Are faith, God and love without deeds, dead?

[Godscreated]

Are faith, God and love without deeds, dead?

Paul took the position that salvation could be gained on faith alone. James took the position that faith without works and deeds is dead. Even if one had faith, like demons and Satan must, without works they were still going to hell.

Paul and James are both correct in what they say, there is no contradiction between the two as some would suggest or claim. Paul says that to receive salvation there are no works involved, faith and faith alone. What Jame's says is one can not live the same as they did before they receive salvation, they will prove to others who they are by their works, in other words if one continues to live in a sinful life style without repentance they are giving up their salvation.

Most have landed with James who said that faith without deeds and works was dead. This may be due to Jesus who said that we would recognize his people by their works.

I would tend to agree with this because, without the works or deeds one is not demonstrating the faith they may claim to have, though, I do believe that faith itself is not works.

Again as I said Jame's is speaking of the life of a christian, not how they came to their salvation. There is a division between many denominations as to what Jame's is referring to, obtaining or maintaining one's salvation.

Love, it would seem to me, has the same characteristic as faith. Love without works and deeds is dead. Be it love for a spouse, our children, parents or friends or even God, if we did not do works and deeds, they could not know that we love them. At the very least, we would have to tell them we love them and that falls into works and deeds.

I do agree that there is no love without works but, faith comes about IMO in different ways or needs. A child has faith that Santa is real even to the point of belief. There is no work done to have this faith but, the child will demonstrate this faith through works such as writing Santa a letter and/or leave cookies and milk for him.
Love on the other hand most likely starts as an attraction to someone, and that attraction becomes love as we start to do for others. So love is in a way a work, faith and belief are in themselves not works but shown through works.

Many believers tell me that God is love or loves us all. They always point to deeds and works that fall in the range of un-provable miracles. Most of these miracles are in the ancient past. Creation and what not. Some take it to the present and I have been told often that God can do whatever he wants with us because he made us. I discard this out of hand because I believe that if that were true, God would not also create all those things that kill us and cause us to suffer. That is not a loving act.

God is love, it is what He is not who He is. God did not create those things in the beginning, a read of Genesis will show this to be the case, those things that harm us came after the fall. Whether these things came about through God creating them or through species adaptation I do not know. As far as a loving act, if you punish your child do you do it because you dislike them or love them.

Love, human to human, must have ongoing deeds and works to be alive. Without these, love is dead.

Love, God to human, must also have ongoing works and deeds. If God is alive, he must and would express his love with viable and recognizable actions.

If we cannot see these acts on God’s part --- and you agree that love must be expressed somehow with works and deeds, ----does that mean that God does not love or that he is dead?

In part I do agree, what I want to know, is the nonbeliever able to see the works of love from God when they do not recognize He is real, I do not see how, I see His works in my life, even when other Christians may not, so how could a nonbeliever see God's loving work.


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