No, because you are a man and not a duck. But if you do something that is in your nature to do, -- act like a saint,-- then you become a saint and therefore you will be saved. "Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48)
You are making Christ say the precise opposite of what He is saying.
How so? He says, I will judge you all, and this is how: by your works. It is not the onyl passage where this is taught, not always with the metaphor of animals; see for example, Romans 2:
[6] Who will render to every man according to his works. [7] To them indeed, who according to patience in good work, seek glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life: [8] But to them that are contentious, and who obey not the truth, but give credit to iniquity, wrath and indignation. [9] Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek. [10] But glory, and honour, and peace to every one that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Matthew 25:31-46, is about judgment day. There will be no mixed cases.
No, in the final judgement -- nor in the one that awaits you and me within few years -- there are no mixed cases. So the reason we are told how we are going to be judged, sheep or goat, -- its to teach us how to live so that we are saved. Live like the sheep in the parable and you will be saved. You are saved by your works of charity.
There are those who belong to the Good Shepherd’s flock and those who don’t.
Yes, and the passage tells us who belongs where: those who "who according to patience in good work, seek glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life" belong, and those who don't, don't belong. It is up to you where to belong.
You don't become a saint by *acting like one*. You act like one after you become a saint.
The only way to have eternal life is through the new birth.
Jesus ran into plenty of people who kept the Law, which would qualify them as *acting* like saints. But He said they weren't saved.
That statement clearly shows a belief that it's works that save one.
Well, annalex, you don’t listen and respond to what’s said in a way that indicates you actually understand the point at issue. Instead you hear something, categorize it according to the template you have before you, and choose whichever talking point most closely approximates an item on the menu of your template. It is like talking not to a man but to a machine.
“... act like a saint,— then you become like a saint and therefore you will be saved.”
So, this is your response to my question of how a “good tree” comes to be? It is not something God does, but the individual does? Will you appoint yourself your own Creator as well, able to make yourself into a “good tree”? You are a theologian of the caliber of Nicodemus who that night asked Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” You try to answer heavenly things with earthly wisdom.
annalex also asserted:
“You are saved by your works of charity.”
So, you have not only appointed yourself Creator, but now Savior as well, even though only One is called to that office? That is why the Holy Scriptures call Him the Savior of the world, and expressly deny that any can be his/her own savior.
Where do you get your doctrine from? It isn’t from the Holy Scriptures. Ahhh, I see. You have also appointed yourself your own Enlightener and Sanctifier. You are a veritable trinity in and of yourself.
This is where the white rabbit has led you, away from the written Word of God and down the rabbit hole ... and you still follow.