Faith, Works and Grace

Today I read Romans 4 which is Paul talking even more about how we are saved by grace, but this time he adds to things, he talks about faith quite extensively and mentions what he calls the law of works a lot. He also does all of this in reference to Abraham. I've always found it interesting and fascinating how different cultures look at their ancestors. For example, we know from the Bible that the Jews revere their ancestors in a way that Americans never have. They even go as far as to call themselves, at least in Jesus' time, Abraham's children. In Chinese culture, they also revere their ancestors and several of the rituals if you will in Buddhism involve providing for your ancestors in the afterlife to ensure they have money, food and other necessities.

I have wondered from time to time why Americans don't have this same desire or reverence for their ancestors. We're getting there, little by little with the spirit of Elijah helping and turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and vice versa. I don't watch much TV, almost none in fact, but I still will frequently see commercials for websites that talk about ancestry and finding out who they were. This is clearly the spirit of Elijah stirring the hearts of the children to the fathers. But we are still no where near where other cultures are and it makes me wonder, is it even important? I will say that it is extremely important in the sense that we have to do the ordinance work for them all who have not had the chance to do it themselves, but other than that, no, where you come from does not determine who you are now.

We talked a lot yesterday about how we are saved by grace and that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. But Paul talks a lot about faith in this chapter and brings up the law of works also. We did not bring it up yesterday, mostly because I consider it to be self evident, but I understand that not everyone will, but in order for you to take advantage of the grace of Jesus Christ, you have to have faith. This is because you have to believe in Jesus Christ and that His grace is sufficient for you before you can take advantage of it. If you did not believe that Jesus could save you, why would you try and take advantage of His Atonement?

I once had a girlfriend in college. A wonderful girl who I loved very much. She was not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As we dated and started talking about the future she told me that her best friend was a Latter-day Saint and so she understood a lot of the religion. As we started talking about marriage and where we were headed and if that was the direction we were going, she told me that she would be baptized and join the church because she knew it was important to me, if we decided on getting married. I was grateful for her willingness, but I knew it was not based in faith and would have only been done so that we were the same religion and could be married in the temple. I did not say it at the time, but I wondered if we did decided to get married, if she did decide to join the church, would a testimony come later? Well we decided that marriage was not the way to go for us unfortunately so it became a moot point but it was a very real concern for me.

It is possible to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. It happens all the time I believe. But I prefer to do the right thing, for the right reasons. Now, as to works, we know from the book of James that faith without works is dead, so it makes sense to me that if faith is a requirement to take advantage of grace, works would be too. We have to do something to demonstrate our faith, it is not enough to just say we believe. We have to prove it, even if only to ourselves. The way we do that is through the ordinances that God has asked us to perform, as we mentioned yesterday. I honestly don't know how others can miss it when it is plain as day right there in Romans 4. But as I said, I am not here to bash anyone or any religion. I am here to talk about my impressions as I read the scriptures. I am grateful for my understanding of the Gospel and how it helps me to understand the scriptures better. I hope you appreciate the gift of the Holy Ghost also and how it can help you better understand the scriptures. Until tomorrow.