No matter how anyone slices and dices it, neither way would have "earned" entrance into the kingdom....
a. Going about to establish their own righteousness by their traditions <----NOPE
b. Going about to establish righteousness by law keeping<---NOPE
Abraham believed GOD and it was put to his account for righteousness and PAUL concluded that Abraham was justified by faith without works.......
Only one thing under the sun that opens the door into the Kingdom....faith into the one, true living way....JESUS and for those in the O.T. faith into the coming messiah........the 1st promise being found in Genesis 3:15
Your preaching that I have nothing to do with my Christian Walk is popular to be sure. I mean, what a God right. Just say His name and presto, no more responsibility for our actions. Your Jesus does it all. "come as you are". And if you try and study as instructed, and obey as instructed, you are actually disqualifying yourself from His Kingdom. I can see why so many people would reject God's Salvation plan and be tricked into following yours. But I'm going to stick with the Word of God, unpopular as this is with Mainstream Christianity.
Romans 2:
7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality,
eternal life:
8 But unto them that are contentious, and
do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
9 Tribulation and anguish,
upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the
Jew first, and
also of the Gentile;
10 But glory, honour, and peace,
to every man that worketh good, to the
Jew first, and
also to the Gentile:
11 For there is no respect of persons with God.
1 Cor. 15:
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye stedfast, unmoveable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that
your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
1 John 2:
3 And hereby we do know that we know him,
if we keep his commandments.
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk,
even as he walked.
Matt. 10:
11 And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, enquire
who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence.
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me
is not worthy of me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and
followeth after me,
is not worthy of me.
1 Thess. 2
12 That
ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.
1 Tim. 5:
22 Lay hands suddenly on no man,
neither be partaker of other men's sins:
keep thyself pure.
I know your preaching Decon. It is widespread to be sure and follow by billions in one form or another. But your religion forces me to choose between the words and teaching of men and their worldly accepted religion with their Great High Days and universally known image of the Christian God, and the Word's of the God of Abraham who became a man to show me the narrow Path to eternal life. Although it places me in the minority, I have chosen God's word over your Mainstream Religious doctrines and traditions.
No offence!
As for Abraham, he didn't have the Levitical "Law of Works", Levi wasn't even born yet. How could he be justified by the Levitical Laws of justification? But he did have God's Laws.
Gen. 26:
4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
Had Abraham done as the Pharisees and rejected God's Instructions and created his own, would he be included in the Hebrews Faith Chapter? In fact, had any of those in Heb. 11, created their own Laws and rejected God's as did the Pharisees, they wouldn't be included in the Faith Chapter.
Abraham believed in God enough to follow His instructions. That is why God said He blessed him. That is the Faith of Abraham.
I am not going to throw all this truth away so I can be part of a huge religious social club.
God's Word means something Decon. Not just the few scriptures you use to defend your religious traditions, but ALL of His Words.
