H. Richard said:
Religion is defined as what people do to please the god of their imagination so that that god will except them.
True Christianity is not about what man does for salvation. It is all about what Jesus (God) did for mankind. We please Jesus when we give Him all the credit and praise for His shed blood on the cross that set us free from the condemnation of our sins. Christianity today has become a religion because men/women love to be praised for their works in religion.
Luke 18:19 NIV "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "
No one is good--except God alone.
John 6:28-29 NIV Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?" 29 Jesus answered, "
The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
Rom 4:2-6 NIV If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about--but not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say? "
Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." 4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However,
to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
Rom 9:30-33 NIV What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32
Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." 33 As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
Rom 11:5-7 NIV So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6
And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. 7 What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
1 Cor 15:10 NIV But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No,
I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
2 Cor 1:9 NIV Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.
But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
2 Cor 3:5 NIV Not that we are competent in ourselves
to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.
2 Cor 5:15 NIV And he died for all,
that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
Gal 1:6-7 NIV I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting
the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
Gal 3:1-5 NIV You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish?
After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4 Have you suffered so much for nothing--if it really was for nothing? 5 Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?
Gal 4:9 NIV But now that you know God--or rather are known by God--
how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
Phil 2:12-13 NIV Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13
for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
2 Tim 1:9 NIV He has saved us and called us to a holy life--
not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
Tit 3:5 NIV he saved us,
not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
- ATP :)
