AS far as the laws thing, you’re kidding right? You don’t remember the ‘God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve’ b.s. back a few years ago during the civil unions fiasco? Or that many object to and want to ban abortion and stem cell research because the tiny lump of cells has a ’soul’? Or the many many repressive ways Americans and other highly religious cultures deal with sexual matters in general,often in combination with legislation (sodomy laws, etc.) that have no basis in fact? Please tell me you were kidding.

As for my own personal sins, I really do not care to elaborate in such a public forum. I think I have been mocked enough at this point

You say that atheists don’t fear religion because it might be true, but they fear the irrational ideas that come out of it.

Well, theists don’t fear atheism (or science; or evolution) because it might be true, but they fear the irrational ideas that come out of it.

Theologically, grace flows from God. It is his to do with as he pleases. To turn on that spigot, you must have faith. And faith without works is meaningless. Those quotes in the context of Christ’s frequent railings against hypocrisy clearly refer to those who make a big show of their works and their piety for earthly status, as per Mt 23: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”

Oh. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m a pretty dyed-in-the-wool agnostic. I make no absolute statements about what is or isn’t true, as regards cosmic knowledge I have no first-hand access to, but let’s just say it’d probably take a road to Damascus moment to get me back in the theist camp. I have scads of appreciation for Christianity, though.

My perspective on salvation is alive and well among evangelicals.

Ephesians 2:8-9: “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast.”

Romans 11:6: “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”

But if our works do not reflect our faith, it is not a living faith; it is dead (as in the verse you quoted). If you have faith in Jesus Christ and proclaim Him your Lord, you will want to do good works (as I illustrated). If your actions are not reflecting your faith, chances are your heart isn’t either and God can see our hearts.

Our salvation is through the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, which we demonstrate by doing good works because, as it says in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

It really all makes sense, but let me reword it, without the Bible quotes.

You do not need to do or have done anything to be saved. It is a free gift from God and it is available to anyone, not just “good” people or people who voted for Bush.

Accepting Jesus really changes your heart and makes you want to do good things. But, it doesn’t make you perfect and we still fail. Thank God for grace.

It’s not a free pass, though. That is where the confusion comes in. We will be held accountable for what we how we lived. We can’t just say we believe in Jesus and then go about indulging in sinful behavior. That is not true faith.

1. So you’re a creationist? That always surprises me, being raised Catholic. There are very few (if any) creationist Catholics.

2. (If you doubt I was raised Catholic, this’ll prove it). You say:

I am saved through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

This is a perspective I don’t hear so much these days, so I have to ask you about it. How do you reconcile this belief with James 2:17? :

faith without good works is dead

I’m intrigued by this statement..
All of the “sins” I needed to confess when I accepted Jesus were things that were harmful to only myself and fully accepted by our secular society. Care to elaborate?

I don’t think us atheists ‘fear’ religion in the sense that deep down inside we secretly fear it might be true. I fear the many irrational decisions made in the name of religion (and I’m not just talking about suicide bombers). I mean things like unrealistic ‘abstinence only’ sex ed, or just letting things slide because ‘God will take care of it.” I find it disturbing that many people put more credence into their very fallible personal revelations than those which are provable. I’m certainly don’t believe that getting rid of religious people would get rid of ‘all the crazies.’

I think we would be a much more advanced society without religion in many ways, and more practical and realistic. Socially we would be better off, too, because we wouldn’t be treating things like sex and such as great taboos, we could be honest and open about it. With less repression, there are undoubtedly less problems.

Realistically, I can coexist with religious people, except for the fact that many of them can’t keep their personal relationship with Jesus personal. I don’t want superstitious beliefs dictating the laws in this country. I don’t want religion let off of the hook, in that a person’s faith should be open to criticism, ridicule, whatever, just like any other aspect of human behavior. It’s only fair. And if one is not able to stand up for it, and chooses to hide behind ‘you can’t criticize a person’s faith’, well, then they need to shut up, to be blunt.

And the idea that God cannot be seen and measured, well, it seems to be used to get religion off of the hook. I tend to think that arguments admitted without evidence can and should be dismissed just as easily without evidence. I don’t think science’s role is to prove or disprove God. First off, you can’t prove a negative, secondly, it is up to the person making the claim to prove the existence, not the other way around.

I know a more than a few reasonable Xtians that look at the Bible as metaphor, and are easily able to reconcile a solid belief in science with their faith (i.e. viewing physics as ‘the mind of God’). If one means that God created man and guided the process of evolution I can at least respect that, but if one means that God created man in its present form, that to me is some serious willful ignorance (not tring to be rude here, just saying my piece).

I apologize if the above was a bit scattered, there’s just so much to say. I wish more people of varying perspectives were participating with us here. You want a real hoot, put me on your show sometime!