[CynicalBear]

Thank you for finally proving our point. Your points 1,2, & 3 are based on works based salvation.

[paladinan]

Thank you for finally proving our point. Your points 1,2, & 3 are based on works based salvation.

:) How Martin-Luther-esque of you. Sorry... no biscuit.

There's a chasm of difference between "works-based" and "works-are-not-optional". We are justified and saved by faith--but not by faith "ALONE" (i.e. not by what some Evangelicals and other Protestants call "faith apart from works"--those people usually neglect to quote the rest of the verse: "works OF THE LAW"--i.e. the Old Covenant Mitzvot). Works are an essential requirement of our salvation--NOT because of any nonsensical idea of "earning" our salvation (as if we could possibly get God to "owe" us anything on the basis of justice), but because God has freely chosen to make our salvation contingent on having the type of faith which MANIFESTS GOOD WORKS. No good works, no fullness of faith; no fullness of faith, no salvation.