and good works are necessary conditions for salvation, and that neither by itself is sufficient. This is a reasonable view. In fact, it was the belief of all Christians until the Reformation, when they began to tell themselves that faith alone was the key. Why not let them see the error of their ways and construct more consistent doctrines, you ask? Because it is the mental maneuverings, the grand rationalizations in which they engage, that provide sustenance for us. The oyster forms a pearl by ceaselessly excreting a substance to coat the chafing sand particle with a smooth texture.
To return to my point: they will say anything to win over a new convert, no matter how inconsistent their arguments. And this would never be so if their concern was rational in nature, rather than emotional. Once I whispered to a girl, witnessing to a stranger in a shopping mall, to argue that the Bible must be the inspired Word of God because for three thousand years skeptics have been unable to pick out a single flaw in it. For a moment her mind went back to her pastor saying in a sermon that so-and-so looked like an error, but that in fact it couldn’t be, we must be reading it wrong, because we know the Bible is the inspired Word of God and therefore it can’t have any errors! Which is it going to be? Inductive scrutiny shows the Bible has no errors, hence it must be inspired? Or that deductive reasoning from the premise of its infallibility entitles us to ignore and explain away its errors? It is the dance, the game, the pirouetting that generates what we need. A simple, direct statement of one’s faith requires no art, no craft, no finesse. Keep your priorities straight!
Your affable uncle,
Needletoe
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