Is believing in Jesus the only requirement for salvation?

by FingersCrossed 32 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  greendawn

  For Tootired2care and Garyneal: in the early Christian Church at the time the letters of James and Paul were written there were two churches in fact, one was the Judaic which continued with the traditions of Judaism and differed from other Jews only in that it had accepted Jesus as the Messiah (of the Jews) and Pauline or gentile Christianity that had rejected the Mosaic law and moved beyond it.

  So you must have in mind that James wrote as a Judaic christian and follower of the Mosaic Law while Paul had moved beyond the Mosaic Law. Though the two churches came to an agreement to respect each other's approach as valid they never saw eye to eye and eventually the Judaic church disappeared.

  The JWs being a strongly judaising religion would inevitably focus on the legalistic letter of James and ignore or minimise the ideas presented by Paul who had a far more flexible approach but never went as far as saying that just believing is enough and corresponding works were totally redundant as if one could do all sorts of bad things and then say: I believe in Jesus and so I will nonetheless be saved.
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  PSacramento

  I think that it is important to make clear that in the letter of James, where James speaks of good works, the good works he mentions are taking care of orphans and widows, the sick and needy and to curtail gossip and speaking badly of people.

  Strange how the WT doens't focus on THAT part of James' letter.

  Strange that James doesn't even mention *gasp* door-to-door preaching as a "good work".
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  InterestedOne

  IO wrote: Your words "penalty of sin" are unclear to me. The word "salvation" implies harm is coming from which a person needs to be saved, or else he/she will be a victim of such harm. What harm does your so-called "penalty of sin" include?
  
  Vanderhoven7 wrote: The wages of sin is death.

  Living things die. How do you know that death is a penalty of sin?
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  Vanderhoven7

  <<How do you know that death is a penalty of sin?>>

  I don't believe I said anything about what I know from an epistemological perspective. What I have stated and am willing to support from a soteriological perspective, is that death, as the penalty for sin, is what the Bible clearly teaches.
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  InterestedOne

  Vanderhoven7, when I asked what you meant by "penalty of sin," and you provided the statement "the wages of sin is death," I assumed you considered the statement to be true. Do you consider the statement to be true or not? If you do consider that statement to be true, how do you know it is true?
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  robB

  I am saved from penaty i deserve for my sins by grace through faith and not by works.

  Ephesians 2.

  As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh [ a ] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

  Ask yourself, is there a more powerful statement about salvation that would refute what Paul's saying here? Paul explicitly denies works. If you think James says we earn our salvation by works, then what does that do to God's reputation for his incomparable riches of graces? James never says that a person having faith but not having works faces wrath.
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  InterestedOne

  robB wrote:

  James never says that a person having faith but not having works faces wrath.

  James 2:24 - "You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone."

  Jesus stated a requirement in addition to faith in Matthew 6:15 - "if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions."

  James also noted this extra requirement - James 2:13 - "judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy."
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  InterestedOne

  Here is another requirement Jesus provides if you wish to avoid eternal punishment - Matthew 25:44-46 - "they themselves will also answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, ..."
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  Vanderhoven7

  Interested: You wrote: "when I asked what you meant by "penalty of sin," and you provided the statement "the wages of sin is death," I assumed you considered the statement to be true. Do you consider the statement to be true or not? If you do consider that statement to be true, how do you know it is true?

  Since I said nothing about what I know or about what I know to be true, your epistemological question is a non sequitur. Do you know to be true everything you consider to be true?
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  FingersCrossed

  yes, if you take JC words only and not those forced upon us by the apostles and others

  Couldn't agree more!!