Human Reason and Christian Denominations

[vulcanlogician]

Paul Says Salvation Does Not Depend Upon Exertion, But Jesus Says It Does
(From )
 On unconditional election:

Paul says:

[16] So it depends not upon man's will or exertion, but upon God's mercy.

Jesus says:


[21] Not every one who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 
[22] On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' [23] And then will I declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.

Wowsers, talk about getting things completely backwards. The quote from Jesus also says that people aren't saved based on their exertions - do you even read this stuff? It says people who do mighty works in the name of Jesus aren't necessarily saved.

Here's what Jesus says the work is:

John 6
28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

Belief and work are intertwined.

See the bolded stuff. Yes, I can read. Seems like just doing stuff "in Jesus' name" isn't important as actually doing the will of the father. I take that to mean you should humbly obey what is laid out in the sermon in which this verse is found--not make a big show of your deeds while ignoring what Jesus has commanded. Seeing the state of modern Christianity it's no wonder people simply fail to read verse 21 and use verse 22 to refute the content of verse 21. Wowsers indeed!

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I'd like to give a special thanks to Alpha Male for taking me back to the day when I used to get into arguments on the Star Trek forums over canonicity. It's been quite some time since I've gotten into a debate over fictional material as if it were real world stuff. Nostalgia overload!