's because we are still like that little girl compared to God. We NEED Him, not just sometimes, but at ALL times. This is one of my biggest disagreements with the Latin faith.