Quote:
Originally Posted by awareness
Me, me, me! Can I not pick up your post too?
I think the question of salvation and the book of James is important, including his widows and orphans.
Back in the days of the conflict between James and Paul there were three, maybe more, but main ways, to salvation : Keeping the law=James, Gnosis=The Gnostics, and grace thru faith=Paul.
And I don't know, but brother EvanG, methinks, is on the grace side, while bro ZNP seems to be tilting to the law side. I prolly fit somewhat to the gnosis side, but can't be sure, since even that requires vouchsafe from God.
Since, like EvanG, I'm already missing your post bro ZNP, let me ask Evan's question this way :
Can I be a scoundrel, lying, thieving, cheating, manwhore, and be saved, as long as I take care of widows and orphans?
But bro ZNP, I think is right. I don't think he ever claimed widows and orphans is the way to salvation. And of course I don't know, but I don't think James made that claim either.
I think James was writing to law keepers. And I think he was pointing out that keeping just the law isn't pure religion, that keeping the law AND taking care of helpless outsiders, is pure religion ; that is James' way of bringing the Christian message into The Law.
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I am definitely not tilting towards the law side as a theory on salvation. I have not said this and those of you who got this it was simply because you think "religion" = "Christians and Jews" = "Disciples of Christ" = "Holding to the teachings of Jesus" etc.
These are all different items, hence the different terms so that we could tell the difference.
Not only do I not see "keeping the law" as a path to salvation, neither did James. But that is not the focus of his book. The idea that there are 27 books in the NT and everyone is dedicated to showing us how to get saved, is not logical.
James is concerned with helping those who have lost their way (i.e. the twelve tribes in the dispersion, clearly referring to those who did not make the transition to the NT) with finding their way in a world full of charlatans. Anyone can claim to have the "pure word" or the "high peaks ministry" or to be the "Minister of the Age" or in Paul's words a "Super apostle". But, how do we know?
Charlatans are not concerned with widows and orphans, they are concerned with lining their own pockets. They are not concerned with keeping themselves from being stained by the world, on the contrary WL, PL and TL are the proof of that.
James was not writing to "perfect Judaism", that can easily be proved. He was writing to people who had been defrauded by the Judaizers (James was one) just like many on this forum are writing to those defrauded by LSM (which according to Evangelical has the Mostest Christians with Witness Lee kicking Mother Teresa's butt.