Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: dragon!cms@gatech.edu Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Faith and Works: The Perennial Question Message-ID: Date: 3 Jan 91 09:28:00 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Computer Projects Unlimited Lines: 41 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu I'm not sure I've made myself clear in my postings on the "faith and works" perennial question. Let me explain by way of a friend's illustration, an Anglican from the Church of England who is a fellow parishioner of mine in the Episcopal Church of the United States. Imagine two chairs in a room. God is seated in one chair; you are seated in the other chair. The two chairs are facing each other (you and God are talking to each other). Whenever you sin, you turn your chair around and face the other direction (you turn away from God). Repentence is when you turn your chair back around and once again face God. You must perform the action of turning around to face God. We are saved not because we turn around to face God, although this is an essential part of the process, but rather because when we do turn around to face God, God is still there, God is still facing us, God has not turned his back on us. Luther's major problem was in totally separating faith and works in a way that Paul never intended. Faith and works are inextricably intertwined. Paul's message, that we are saved by faith and not by works, was simply to hammer home that works are an essential part of the salvific process, but the real reason we are saved is because, as noted above, when we do perform the good work of repentence, God is there to accept our sorrow for our sins and desire to do good works in the future as a sign of our faith. Without God, good works mean nothing. Without good works, faith is as dead as a body without a spirit. -- Sincerely, Cindy Smith _///_ // SPAWN OF A JEWISH _///_ // _///_ // <`)= _<< CARPENTER _///_ //<`)= _<< <`)= _<< _///_ // \\\ \\ \\ _\\\_ <`)= _<< \\\ \\ \\\ \\ <`)= _<< >IXOYE=('> \\\ \\ \\\ \\_///_ // // /// _///_ // _///_ // emory!dragon!cms <`)= _<< _///_ // <`)= _<< <`)= _<< \\\ \\<`)= _<< \\\ \\ \\\ \\ GO AGAINST THE FLOW! \\\ \\ A Real Live Catholic in Georgia Although not a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court, I am: A Real Live Southern Catholic in the Anglican Communion.