How can we really see?

What if we could look at the world and really see it? I mean seeing it through the eyes of imagining. I hope that in reading these posts, the eyes of your mind will open and let you see more, feel more, and think more about the world.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Faith, without Works, is DEAD

So you say that so long as you tell God that you believe in him, that he'll accept you into Heaven? Even if you ignore Christ's entire ministry where he tells you to love and serve your neighbor? So basically you think Christ lied every time he told you to serve your fellow man? You deny Christ's entire ministry, call him a liar, and deny his divinity?

No. Christ clearly taught that works were necessary to show God your true devotion. You will be resurrected by the Grace of God, but works prove your heart and the words that you speak. In James chapter 2 he states that simply telling your neighbor to be warm and fed is not enough. You have to sit him down by your fire and feed him, otherwise you are not following Christ's teachings. The best way to teach God's gospel is by being an example of a disciple in all of your actions. You can't say "love your neighbor" on one hand and then ignore your actual neighbors. That makes you a HYPOCRITE.

I will show my faith BY MY ACTIONS. My neighbors will not go hungry while I genuflect before God in an empty church, or talk loudly about how much I love Christ on facebook. Throughout the Bible God tests his prophets and disciples by putting them in situations where they have to CHOOSE to act. The Good Samaritan showed by his actions that he was more righteous than the men who passed by him who had fallen. Abraham was called to sacrifice his son Isaac. He didn't just say "I sacrifice my son to your will, oh God!" he actually took him up to the mountain and prepared to sacrifice him!

Matthew 7:21 says "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." Clearly we don't just get into heaven by saying we take upon us Christ's name. We actually have to show we are becoming like Christ by our actions.

In chapter 19 Jesus tells a man that he must keep the commandments in order to enter into eternal life. How much clearer can you possibly get than from the mouth of the son of GOD? The biggest problem here is that people read things like the "New Bible" and other translations that lose much of the meaning that can be found in the earliest versions of the Bible. The more times you translate something, the more meaning you lose.

In Ephesians 2 we're told to walk in good works. In Revelations 20 it says that we will be judged out of the books that hold a record of all of our works. This makes more sense if you are mormon and understand that there are different levels to heaven, and even though everyone will be resurrected, that your works will determine what level of heaven you get sent to.

Unfortunately most Christians will not accept or even listen to scriptures from the Book of Mormon, but if you can use 2nd Nephi 25:23.m It states that we are saved by grace after all that we can do. We believe wholeheartedly in Grace, but we believe that we MUST live righteously and serve others as Christ taught. If someone refers to my religion as not Christian, I pity them. They don't understand Christ's own teachings if they say that. WE accept Christ as our savior. We know that his grace is the only way we can be saved. But we ALSO know that we must live by the commandments God has given us and live up to his expectations in order to receive that Grace.

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