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That is why we need antihistamines for works because so many appear to be allergic to them.
I know of no Christian who is in any sense whatsoever "allergic" to good works. I just know Christians who believe in Christ rather than self - and thus look to Christ's works for justification (narrow) rather than those of self. NO ONE is remotely claiming works are unimportant - Protestants simply believe we are not to confuse our words with Christs. It's really not rocket science, my Catholic brother, it's just those who INSIST on making self as big as possible and Christ as little as possible will twist, confuse, blend, mix up, gum up, spin things into such a confusing (and often Hindu sounding) MESS.
In JUSTIFICATION (narrow) it's CHRIST's works that matter since Jesus is the Savior. Not self. Those who want to strip Jesus of that role (demoting him to just a possibility-maker or yet another helper) will do all they can to evade this or creatively spin it.
In SANCTIFICATION (narrow) - the lives of CHRISTIANS - it's OUR works that matter - empowered by God, inspired by love - as we progress in Christ-like-ness (but never achieving it).
Yes, works matter...... CHRIST'S in justification, OURS in sanctification. Protestants don't confuse the two....
The problem is, those who reject Christ as THE (one and only) Savior (the sufficient one) will need to confuse/mix/blend Law and Gospel, Christ and self, Justification and Sanctification all to strip Christ of His role as Savior.... to lift up self rather than the Cross.
It's simple... and obvious..... unless one's ego insists on twisting it horribly so as to make Christ as small and irrelevant as possible, self as big and glorious as possible - trying to spin Christianity so that it's like the other world religions (just with a largely irrelevant Christ put in there, for no particular reason).
Pax CHRISTI
- Josiah
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