If Salvation is by Grace and Not by Works

found online by Raymond

 
 
From humanist and an atheist Bruce Gerencser living The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser:

I recently wrote a post about Evangelical outrage over Montel Williams suggesting that the heart of Christianity is good works. Countless Evangelicals schooled Williams about salvation, reminding him that good works play no part in salvation. According to these Evangelicals, salvation is by grace — God bestowing his unmerited favor upon sinners. Are these Evangelicals right? It depends on which Bible verses you read.

– More –
 

3 thoughts on “If Salvation is by Grace and Not by Works”

  1. I am not sure that evangelicals are being inconsistent here.

    The reasoning behind grace over works is:

    1.) God cannot abide sin
    2.) Good works do not undo sin
    3.) Therefore, God cannot abide us even if we perform good works

    So, if salvation is possible, it is only through the “grace of God.” This does not mean that one should feel free to do whatever he wants as long as he apologizes. James 2:14-26 makes it clear that faith without works is dead. Good works may not replace faith, but they are a necessary consequence and are therefore evidence of it.

    As for the people they think will go to Hell, it usually comes down to the unrepentant nature of the person or the nature of the sin itself. If homosexual activity is wrong, for example, then someone who continues to do it while appealing to God’s grace either does not recognize his sin or does not care and so is not repentant enough to be saved. But someone who “struggles” with homosexuality, who fails to suppress or eliminate such desires but never acts on them, might be OK. Even someone who occasionally gives in might be OK if he is really trying to fight it. In the same way, one who persists in liberalism is to be condemned because true believers would reject such an ideology, but one who was once liberal and now rejects it is OK. We know all of this because evangelicals love to trot out “recovered” homosexuals, atheists, abortionists, liberals, and so on. It also explains why they are so much easier on themselves and their own kind when it comes to sin, even when that sin is more harmful to other people.

    I have more of a problem with the first two premises of the grace over works argument: that God cannot abide sin and that good works do not undo sin. It is utterly ridiculous that an omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent being would think and behave as the Bible says and as so many Christians imagine.

  2. Indeed. I think that may very well be the newest version of atheism of sorts…

    “There is a god, but he thinks exactly like I do.”

  3. Atheism is well-defined. If you believe in a god, you are not an atheist. So no, even if one’s god changes as his other beliefs do, that person is not an atheist. Atheism is not synonymous with egotism.

    In case you were referring to my last two lines, all I meant was that my reasonable expectations for what gods with all of these omni- traits would think and do do not match what so many holy texts claim their gods would do. Their pettiness and destruction, for example, do not fit a perfect and benevolent nature and their reactions (surprise, anger) or need to be alerted to events suggest limited awareness instead of omniscience. Of course, with religious apologetics, you can force just about anything to work, especially by appealing to a god’s mysterious ways and our own ignorance.

Comments are closed.