Re: [TruthTalk] jenna's web page

[Knpraise]

An attempt to change the subject.   Does baptism "save?"   Do works "save?"  I gots the answer.   Or do I? 

brother John



The plan of salvation is Christ and Christ alone.�

I believe we make a mistake when we order up five
steps, the "plan of salvation," and insist that
salvation is as much the result of what we do as what
Christ has done.��

Paul tells us that we are saved by faith apart from
obedience to any law (Ro 3:28). Clearly, the event of
personal salvation begins with this conviction we call
"faith."� And at that point, we enter into a saving
relationship with God. It does not end there� -- but
one is clearly saved when one is convinced of the
power of God to save {in the gospel event] and our need
for His help.�

In Old Covenant times, David viewed sacrifice as
something that forgave sin, after all, that was the
stated purpose for the sacrifice of bulls and goats.
In the 51st psalm, he came to the realization that
this action, ordered by God Himself for the expressed
purpose of forgiveness of sin, was not as important as
that of a broken and contrite of heart.��

We begin our walk with God with that shared reality.
Everything else that we DO as an _expression of this
deeply felt conviction, is the work of one who is in
the process of salvation.�� James is the one who ties
"works" to justification.�� It is James who declares
that "faith alone" will not save� -- that it must be
accompanied by works.�� And how do we use this
biblical truth?�� By talking about repentance,
confession, baptism, and continued obedience� when, in
point of fact, James speaks of NONE of these things,
Rather, James clearly has in mind the works of a
benevolent heart.�� But I can "fake" my salvation with
benevolence just as I can with a correct baptism, or
"repentance," or "confession."�� I know a rather large
number of disciples who practice the Law with a
diligent sense of holy aspiration that almost defies
comprehension yet they are empty as empty can be.�

Our walk with God CANNOT be faked IF our "faith" in
God comes from brokenness and contrition.�� Can't be
done.� Since being driven out of the Church of christ,
I have worshiped with a number of Christian
fellowships. Everyone  I know in these fellowships who
claims to be a disciple� acknowledges Christ as Lord;
all have turned around to accept Him; all have been
baptized.��� Paul makes it clear in Roman 14:23, that
faith responses do not need to be "correct."� The
vegetarian in that passage was wrong and he was wrong
in a point of doctrine.�� Clear teaching abounds in
scripture regarding the eating of meats but this
brother does not agree.�� Paul even labels him the
"weak" brother� (because he is wrong on this doctrine)
while extolling his faith as a saving experience in
the closing verses of that chapter.

Baptism "saves"� (I Pet 3:21) only because it is an
extention of our desire to have a clean conscience
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.�� I would
argue that any action on my part that extends from
this purpose is an act that "saves."��

I must add that this is not the full picture of salvation by
the hand of God.  But it is an sepect of the saving picture
with which we are most familar. 



John Smithson