Just a Thought.
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S
Do you know why I love your post so much? because at this moment in time my son and his girlfriend are freezing cold without heating, are sleeping on the floor and have no food. They have hit hard times and last month the girlfriend took an overdose and was in a coma for 5 hours, she also died twice. I rang my pastor and asked if he could visit her in hospital.. but he was busy doing other things he said - BUT HE WOULD PRAY. In desperation I rang other church leaders from 3 other churches who I know and begged if someone could be by her side - ALL WERE TOO BUSY - BUT THEY WOULD PRAY FOR HER. Because they are X drug uses no-one it seems want to know them. I'm so sad today as I have given them everything Iv got to try and help them both get on there feet but every church I turn to for a little back up doesn't want to know. So sad. Jesus was hands on on was prepared to get down and dirty but as you say faith and works should go together.
You are making a false assumption that James did not teach the gospel of eternal life. There is only ONE gospel and its fruit is eternal life. If James is saying that faith accompanied by works saves us from temporal problems then how would you explain the persecutions of Paul. What does feeding the hungry do to deliver me from my temporal problems. What did Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac do to save him from temporal problems?
That is a perfect example. I cannot sit in judgment of these 'pastors' because I do not know their situations or the circumstances that may have kept them from helping. However, I cannot imagine that there would have been anything that would have prevented them from providing food, cloths, furniture, blankets, and whatever was necessary to their needs. Perhaps not at that exact moment but at least to respond when it would have been possible for them to do so. It is easy to say, "I'll prey for the" - "be warmed and filled." I cannot imagine that God well pleased with this kind of response to desperate needs. In the words of James, "show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works." The demonstration of faith apart from works is an impossibility. Faith, in scripture, is always represented by pragmatic examples.
Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you for sharing this.
G
James knew the Gospel. He just wasn't teaching it in this epistle. Not everyone spells it out like Jude:
3Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
If Paul didn't have doctrine in his soul...........his persecutions would have had no solutions.
You feeding the poor, solves the temporal problem of an individual being hungry........but an unbeliever can feed the poor. Is he now saved because he fed the poor? is a believer now unsaved because he didn't?
Abraham did not sacrifice Isaac. But Abraham going up to do it solves many temporal problems.........being occupied with Christ is one of the problem solving devices for believers.
3Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.
If Paul didn't have doctrine in his soul...........his persecutions would have had no solutions.
You feeding the poor, solves the temporal problem of an individual being hungry........but an unbeliever can feed the poor. Is he now saved because he fed the poor? is a believer now unsaved because he didn't?
Abraham did not sacrifice Isaac. But Abraham going up to do it solves many temporal problems.........being occupied with Christ is one of the problem solving devices for believers.
G
And, Just maybe, just maybe.........prayer was the right answer. Maybe God has them at rock bottom to wake them up? God would rather see us suffer and at rock bottom for 60 or 70 years to WAKE us up and get us to put our faith in Him rather than have us suffer in the LoF forever.
It takes discernment. Sometimes we should "work" and other times we need to step back and do nothing overt.
Prayer from a mature Christian is a divine work.
It takes discernment. Sometimes we should "work" and other times we need to step back and do nothing overt.
Prayer from a mature Christian is a divine work.
Well, I would certainly not dismiss the necessity of prayer but as to whether God had brought them to this point in their life or not is not for us to say or even to speculate about. What he has told us to do is responds to the needs of the destitute. This is our responsibility. This was the responsibility of the rich man who denied to needs of Lazarus in Luke 16.
O
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Starblue,
we are so very sorry to hear of this terrible situation, and we know how hard it must be on you,
since this is your son...
no matter how this situation came about or why, loving intercession, both of prayer and of physically
stepping-in to help would be a blessed thing for all...
we are very familiar with so called 'Christian churches' NOT ministering or taking a stand where help
is desperately needed; my husband and I have had to step-in in not a few situations where the many
local churches simply ignored them, as well and the knowing neighbors who simply don't care...
we actually have a myriad of corner churches in our neighborhood and have many homeless roaming
in great need....this is blatant 'anti-christian'!!!
your son's situation will be remembered in our prayers, and we also pray that the hearts of the ones
who have ignored your pleas will come to the reality of Christ-like-behavior....
may Yeshua bless and keep you and yours.....
Starblue,
we are so very sorry to hear of this terrible situation, and we know how hard it must be on you,
since this is your son...
no matter how this situation came about or why, loving intercession, both of prayer and of physically
stepping-in to help would be a blessed thing for all...
we are very familiar with so called 'Christian churches' NOT ministering or taking a stand where help
is desperately needed; my husband and I have had to step-in in not a few situations where the many
local churches simply ignored them, as well and the knowing neighbors who simply don't care...
we actually have a myriad of corner churches in our neighborhood and have many homeless roaming
in great need....this is blatant 'anti-christian'!!!
your son's situation will be remembered in our prayers, and we also pray that the hearts of the ones
who have ignored your pleas will come to the reality of Christ-like-behavior....
may Yeshua bless and keep you and yours.....
G
Exactly. He does not address the issue of how to be saved. Because he is not talking about loss of salvation or "your not really saved" ..........If He was, he would most definitely of had the Gospel in his epistle.
After we are saved, obedience is the solution to our temporal problems. It is why most believers do not have solutions to their problems. They need an elder or a pastor to try to solve their problems. And In this day and age most of the elders and pastors don't have the solutions either.........they are just as doctrine deficient as most.
After we are saved, obedience is the solution to our temporal problems. It is why most believers do not have solutions to their problems. They need an elder or a pastor to try to solve their problems. And In this day and age most of the elders and pastors don't have the solutions either.........they are just as doctrine deficient as most.
What James says under no uncertain terms it that FAITH without works is dead and cannot save. Faith is from the word πίστις which means 'to be persuaded.' The word is translated in the NT as both faith and belief and reflects two interlocking dynamics. The first is the mental acceptance of a set of facts. The second is the action that responds to that acceptance. Belief is the fundamental structure for salvation but belief is never presented in scripture as simply an intellectual exorcise. Biblical faith is more than just a simple acknowledgement of a set of revealed truths. Faith is always presented as a behavior structure that actively responds to the word of God. James makes the point that faith apart from obedience to the will of God is not faith. Faith is legitimized only when it is linked to action. We see this in a number of examples given by the Hebrew writer. In Hebrews 11 faith/belief is inseparably linked to active response that legitimizes what the mind has accepted as true. Without obedience to the will of God, there is no acknowledgement of faith. By faith those offers as examples of faith did what God commanded.
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When you say "faith was perfected"would you agree that this is saying that the body showed what was going on, on the inside, to be true and not just empty words?
If a persons actions do not match what they claim then that faith was not alive,but nevertheless salvation Is by grace alone through faith alone In CHRIST alone to the glory of GOD alone.
If a persons actions do not match what they claim then that faith was not alive,but nevertheless salvation Is by grace alone through faith alone In CHRIST alone to the glory of GOD alone.