Home
Works
you say? We don’t need no stinking works!
No Attire Required
Perhaps
I think one of the most senseless arguments is one that says
we do not need to do anything to inherit the Kingdom of God.
We go to school to earn degrees, we work hard to earn money and we beat back the competition to earn a step up the corporate ladder, yet the high prize of eternal life in God’s Kingdom barely requires even a flick of the wrist. This being, it follows, that it would not matter if I sat in my house all day from the time I was born until the day I died and did absolutely nothing except eat and sleep, I can guarantee I will be in the Kingdom.
Well some might argue that I must accept Jesus, uttering those magic words, perhaps waving a wand or twitching my nose like bewitched and then everything will be ok. Wow – the wonders of magical words, potions and crystal balls. Now during those 80 years of being housebound, I might venture out for a cup of coffee one day, perhaps stepping over a beggar like the rich man did to Lazarus, and all will still be fine. As I buy my coffee I might get upset at the slow service and decide to curse the clerk and perhaps, still boiling, I might shove my way out of the coffee shop. Now some might argue that if you gave your heart to Christ (here Lord, here’s my muscular four chambered organ spewing blood for you) that I would not want to do evil even though I still did it and I would want to do good even though I did not.
I also think that there are still others even further on the fringe that may believe you cannot do evil, as if you are on some preprogrammed autopilot. Now some might be concerned about my rich man / Lazarus comments, because according to scripture, the alleged rich man sounded in a world of hurt. That autopilot thing might solve some of that bu,t of course, there creeps into the picture the fact that they would have helped Lazarus instead of stepping by, and that starts to smell of works. The ones who are not on autopilot may have a little bit of a problem whether or not to help, because if not helping puts you in trouble and helping earns some sort of merit, well it’s just a real mess. I just wish someone would explain it to me as it’s making my head hurt. Nonetheless it is interesting to watch people invent their solutions on the fly without cracking the Bible even a nudge. Each individual explanation is full of personal art and patterns that somehow all lead to God. Then of course there is another smaller group who feel you might have to do something. But again, each person has their own personal kaleidoscope and cornucopia from which to choose.
Now for myself, being such a simpleton, it is quite refreshing to open the Bible and hear God say to do such and such and live or to not do and die. The Bible also talks about earning rights to salvation by doing certain things. I know that sticks in the craw of many and severely flies in the face of many personal beliefs, but there it is in that old book. But by trying to obey every word of God I’ll never have to explain why I choose to deliberately disobey some laws, or why the want to obey or autopilot philosophy (which is not in the Bible) didn’t always kick in.
As I write this I do wonder — how do the NO WORKS groups explain a scripture like Revelation 22:14 which reads, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” or perhaps the one in Revelation 20:12 which says, “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.” What are the writings in those books we will be judged by, many wonder? They wonder as their coffee cup leaves its ring on THE BOOK that is made up of 66 little books.
On the other hand, the AUTOPILOT, NO WORKS or WANT TO DO GOOD group who think failure is impossible, must certainly struggle with why a condemning scripture dare exist which proclaims that a Christian can lose salvation. Why proclaim the impossible? Why say, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him” or “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.” Why? Because any sane mind knows that a drowning man pulled into the boat can fall overboard again and eventually be eaten by sharks.
Alas though, in my ignorance, I feel it is necessary for someone who has the potential to become a priest, as the Bible speaks of in Revelation 5:10, to both know and do His commandments, Sabbaths and Holy Days. I know, I know, in my ignorance I’m trying to earn favor with God, but then there’s just something about the scripture that says, “You have commanded us To keep Your precepts diligently” (Ps 119:4) that neither the AUTOPILOT, NO WORKS, NO RULES or WANT TO DO GOOD groups are able to fully address in their kaleidoscope of ever changing knowledge.