[Cronos]

Let's repeat == you asked us to Take it up with Jesus: -- well, this is what Jesus said

• He who believes and is baptized will be saved. (Mk 16:16)
• [U]nless you repent you will all likewise perish. (Lk 13:3
• [H]e who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. (Jn 6:54)
• 13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Matt. 24:13 )
• Matt 25:31-46 34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

  Isn't Jesus pretty clear? you MUST have faith to be saved by the freely given grace of salvation, however, it is not faith ALONE

  Do you believe Jesus's words or not?

[Colofornian]

Cronos, you did a good job here of lining up various dimensions of faith -- but that's all they are...outcroppings of faith!

What you absolutely flunked was to whom credit & glory belong for these acts of faith!

What you say about "faith alone" only makes sense if you first define "faith" as having only "indoor" qualities -- and automatically excluding faith as having "outdoor" dimensions.

What do I mean? Allow me to explain using the verses you gave:

Mark 16:16:

Take the verse you cited on believing & is baptized (Mk 16:16) ... the power of belief is centered in the "outdoor" object of trust...You can have all the "indoor" "faith" you want that a certain bridge will get you across the chasm, but if that bridge is unreliable, then your anti "faith" alone formula falls apart...because somebody "taking the next step" beyond faith may wind up at the bottom of a canyon if he has misplaced faith!

IOW, it's the external soundness of a reliable bridge that is key -- not simply the PERSON walking across the bridge to somehow "add" to faith.

Furthermore, in Scripture, baptism is presented as something men have done to them -- IOW, it's a passive reception. (What babies baptized in the RC church say, "I want to be baptized"??...and even in the Bible, it conveys baptism as something the Church is active about -- but the receivers are passive recipients of what is transacted there).

Scripture clearly shows repeatedly that baptism and what goes on there is more an act of God than it is a act of man (see Acts 2:38; Titus 3:5, for example)...therefore, we're NOT to try to make baptism part of a checklist "what men have to do to be saved"...cause when you read the rest of Mark 16:16, it DOES NOT say "he who does not believe and IS NOT BAPTIZED is to be condemned." There is no "IS NOT BAPTIZED" in Mark 16:16.

Luke 13:3 (repentance)

Just as GOD -- and not MAN -- gets the glory in baptism, so the Bible likewise portrays that about repentance:

When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." (Acts 11:18)

Do you comprehend the upshot of this verse? If God doesn't "grant" repentance, people groups aren't going to repent.

So, Who gets credit for all of this? God the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3); God the Son (Acts 5:31); God the Father (Acts 11:18). I would hope none of us would ever fall to the temptation to steal even a drop of His glory. It's ALL God...those prompters to repent...to act...the energy to act...It's ALL Him!

John 6:54

Imagine you are invited to a Great free Banquet. The best meal possible is served. You are indeed served by the host's assistants. But you have to walk to the location and you have to walk up to where the meal is served.

When you discuss the meal later, you emphasize to others not what the host did to have to extend the invitation, prepare the meal, serve the meal, and how much it cost him -- but instead you emphasize the walking you had to do to eat. You seriously go on & on about the walking you did. Wow! How pathetic of a guest you would be!

Talk about repentance, and our need for it, I suggest you do it right now and every time you approach the altar for communion until you are sure He has forgiven you for this!

Matthew 25:31-46

This is a disqualifier -- not a qualifier [other than the realization that real faith works...otherwise, if it's not real faith to begin with, it won't work when applied in a public setting...a real faith won't stay bottled up "indoors" in somebody's mind...but I guess you stopped associating that with "faith" long ago]

This is just like the parable where a man had his major debt forgiven and then turned around & berated a man who owed him even less. The one who initially forgave the debter said the ensuing action disqualified the earlier forgiveness; and he was then locked away to repay the debt.

Even if this man had forgiven the smaller debt, such an action was no "qualifier" to receive forgiveness on the other debt! The forgiveness & the grace behind it was free...it wasn't earned based upon what he did; it was forfeited because of what he failed to do. (I have a verse tucked somewhere I can dig out where Paul shows that works nullifies grace; and that's what you're doing, too!)

Matthew 24:13

This verse admittedly puts more focus on what we do than any of the others. Scripture repeatedly talks about us persevering, overcoming, enduring to the end. All true.

But all of this is what the Holy Spirit & Christ accomplishes in and through us:

* "To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me." (Col. 1:29)

Here we have Paul giving 100% credit to Christ for this "energy" of endurance. Why do you seek to rob attribution from Christ, Cronos? Why would you stress Paul's "contention" when Paul himself gives 100% glory to Christ?

* ...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Phil. 2:12-13)

Here, Paul is saying, yes, we "work out" God's salvation in us...but here he gives 100% credit & glory to God for how we act & even what we will. Why do you see to rob attribution from God, Cronos?

The same is true of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples not to worry about what they would say when they're brought before magistrates...that the Holy Spirit would guide them with what to say (Matthew 10). And several other verses like that one highlight the Holy Spirit operating in and through us.

Do you believe Scripture or not, Cronos?