James 2

Faith without works is dead.

Yes, I am doing my homework on my blog. Oh the joys of technology. Every week for my New Testament class I do some sort of project on my choice of 3 topics. As I looked over this week's topics this one jumped out and begged to be a blog post. Here is the prompt:

Your friend, who is investigating the Church, has expressed a question in the letter below.

Dear Christy,

Some of my friends are saying that Mormons are not Christian because you believe that you need to do righteous works along with having faith to be accepted by God. My other friends claim that with the grace of Christ, works are not necessary. They say that if I join the Mormons I would be denying Christ's grace. How should I respond to them?

Your friend

My response would go something like this:

Dear Friend,

Christ's grace brings us up from where we are to His level. After we try as hard as we can to be as righteous as we can, He makes up the rest. I just looked up at my wall and realized I had a picture of Christ up there that I had forgotten about. It's far enough from my bed that I don't normally see it. It's a popular picture, we use it a lot in the Church, but as I look at it now I realize there is no way I am not a Christian. I know Christ is my savior. My heart feels close to bursting now with the love I feel for Him. We believe that we need to prove ourselves before the Lord to be accepted into heaven. We need to work our hardest. Christ lived the perfect life. It was full of examples of kindness and righteousness. Though I could cite scriptures that say how important actions are and even Christ saying keep the commandments and do good, but I'm not going to. Why? Because I believe there is something more important in there. Faith in Christ motivates me to be more like Him. I look up to His example and want that more for me. As my faith grows so does my desire. That I believe is the important part. Faith is a motivator. True faith encourages us to show it through our good works. Faith doesn't sit idly by waiting dormant. It wants to jump out and be shouted from the rooftops. That faith is shown in our actions.

Love,

Christy