Here's where I believe the error to be:
In our desire to see people do the good works of God we emphasize works unto salvation. Which is good and totally understandable, but unfortunately if handled incompletely it can also diminish the reality of the present power of God to transform hearts. Emphasizing works is good when it is understood as clearly declaring the work of God already done in us. Where it gets messy is when we think it has something to do with making us loving, righteous, or holy before God.
And here's why:
It His work in us that shows the world His gospel.
It His love for us that allows us to love one another.
It His forgiveness for us that empowers us to forgive others.
It is His grace in us that reveals Christ.
It is His Spirit that declares what we've been given in Christ.
It is by His stripes were are healed.
It is by His becoming poor that we have been made rich.
It is by His being broken that we have been made whole.
It is by His death that we have received life and life abundantly.
It is by His goodness. And His kindness. That we joyfully repent to His ways.
He is the cause. He is the driving force and power. He is the one who changes us, transforms us, leads us, guides us, teaches us, dwells with us, unifies us, and as we are "renewed in our minds, repent, and put off the old to put on the new" we declare the goodness of God with our lives.
And all of creation is eagerly awaiting to see Him in us.
I don't diminish holiness. No, I believe the true gospel is what empowers it.
C.
There's another error too though. Being too quick to pass judgement or slap a label on someone. (And a lot of the time it's because someone doesn't like the way something is
worded.) That's not beige - it's yellow. No, it's actually a yellowy-beige. No, it's white, but just a yellowed white, etc., etc.
And here's another error. Once you have given someone their label, it dismisses them. From there on out, you don't really hear their explanation or further expounding. I'll give the example again of how I saw this very thing happen here. I saw it happen once to Bruce and I saw it also happen to fran.
With Bruce, it was said that he dismisses the entire gospel before Jesus died. (It appeared to me like that too), but instead of accusing him of treachery, I said, this is what that sounds like to me when you say such and such. Then he was able to expound and explain where his mind was at. But another poster just rip-roared over him in dismissal, slapping on the label as he went, and didn't hear or listen to his further explanation. And still accuses Bruce.
With Fran, she stated that works keep us saved. Once again, it appeared to me like she was saying something wrongjust as it appeared that way to me with Bruce , but I read her posts carefully, and in a place she said something like...works are necessary to keeping saved
in the sense that you
will have them if you are abiding in Jesus. But the label slapping continues and no one heard her. She clearly attributes the works to abiding and not to her own power, and yet she is said to not be abiding in Jesus.
Despite what she said.
The errors are flying both ways.