"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."
"But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?"
I carry a small pocket bible with me during my work day so when the student being talked to by the Mormon girl asked if I had a bible I gave it to her...with a caveat. I brought up a passage from Ephesians 2 and asked if either of them could reconcile the two passages:
"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."Any useful thoughts before I post the rest of the conversation and more of my thoughts later?
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
that's awesome. when i last talked to my mormon cousins about religion, we talked a lot about the importance of the garden of gethsemane (where they believe most of the atonement happened) versus the cross, and why Jesus' literal "laying down of his life" was so important. but there's a ton of other stuff to talk about too, like there being an infinite number of gods, baptism for the dead, and so forth. if you have any questions about mormon doctrine, obviously my parents and i can help. i'm excited for the rest of the conversation. :)
ReplyDeleteI've had a chance to talk to a few. One in particular denies the Trinity, claiming that Jesus was the son of God, but not God Himself. Another I've talked to seemed to believe in the Trinity, but it does seem like a good number of Mormons reject the idea of the Trinity altogether.
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