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From: st0o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Steven Timm)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Minimum Requirements (Was Re: the Sabbath & Soul...
Message-ID: <May.13.04.13.29.1991.14748@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 13 May 91 08:13:31 GMT
Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu
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Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu

I think that James Quilty and I are arguing at cross purposes here.
He has several times in net.discussions with myself and others
decried the legalism of those who try to earn their salvation by works.
In this premise I concur with him, and agree that it is totally possible to
"keep every letter of the law" and still not love your neighbor.   I am not
trying to convince him or anyone else that his salvation depends on keeping
any one or all of the Ten Commandments, or any of the ceremonial laws.

My points are twofold:
1)  There are (or should be) other motivations than ones own salvation
      to do things in your Christian life.   Salvation is not the end, but the 

      beginning of a relationship with God.

2)   I believe that Christ can help me to love my neighbor.   Some of 
      the most explicit instructions He gave to do this are in the Sermon 
      on the Mount, and they start with the law, and extend it from there
      so as to counter the "letter of the law" legalism that violated the 
      spirit.   The spirit of the law extends it from adultery to lust,
      from murder to anger and hate, etc.   

James is right in resisting what he feels are attempts to judge.  It's not
my business to judge him on whether or how he observes a certain day.
(If he wants extrabiblical sources, I would recommend Bacchiocchi
_From Sabbath to Sunday_ or _Divine Rest for Human Restlessness,
but I don't need them to make this point.)   

So again, I pose the question:

You're saved by faith--fine, I agree.  Now what are you going to do?

Is Christ just an ambulance service at the bottom of the cliff, waiting
to pick us up every time we fall?

Or do you think he wants to teach us a bit about cliff safety?

Steven Timm  Physics Department  Carnegie Mellon
"Shame on you, and shame on you again
    for converting me into a bullet and
         shooting me into men's hearts."    Richard Harris  c 1972