One of the most frustrating aspects of my own personal witness for Christ is the heresies taught by so many different cults and sects.  Things like "pray to Mary because she can get things from God that Jesus cannot," "partake of the sacraments and you will receive a portion of God's grace," or "water baptism leads to (eventual) salvation."  Frustrating does not even begin to describe my mental state when I hear these or any number of other heresies taught as official dogma.

All we can really do is rely on God and His Truth, and defend the faith with His Truth above all else.

Rank Stranger

Thank you very much for that important point of spiritual and scriptural wisdom.

Rank Stranger

Your essay is both well thought out and beautifully written.  I have but one qustion.  As Scripture tells us, nothing that we might do can possibly merit our salvation with God.  Our works are dead without Christ.

But what about our faith?  John 3:15-18 clearly tells us that we must believe in Christ in order not to perish.  Belief in these and many other passages clearly equates to faith.  But why is our belief, our faith in Christ as the Son of the living God, not a work of us?

I have often heard that our belief is the result of God calling us.  It is the "work" of the Holy Spirit, calling us to believe in Jesus as our Savior.  But, if that is the case, then why doesn't everyone believe?  Surely the Holy Spirit does not pick and choose who He draws to Christ.  And there can be no doubt that God, through His omniscience, surely knows who among men will be drawn to Him with true and abiding faith.  But does He cause us to believe in Him in any way?  Does He cause some of us to believe in Him, but not others?

We are saved through Grace by our faith.  But is our faith our own work, or not?

Rank Stranger