A faith based on works

As some of you know I grew up in the Baptist church and served in the ministry for some time, even studying Theology for 3 years.

Since that time my life has moved on and I have come to question a lot of things that I previously believed.

Recently I got in touch with some old church friends and it got me thinking again about my "faith" - what I actually believe and where I now stand.

During the last few days I have been chatting with another "ex-christian" friend of mine about the things we miss about Christian life and our current theological outlooks. It is interesting just how diverse "ex-christians" are. My girlfriend holds onto tennents that dont make any sense to me and in our discussions it was clear that some to the ways I see the world and "the scripture" (in many forms not just the bible), are foreign to her.

It has been a mind blowing time of dialogue. I was chatting to my sister about it (whom works for a Christian mission!), and she was saying that one of the differences that the Christians have to other faiths is that they believe in salvation through faith not works. And this got me thinking; do i really interpret the bible in that way? Is that what I believe about Christianity or other faiths???

Afterall isnt faith without works dead?? And is the spirit of Buddism or Taoism, animism etc really about works. Isnt the path to enlightenment more about Love... and "works" are just an outpouring of that love - as is the case in Christianity.

So I started looking at the web for what others are saying that have travelled a similar journey.

What I am finding is that ultimately it is just a bunch of people with varying opinions. Nobody seems to agree. I can see why it is just easier to accept a laid out faith. Researching the in's and out's has provided quite a headache for me.

One thing that has been highlighted for me however is that Christians dont really understand the true tennents of other faiths. They look at the stucture and make assumptions of what lies beneath. The more I look into Buddism and Tantra the more I realise is that it isnt really about working your way to some paradise in the future. It is more about peacefulness in the now. About fully understanding, appreciating and practicing unconditional love - and that is a long journey, because we have shallow understandings of this concept.

Anyway I found this really interesting little snippet on a blog - about salvation through faith/works. Very thought provoking - I thought I would share it.

Matthew 7:23 is referring to a works based salvation. There is no way around it. With such comments as -> "but he that doeth the will of my Father" and "have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?"