You only need to read through the entire Bible, and especially the New Testament, to know that the Catholic church is based on distortion of scripture, and more significantly, the desire of men to be in positions of power. God is the power, Jesus is the way. No works, rituals, etc., will result in your salvation; only faith in Christ.
I'm assuming that is the verse regarding works. But James is referring to works done as a result of faith, not as a guilty obligation or requirement to ensure their faith is actually going to provide salvation. The sum total of the New Testament can't be any clearer on the fact that salvation comes from faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, so that nobody can claim that they "earned" salvation; it is a gift of God.
"As a body without spirit is dead, so to is faith without works dead" or something to that effect.
The notion that works of faith would "earn" anything is a new one to me as I always assumed the two worked hand in hand - true faith influences every aspect of life resulting in works of faith.
Though it seems I misinterpreted the nature of your original comment as "faith does not require works."
Your spirit if made new in Christ bears the fruits(works) of such. Think of all the parables that Christ used in things that bear fruit and those that don’t. You will know the tree by its fruits … etc.
This scripture isn’t telling us anything anymore profound than what Christ has already stated. No idea why some Christians get so upset over this one line of scripture when in fact most that have accepted Christ and rejected the flesh already exhibit the merits of this scripture.
You only need to read through the entire Bible, and especially the New Testament, to know that the Catholic church is based on distortion of scripture, and more significantly, the desire of men to be in positions of power. God is the power, Jesus is the way. No works, rituals, etc., will result in your salvation; only faith in Christ.
James 2:26
I'm assuming that is the verse regarding works. But James is referring to works done as a result of faith, not as a guilty obligation or requirement to ensure their faith is actually going to provide salvation. The sum total of the New Testament can't be any clearer on the fact that salvation comes from faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, so that nobody can claim that they "earned" salvation; it is a gift of God.
"As a body without spirit is dead, so to is faith without works dead" or something to that effect.
The notion that works of faith would "earn" anything is a new one to me as I always assumed the two worked hand in hand - true faith influences every aspect of life resulting in works of faith.
Though it seems I misinterpreted the nature of your original comment as "faith does not require works."
Your spirit if made new in Christ bears the fruits(works) of such. Think of all the parables that Christ used in things that bear fruit and those that don’t. You will know the tree by its fruits … etc.
This scripture isn’t telling us anything anymore profound than what Christ has already stated. No idea why some Christians get so upset over this one line of scripture when in fact most that have accepted Christ and rejected the flesh already exhibit the merits of this scripture.
Ie feeding the poor …