Faith + good works = salvation

Changing of debate protocolWhen I quote Gryephon's posts, I'll use the Cosmic Sans MS font.When I quote Gryephon's statement headings, I'll make the color red.My own statement headings will be shown in gray.Whenever I quote parts of the bible, such as bible verses, I'll use New Times Roman, size 3. Presentation of new statementsAs a person who supports the 'faith + good works = salvation' mindset, I believe that faith alone is dead, while good works alone is dead.I also believe that faith should come before good works.Also, I have never implied, nor will imply, that we are saved by works alone. God's grace is why we're saved, but God's graces are useless without our cooperation.I'll explain in detail the above statement as I type.Answering Gryephon's constructor By Grace through Faith (Ephesians 2:1-9)At first glance, Paul the apostle seems to be supporting a 'faith only' mindset, but lets read onward to Ephesians 2:10.Paul said that we created in Christ to live a life of good deeds, which God prepared for us in advance.(Another term for good deeds is good works.) Ephesians 2:1-10 doesn't actually support the notion that faith alone saves us, it means to say that faith is the underlying reason why we are saved.Faith alone won't save us. We must put our faith to good use via how we live our lives.Likewise, Good works alone won't save us. The good works that will save us are the deeds which are manifested as results of our faith; the deeds which God specifically intended for us to accomplish.Faith is of course the main component of salvation; the secondary component of salvation is good works, which are results of good faith.In order to make use of our faith, we must live the lifestyle which God intended each of us to live by.Psalms 139:16By living the lifestyle which God has prepared for us in advance to live by, we are making use of the graces God has given us, and our obedience will motivate God to empower us with more graces.Colossians 3:23-25Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.The above bible verse indicates that God awards us for whatever deeds we do in this life. Treat others the way you wish to be treated.If we are righteous in the eyes of the Lord, we will be awarded. If we are wicked in the eyes of the Lord, we will be punished. Grace is no longer GraceThis brings me to my 2nd point. In the opening statement, I said that God's graces are useless without our cooperation. Examine Jeremiah 29:11-14.For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. We must cooperate with God's plans in order to actually benefit from his gifts.God's ability to make us holy is limited by our ability to make ourselves holy via faith.We ourselves must make the effort to enhance our own faith in order for God to be able to make us holy. In that sense, we must allow God to save us; he can't save us himself. We must fulfill our part of salvation by, not only accepting God's graces, but by using whatever graces we already have in ways that benefit the kingdom of God.In order for our faith to actually be beneficial to the kingdom of God, we use manifest our faith via charity, love, and sacifice. All of this can be done because of God's grace, but we ourselves must accept the pressure of God's graces in our daily lives. A case of salvation through Faith The good thief in Luke 23:32-43 actually did perform a good work. The good thief's vocal deed allowed not only Christ, but possibly onlookers who witnessed the thief's words, to realize his faith. He was saved; told by Christ that he'll enter paradise.The bad thief made known his weak faith via what he said. Likewise, the good thief revealed his strong faith via what he said.Our faith saves us, and that faith is expressed by our deeds, which enables God and others to realize the full extent of our spiritual fortitude. Think about it; if the good thief's words made some of the onlookers realize that Christ is king, then how will those onlookers react?Matthew 5:16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.Acts 28:1-10 is another example of Matthew 5:16.Actions speak louder than words.Paul the Apostle proved his faith not only by mouth but by deed. Case of “Faith + Good works” Failed Salvation.And this propels me to answer Gryephon's last statement. This bible passage applies to the ones who perform good works just for the sake of pleasing themselves. There are differences between deeds that are done in obedience to God's will and deeds that are done to simply please our egos.Look at Moses. He split the red sea, made water flow from rocks, build a bronze serpent to heal the poisoned, and instructed the Israelites to do good. All of these miracles are practically good works, ordered by God and done by God through Moses.Moses managed to manifest all of these miracles because of his faith in the Lord. God can work through us, but only if we have faith, and we must nuture most of our faith ourselves in order to benefit from our faith.How do we nuture our faith? Lets take another look at Moses. He prayed. Through God's answers, Moses gathered the faith to lead the Israelites to the promised land. If Moses haven't prayed, then God wouldn't have been able to help him. God has handfuls of graces at the ready, but he can't release them to us until we draw close to him via both prayer and deed, via spiritual actions, which are results of faith, and by physical actions, which, depending on the intent, are spiritual actions in nature. Answering Gryephon's rebuttalRevision of definitionsGoing off from my reply to Gryephon's last statement, there certainly is a difference between deeds done in obedience to God and deeds done to please ourselves. A physical or vocal deed done in obedience to God's will is, in essence, a spiritual deed. One who evangelizes to the non-believer via lifestyle is living a spiritual life via his physical flesh. Physical deeds done in the spirit are pleasing to God; encouraging him to purify us.Matthew 16:24-28 True, simply believing in say Christ’s existence is not enough to be saved, for the demons acknowledge his existence and shudder. But they have no confidence that the Divine will save them. This is somewhat of a tricky statement to respond to. I know not of any saved that do not want to be like Christ (follow in his footsteps). For certain it is in the nature of the saved to do good works. But if you set your heart on not doing any good works, oh foolish person, it would be better if you were never born. For doing good works is the purpose of believers, so that mankind can see our light and glorify our father in heaven.I do not want to phrase it in the sense that good works is “required” for salvation, but that doing them (rather in the afterlife or not) is inevitable. For if you had faith that God will save you, wouldn’t you want to seek to please the Divine?I agree! Our deeds can be inspired by either God, Satan, or just the pleasures of the flesh. Deeds done in obedience to God's will is sure to please God. You say, “or the world”, is an enigma to me, I do not understand what you mean. Why submit to this world? Why not God only? For what is worldly (apart from God) that is worthy to submit to?We can either choose to draw close to God or move away from him. True. For if you do not acquire faith, it certainly can affect your afterlife. It's not just about having faith, it's about living by faith. According to James 2:14-26, what prevents our faith from being dead faith?This is true if you wish to be a disciple of Christ you must acquire faith, but I think your confusing discipleship with salvation. A disciple is someone who seeks discipline in the teachings of Christ. True, the Disciples of Christ are saved, but discipleship is a much larger field then salvation. For Jesus taught many things that did not directly correlate to salvation but more towards statures pleasing to God (topics such as brotherly love, lust, oaths, even Taxes: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar and to God…”) In the end, everything we do in this life leads to either our salvation or damnation. Our earthly ways are results of our inner perceptions; how we view God. Also those four things that you mention are more like benefits that the saved would acquire, but not necessary by which salvation comes through. The lifestyle, the fear of the lord, good fruit, righteousness, all of it.I'll quote a passage to supplement the verse regarding the production of either good or bad fruit.Galatians 6:6-10 The man instructed in the word should share all he has with his instructor. None makes a fool of God. 1One reaps only what he/she sows. Sow in the field of flesh, and you will reap corruption. Sow in the ground of the spirit, you will reap everlasting life. 1 We are the farmers. The plot of land which we chose to sow is the lifestyle we chose to live by.Yes I agree with you, good works will be beautifully expressed through faith. However I still stand that it is through faith we are saved, not by works. The idea being that you don't have any reason to boast, for the Lord doesn't like the boastful.I answered this earlier, so scroll up, readers.