“Cop-out answer.”
No “cop out”. I am simply avoiding the trap that even the “faith alone” crowd falls into, making “faith alone” a form of legalism.
It IS a cop out to not be brave enough on an anonymous internet forum to proclaim the truth you believe. There is no "trap" to fall into as long as one is able to defend his soteriology using sacred Scripture to back him up. You see right in this thread that any number of posters have declared they believe what Jesus believed, yet, there is STILL disagreement. We know from Scripture that false prophets WILL try to use the Scriptures to confuse and deceive non-believers and believers. That is why we should know what we believe and WHY we believe it.
What are you afraid of? If someone in your church came to you and asked you to tell him/her how he/she can go to heaven when she/he dies, what would you say? When you preach to your congregation, what do you say to invite new people to be Christians? That's all I'm asking of you, not setting up any traps at all.