You forgot to mention works of the Holy Spirit (although you implied it
).
Yes, When I speak of God, Jesus, the Father, The Holy Spirit they are all made up into One God. Alot of times I speak of God as Jesus, Sometimes as the Holy Spirit. sometimes as the Father.
But what my point is while I agree man can never accomplish the righteousness of God. We are obligated to welcome the works that have been planted into us by God.
If you believe and obey him you are obligated to do so. But he did give us everything. And part of that everythng is indeed free will.
James talks alot about this in his gospel. He tells us to be doers not hearers. He said a man who hears the word of God but does not DO the word of God is like a Man who looks at himself in the mirror. He sees himself and then forgets what he looks like.
The gospel of James explains if you are not a Doer of the word you are deluding yoursleves.
He goes on to talk about gossip etc. He says people who know their faith but do not practice it, his religion is in vain.
I think that proves that while God made ALL possible for us, he did not DO it all for us, because if he did would that not contradict the word of God.
How could our religion be in vain if God did everything for us.
God indeed put us here for one reason, to DO his work. Not be robots, he did not program us to not have a mind, a heart and a soul. He gave us everything but he did not DO everything for us. He only made it POSSIBLE for us to DO what we are called to do.
We were all created equal. We all received the same Grace from him. But we either grew in that Grace and in doing so by accepting that Grace we received more. Or we rejected that Grace and let it die and like a plant that is never fed or watered it died.
It is not fair to take anything away from Christ, but it is also not fair to say Christ did everything FOR us. Because he did not. He asks us to do our part also. If Christ DID everything for us, we would be perfect, without sin. He would be in complete control over us at all times. Not that he Can’t. But he just won’t.
He loves us enough to let us make our own choices. Like a Child, when that Child enters a certain age the parent like GOD must let go, must let the Child choose what he wants, who he wants to be. And while this never changes the Love a Parent has for the Child, it shows you that the Parent who is a good parten will NOT control the Child. God is the same way. He loves us. gives us everything we NEED, not Want. But we must ask, we must TRUST, we must OBEY. Those are all WORKS.
We must Repent, God does not repent our sins for us, God does not obey for us, God does not CHOOSE for us. He puts what is right in our heart, but we have to do our part.
While I agree again everything GOOD comes from God. He still makes us WORK for it. Just because he made it possible, does not mean we all take what is given and use it. Just because he died on the Cross for our sins, does not mean we will go to heaven,.
While he indeed paid for every sin, he does not repent that sin we commit. He died for it, and by his death he took away Original sin as I stated, we could not REPENT Original sin. But we MUST repent Actual sin.
That is the big problem between Catholic’s and other faiths. They say Jesus died on the cross and freed us from all sin. He did not. He freed us from Original sin, And by his death he made it possible for us to REPENT Actual sin and be forgiven for that so we can enter heaven.
So in order to say Christ did it all for us, they would have to show me HOW we can enter heaven without REPENTING ACTUAL SIN. If they can show me we do not have to do the WORK or repenting, they win and they are correct. If they cannot they are wrong and the Church is right.
Because if all it took was Christ dying on the Cross for us to enter heaven EVERYONE gets in.
always saved.