Righteous works do count. Righteous works don"t count.....
Well, it seems that you don’t get it or perhaps you are deliberately choosing “not to understand.”
Doing right things…. Doing “good works” ….. being a “good guy who helps others” counts for zip when it comes to gaining salvation with God. What you think of yourself…. Good, bad, in between….does not matter when it comes to receiving God’s gift of salvation. Before receiving Christ, one is not part of the Body of Christ and as far as salvation is concerned, you have no spiritual relationship with God…… if one dies, he will be subject to judgment for his deeds and not allowed into heaven. This one’s …. Sin…. Is a barrier to having fellowship with God.
BUT….. after one receives the Spirit…. Becomes born again….. THEN…. Let me repeat….THEN…. Good works matter a great deal…..good works…. Especially good work performed at the direction of the Holy Spirit….are most pleasing to God and matter a great deal…..to Him. This born again person has had his sins forgiven and covered “by the blood” sacrifice provided by Jesus at the cross. God has “breathed life” to this one and the Spirit of God resides within him. He has been made a part of the Body of Christ.
When the Father looks upon this person, in effect, He sees him as a member of the Body…. The Father does not count sin against him as Jesus….the perfect sacrifice for sin…. Has paid the sin price…. Covered over the man’s sin by His blood.
NOTE…….Christians on earth are still living in a corrupt and sinful body and there is still a “sin battle” going on within. Read Romans 7 for more info……So, here you have a forgiven man…. Having the indwelling of the Spirit…. But still in a worldly body of flesh. Does this man sin? Yes….. when the Father looks at him, He sees the spiritual man “in Jesus” and this man is indeed holy and blameless in the Father’s eyes. Yes, when a Christian sins, there are indeed consequences for that sin….. (I know I have suffered various consequences for my sin, but can go to God for forgiveness and go on, looking forward to the day of my death and “release”)
NOTE….. when this born again man dies, he leaves the sinful body behind and receives a new “Christ like” body and joins Jesus in heaven.
So, DBT…….I suspect that this will seem like nonsense to you as you give no evidence of being born of God.
My advice and my prayer is that you turn to God ….. and in humility…. ask for enlightening. If you do, He will indeed answer. In fact, I would say that He is eager to not only hear from you, but eager to respond.
Basic logic. If we are told that something does not count, it cannot be logically said that it does count. It can be one or the other, but not both. If we are told that works do not count (salvation is purely though grace), saying that 'works do count' (a person is justified by works and not by faith alone) the latter clearly contradicts the former: 'works do not count.' One or the other may be true, but both cannot be true. That's how logic works.
No - that is not the work of an actual logic system. It may be how your logic works, and we easily can see why. You make stuff up ("what counts" for example) and pretend that your criterion is accepted by others here so that you can attempt to control the logic. But, your ploy will not work because those here discussing grace and works are well-versed, they are engaging honest discourse, and they see your little game. They have clearly and strongly discussed and explained the differences - but you insist on throwing apples and oranges into the same bag because your ploy depends on ignoring the actuality and running your little closed system. OK - it works for you, but it seems silly and not worth addressing any further.
