Posted by deirdrehbrt on March 4, 2006, at 20:40:12
In reply to Re: Integrity and Hypocrisy - another twist » Dinah, posted by rayww on March 4, 2006, at 17:28:38
I think we're all on the same page here. As far as people doing "good works" to get to heaven, Jesus spoke of these. They were the ones who made a show of how much they put into the offering plate, or who were resentful of Him for healing on the sabbath, etc. Such people were steeped in the legalism to the point that they ignored the purpose of the law. That's the sort that I'm talking about.
Doing good works because you love the creator / Savior / God(ess), because you know they are the right thing to do is a marvelous demonstration of faith. James said "Faith without works is dead". They are expected of us. But doing them without faith, but out of a strict sense of legalism, to me, isn't what Jesus was talking about. The humble woman with the mote did much more than the rich man showing off.
And again, being rich wasn't the problem. It was the doing good to make yourself look better rather than to give glory to God.
So, I guess what I was trying to say was that there is no problem with doing good works; it's the motive behind them. Are you trying to build your ego, or are you trying to do what the Creator wishes?
As far as Integrity Vs. Hypocrisy, if you are trying to be who the creator wants you to be, that's integrity. If you are trying to build your own ego, to "follow the law" in an attempt to make yourself look better, but still have a hard heart, that's hypocrisy.
Doing the works though, to bring yourself closer to God, even if you don't feel it right now, that's still a good motive, and I think it falls much closer to intetgrity than hypocrisy.
For me, it's motive. Why do we do the works?
--Dee
poster:deirdrehbrt
thread:614466
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20051105/msgs/616003.html