In man's eyes, many people have done wonderful things, among the worlds religions. These things are well and good and are to be encourgaged with the BIG caveat that good works do not achieve salvation.
Certainly Mother T. should be commended for her work. Did her work earn her a place in heaven? Not according to the scriptures. Was she a true believer? I don't know. Can someone believe that Faith and Works merits salvation? Not according to the scripture.
There are two correct things you have said in this post.
“We are not here to judge others.”
and
“I don’t know.”
James 2 14:26 would provide a different opinion on faith and good works than the one you rendered. Scripture is inspired but your interpretation is not.
Jesus saves.
Very well, accurately AND BIBLICALLY put.
Thx.
I don't understand the meaning of "THEN". First I preach, then I love?
And as to our 'making disciples', you would then refudiate the people that say pastors cannot save? (When asked how many people I'd saved, I always said, "None. GOD saves people, not me.") Sure, we use "making disciples" loosely, but sometimes it's good to tighten up the discourse.
Also, I think we end up needing a generous interpretation of "preaching," one which would include those who do not actually talk much but who serve the needy. Not all are preachers in the formal sense, while all have a call and what we Catholics call an "apostolate."
In man's eyes, many people have done wonderful things, among the worlds religions. These things are well and good and are to be encourgaged with the BIG caveat that good works do not achieve salvation.
Once the caveat is made and agreed to, the philosophical problem remains: Does God act for good in the lives of those who do not profess Christ OR Can folks in that class do no good OR can there be a source of good other than God?
Certainly Mother T. should be commended for her work. Did her work earn her a place in heaven? Not according to the scriptures.
Was anyone saying that her work earned her a place in heaven? Who and where?
Was she a true believer? I don't know.
Is there anything working on earth that could give that knowledge?
Can someone believe that Faith and Works merits salvation? Not according to the scripture.
General observation: Language is a soft instrument. It does not keep an edge and must be sharpened often. But it can be very sharp and very effective, but the edge must be tended to.
It seems to me that I can say that I "merited" reaching the upstairs bedroom by walking down the hall, up the stairs, and through the door. But I sure didn't put the bedroom there or give my legs the power (long pause while elderly widower neighbor comes over from across the street to tell me everything that's wrong with the Church today, where was I ...., oh yeah) to climb them and the origin even of the notion to go upstairs is a mystery. So in SOME sense reaching the upstairs bedroom is the "reward" for my works. In any event it is hard to imagine me reaching the Sealy Posturepedic without going through those steps.
On the other hand, the reward is so disproportionately huge in comparison with the 'effort' while, as I say, though the effort is somehow mine, I can take no credit for it. I might as well try to take credit for the color of my baby-blues.
So the good works which He has prepared for me to walk in seem to have some process, some benefit, some goal and result. But logically prior and of overwhelming importance is the grace which set me on that path, and and for which also I can take no credit.
Moses says, "The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to keep still." I say that keeping still is not so easy.
Still, it is all grace, and to forget that is to forget everything of importance.
Yes, I get verbose sometimes.