Why do fundamentalist Christians believe that people can be save through faith and not good works...??

James 2:20

But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

James 2:26

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Ephesians 2:8&9

8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9Not of works, lest any man should boast.

This scripture means a person can't only just be a good person or do good things. We must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Be careful here. It is no more correct to say that works alone will save you than to say that faith alone will save you. First of all, the eternal disposition of a soul is a decision made by God. I continue to be quite amazed at how willing people are to boss God around and tell Him who is saved and who is not.

We know from Scripture that we are saved by God's grace through faith. The real question is this: what does that saving faith look like? A lot of people will try to tell you that all you have to have is belief; that if they just believe in Christ, they can sit in a windowless isolation room for the rest of their lives and be completely assured that there is a place in Heaven waiting for them.

Taking it even further, some say that belief doesn't even have to be ongoing! If, even once, you believe and say out loud that you believe in Christ, you're set for eternity regardless the kind of life you lead or the strength of your belief afterwards. Some go so far as to say that if you believe that doing good works motivated by your faith is at all beneficial to the state of your soul, you've signed your own ticket to Hell.

The passage you quote from James tells us that this is not the case. Faith isn't an intellectual abstraction, nor is it a one-time, instantaneous event. Just like salvation, Christian faith is a *process*. It is a way of life that calls for both strong belief and a strong commitment to charity, compassion, altruism, and the example set for us by Christ. Without that active component, belief is empty and is not the response God wants us to have to His saving grace.

They go hand in hand. What this passage is saying is that if we have faith and then refuse to help those in need, our faith is useless. It's dead. We can't get to heaven on works alone, which is what some believe. They believe if they're good people, go to church, are upstanding in the community, they will enter heaven by these works. But you can't get to heaven unless you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior. And if you've truly done this, good works will follow out of love for God, not as a condition of salvation.

First, Justification is not Salvation! http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aueqn...

Romans 9:30-32 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."

James was speaking about being justified and not about salvation. Justification and salvation are related, but not the same thing. Justification comes after salvation and is imparted by God. The Bible also says "that by their fruits they will be known" (Matt. 7:20) and this is something else that James is alluding to. How could you call yourself a Christian and not do good works? Being a Christian and saved (by grace) is the cause and the effect is good works, not the other way around.

Refering to the passage in Mark: Jesus knew the guys heart. He had (according to his own record keeping) kept all the commandments; however, Jesus knew that his reliance in his monetary wealth was keeping him from putting his faith in God. He was "worshipping" his money and didnt want to give that up. His money had become his god and until he no longer relied on his finances to get him from day to day, then he would never be able to put his faith in God. Jesus wasnt saying that only poor people could be saved, or to take a vow of poverty to be saved, or that you had to do something to be saved, but he pointed out this man's fault.

Sentinel: In John 3, Jesus is talking about being "born again." The first birth is your natural birth. If you have ever witnessed a birth you will know that just before a human is born there is the "breaking of the water" and this is the water birth that Jesus speaks about, NOT baptism. Why would Jesus allow the thief to be with him in paradise if he was unbaptised and certainly not going to be before death?

James is dealing with a problem was is still very common is churches today. People who make a confession of faith, but then never allow it to actual make a change in their lifestyle.

Salvation comes by faith. That is clearly taught throughout the entire Bible. But it RESULTS in good works. A person demonstrates his faith through his works.

The purpose of salvation is to change a person so that they are able and willing to serve God, and to do that good works that he has planned for them. A "faith" which does not result in those good works is a dead faith. It is worthless.

Paul stated it nicely in Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

We are saved by faith - that is the cause of our salvation.

But we are then called to good works - that is the results of our salvation.

And that is what James is stating through his epistle.

First of all, the Catholic view of salvation is not faith plus works, if by works you mean purely human efforts to win God's favor.

Catholics believe in salvation by grace alone, yet grace must not be resisted, either before justification (by remaining in unbelief) or after (by engaging in serious sin). Read carefully 1 Corinthians 6, Galatians 5, and Ephesians 5.

Second, the Bible nowhere uses the expressions "justification by faith alone" or "salvation by faith alone." The first was directly the invention of Luther; the second his by implication. Luther inserted "alone" into the German translation of Romans 3:23 to give credence to his new doctrine.

But your question deals with John 3:16. Yes, this passage does speak of the saving power of faith, but in no sense does it diminish the role of obedience to Christ in the process of getting to heaven.

In fact, it assumes it. Just as Fundamentalists overlook the rest of the chapter in connection with what being born of water and the Holy Spirit really means--they ignore the water part; it refers to baptism--they also overlook the context when interpreting Christ's words about obtaining eternal life in John 3:16.

In John 3:36 we are told, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him."

This expands on John 3:16. It is another way of saying what Paul says in Romans 6:23: "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Although we cannot earn God's unmerited favor by our good works, we can reject his love by our sins (that is, by our evil works) and thereby lose the eternal life he freely offers us in Christ.

You are going about this the wrong way. What is meant by faith and not good works saving you is that only faith that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins & then asking and faithfully believing He has forgiven you of your sins, will you be saved from an eternity in hell. Good works will not get you into Heaven. There are sinners who do a lot of good works...No sin will be in Heaven. Good works or not. A follower of Jesus will usually want to do good works for others and for the Lord. Good works alone will not save anyone though.

Hm..now y do u ask this sort of ques? ;) I believe that wut u hear fromt he Word of God has to be practised! Just having faith and not putting it into work will not get a man to heaven.The time we ask Jesus CHirst to come into our heart and we a changed..the past is gone and we are a new creation...the old things shld not be found in ous...i neednt say all that now u know it hehe...but then when we are made new...we ahve the love of Christ in us so we can use the love to help others and not jsut be like the ppl who passed by the man fallen and beaten up by thieves...they didnt bother to help him. But we can show love toward ppl who need our care and not to show our works to the world but we can share the love of God with them when they ask us y we care. God has put us in here at this time for somebody else!! This i know.

:D

GBU

The last Scripture you quoted ANSWERS your question! Faith without works is dead in the sense that it gives the appearance that you only practice your faith in order to please others rather than please God and yourself. Conversely, works without faith is dead for the same reason! All that "charity" or works only gets you a slap on the back from your fellow man if it isn't SPIRITUALLY MOTIVATED! The Scripture even talks about men builing "palatial edifices" or big churches/congregations and etc. but that INSIDE (their faith and etc. ) they are liked "newly whitewashed TOMBS" (full of SPRITUALLY DEAD people!).

Because Christ Himself said "none come to the Father except through Me"

Because so many people think that just being a good person is all you need to do, that gave rise to the old saying that, 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Put your faith in Christ and do good works and you will spend eternity in Heaven.