Mommy
You raised some really tough questions about faith and whether salvation is dependent upon being good. In particular, you said:
[quote] A pastor in your church is found to have commited adultry. How will the church handle that? If he decides to leave the church with this woman and never return, is his spot in heaven reserved? What if he goes to another church and preaches there? [\quote]
I'll try and answer your question with reference to your example. First of all, I'd like to briefly run through what I think is involved in becoming a Christian. I know that a lot of this will be familiar to you, but please humour me as it is central to the point I'd like to make.
So, the question was - do you have to continue being good after becoming a Christian in order to be saved, or is salvation by faith alone?
The whole process of conversion begins at the point when you want to be in a relationship with God but realise that you fall so far short of his standards that you are totally unworthy to approach him. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, that was 'sent to convict the world with regard to sin.'
You realise that no matter how many good works you do, your sinful nature will always be an obstacle. You will never be the perfect human that God intends you to be.
The JW's, as you know, tell people that if they just do their best to follow their checklist of 'good works', they have a chance of being saved. Hence the widespread depression amongst JW's. You can NEVER do enough, there is always more that you could have done. And how do you know how much is enough anyway?
So God says - don't worry, I've already paid the price. Your salvation has been bought for you. Justice has been done. If you believe that Christ died for your sins, I will regard you as perfect. You can come back into a relationship with me and freely approach me whenever you want to, as a child can approach their father.
Not only that, but he gives us the Holy Spirit, which enables us to discern what his will is. Because we love him and have this newfound power to do it - he is in us and we are in him - our lives will alter, we will overflow with thankfulness and want to tell others about what he has done for us (sorry, folks ).
As you know, JW's get information about God's will from their governing body. Christians, however, 'don't need to be taught by men', they have a direct line to God. They have a new nature, in the spirit, which produces 'the fruits of the spirit' - good works.
So conversion involves repenting of our past lives, which were focused upon ourselves and, instead, putting God at the centre of our lives. We put him in his rightful place as king. We are no longer king of our own lives.
We are exhorted to continue walking in step with the Spirit, in tune with God, rather than in step with our own spirit, the flesh, which is sinful. We will still fail, but God has assured us that all of our past, present and future sins are paid for.
God will protect us, he will not tempt us beyond what we can bear. BUT - we also have free will. We still have the power to change our minds and oust God from his central position in our lives. We can ignore the Holy Spirit and put ourselves back as king of our lives.
If we do this, we will do the things that we want to do - which may still be good works. But we can also use our autonomy to do bad. We can pursue any desire that arises.
So, I would say that the pastor who commits adultery is showing that he no longer has God at the centre of his life. He has changed his mind. He is no longer seeking salvation through faith in Christ, he is ignoring the Holy Spirit. He has put himself back as king of his life.
I believe that this is the point that James made - faith without works is dead. A living faith will produce good works, a dead faith will not. My point isn't that people without faith will do bad works, but that a Christian's works are a sign of what's going on inside them. They are a manifestation of the health of their relationship with God.
So, I would go as far as to say that it isn't the sin that condemns us. God has assured us that all sins are paid for and will be forgiven. But consistent and repentent sin are a sign that we've stopped walking in step with the Spirit, stopped putting our faith in Christ and no longer want to be in a relationship with God. Paul said that this was like nailing Christ to the cross all over again.
In summary, my point is that we all have the power to do good or bad, regardless of our religious views. But, from a Christian perspective, works are an outward sign of what's going on inside us. They can't save us, but act as a litmus test of our faith. Hence, 'fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of God' - not because of their sin, but because it shows that they don't have a living faith.
And if you've kept going this far without falling asleep, congratulations .
Love
Sunbeam
xxxx
