It amazes me how absolutely correct you seem to think your beliefs are when there is so little you actually demonstrate you DO know about "born again Christians"!
Do you not see the difference between:
1. a gospel that teaches we cannot earn, merit, work for nor deserve salvation which is why it is the GIFT of eternal life by the grace of God through faith and not our works
versus
2. another gospel that teaches we must have faith PLUS good works (e.g., church membership, obedience to all commandments and church rules, tithing, giving of alms to the poor, works of charity, etc.) and have no assurance of salvation since it all depends upon how "good" one has been when they die.
Tell me you can see the dichotomy between them?! One says it is ALL because of God's grace and NO ONE can boast to the glory of God alone. The other makes faith in the sacrifice of Christ a bit player tacked onto the end of perfectly lived life as far as is humanly possible and the glory goes to the person who merited their salvation.
Just because we born-agains (actually a term Jesus used) believe we are not saved because of our OWN righteousness but by the righteousness of Christ imputed to us through faith that does NOT mean we have no responsibility to live holy, obedient lives that honors and glorifies God. Keeping Christ's commandments demonstrates we love Him - they were never given for us to earn our salvation. Grace is not a license to sin - even Paul had to dispute that lie aimed at him.
Yes, "The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." (Eccles, 12:13). That IS our duty, but we cannot earn salvation, we cannot make propitiation for all our sins by what we do for God. It is what He has done for us that saves us. See???
Beautifully said!
It is what He has done for us that saves us. See???
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I see everything you’ve written here and have been seeing the same argument for 50 years, but my response to you is that no amount of argument that you or anyone else can ever make can successfully refute THIS:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James+2%3A14-26&version=KJV