Bridge of Reason

  In my latest Watch Tower Wednesday on the Reachout Facebook page I asked, ‘what is Salvation?’ On their website Jehovah’s Witnesses say salvation seems conflicted between ‘God’s gift’ of salvation and the Bible injunction to Christians to live a saved life. They write: ‘To gain salvation you must exercise faith in Jesus and demonstrate that faith by obeying his commands – Acts 4:10,12; Romans 10:9; Hebrews 5:9. You can read the Watch Tower article here . This is a struggle many have when they try and square the idea of a gift with the idea of works? How would you discuss this issue with a Jehovah's Witness? How would you reconcile Eph.2:8,9, ' By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God,' with James 2:24-26, 'Faith without works is dead?' What hope and assurance can you bring a Jehovah's Witness? I am grateful to Dawn Llisone for providing as good and clear an answer as you will find to help resolve ...

  Over the past month we have looked, in Faith, Works and Foot Washing , at what the Bible actually means when it says faith saves. In Faith, Works and Philosophers , we have looked at the folly of the world’s wisdom as we see it exemplified in Mormonism, comparing it with ‘the foolishness of the cross.’ In Faith, Works and Followers , we considered the essential part works do have to play in the life of every true follower of Christ, confounding Jehovah’s Witnesses, who think we don’t care for witnessing. We went on, in Faith, Works and Fallacy , to deal with the role of the law in bringing us to an understanding of sin and our need of a Saviour. Now we come to see how, for some, faith doesn’t seem to work, while for others it changes everything. Among the cults i t is believed that Christians make too much of faith and not enough of works. They seem to think we are selective Bible readers (oh, the irony) wilfully blind to the countless texts that call us to lives of sacrific...