Works and Salvation, Love is Charity

As I understand it there are two parties to the thought in this debate. On the one side it may be said that by doing good deeds, or works, one can secure, or earn, their place in salvation. On the other side of this debate it is said that we are commanded to do good deeds, or works, in order to retain our salvation, our place in heaven.

            Christ earned our salvation by the way of the cross; however it is clear by Christ’s commandments that we have a responsibility to maintain that earned salvation through “works”. These “works” are works of charity. And charity, of course, is the physical expression of helping the poor by feeding, clothing, and all acts of compassion, without any expectation of a return. This expression should also be accomplished with humility.

            ^1. “Charity, a theological virtue (along with faith and hope), the highest form of Christian love, whose origination source and ultimate end is God” The driving force behind charity is the Holy Spirit, the gift given to us by the Father through Christ. “Though its formal object and final end is God, charity reaches out to the neighbor and well, including even the enemy and the sinner, who are loved for God’s sake”. “Charity is therefore the greatest of the virtues, because it both conjoins us to God and directs all our activity toward the eternal happiness promised us”.

            This “eternal happiness promised us” is our salvation, the final triumph over sin and death. Since our Christ gave himself for salvation, our place in heaven is secure. However we can lose our place through the act of sin. Charity drives us from sin as it is the will of God to do good. The work of charity is how we love God. The work of charity is our spiritual and physical relationship with God. (^2.Mat, 25; 34-40)

            To me it is clear that works are necessary for salvation. Not that works will earn our way to God’s promise to us, but that it will guide us to maintain that which has been earned for us through the works of our Christ, the ultimate work of charity.

            Faith, Hope, and Love are the mainstays of our faith. The words “love” and “charity” are in many places of the New Testament, one and the same. Our relationship with God is through how we treat our friends, enemies, and strangers. Charity is our commandment; Charity is Love, it is how we are meant to live our lives.

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Other examples;

http://daedgo.blogspot.com/2014/01/1-corinthians-13-adaptation.html  = 1 Corinthians; 13

(An adaptation)

http://daedgo.blogspot.com/2012/09/caritas-through-church.html = Caritas through Church

^1.Encyclopedia of Catholicism; Richard P. McBrien (emphasis is mine)

Scripture is from the NABRE;

^2.Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous ¹⁶ will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Mark, 12; 29-31-

            Jesus replied, the first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.

Luke, 10; 29-27

            Jesus said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read it? He said in reply, You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

John, 13; 34-35

            I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

Mat, 22; 37-40

            He said to him, You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment, the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself, the whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

* Encyclopedia Britannica (on-line edition)

Encyclopedia

Charity

In Christian thought, the highest form of love, signifying the reciprocal love between God and man that is made manifest in unselfish love of one's fellow men. St. Paul's classical description of charity is found in the New Testament(I Cor. 13). In Christian theology and ethics, charity (a translation of the Greek word agape, also meaning "love") is most eloquently shown in the life, teachings, and death of Jesus Christ. St. Augustine summarized much of Christian thought about charity when he wrote: "Charity is a virtue which, when our affections are perfectly ordered, unites us to God, for by it we love him." Using this definition and others from the Christian tradition, the medieval theologians, especially St. Thomas Aquinas, placed charity in the context of the other Christian virtues and specified its role as "the foundation or root" of them all.

by David E. Gonzales 

What is Heaven, Hell?

We as a people are always asking ourselves “who, what, where, when, why and how. We are constantly digging into our minds to find the answers to the ‘Mystery of life”, and we rarely find it. As earth dwellers the question of heaven and hell, or what’s next, is a question that mankind has been asking since we’ve had the ability to ask the question. Of course the easy answer is we just don’t know what happens after we have exhausted our mortal bodies. While this is true to the extent of scientific proof, we do have some good ideas as how to perceive this question of the hereafter. Attempting to look ahead to something that is beyond the grave is a pretty daunting notion. I do not for a single moment believe that I can come to a conclusion to this question, but I do believe that the more we express our opinions and open our minds we can become more comfortable with this whole idea of death, eternal life and what it means.

God is love; and to be in the presence of God, Spirit, or Higher Power is to experience love in is totality and purity. It is to know a love that is so pure that we cannot experience it during our mortal existence. This can be considered a glimpse into the existence we call heaven, a small peak into a harmony that we really can’t grasp with our minds. I would present “love in its totality” as a mystery in and of its self. There are some things the human mind simply cannot fathom, and I believe that this purity of love is one of them. In biblical scripture it is told that we need to be like a child “... whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it” (Matt, 18; 17), in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. The word “accept” here is understood as “faith”. What if we change the word “faith” to “love” and read it in this context. A child loves their parents without an exception to who these parents are; they give their love regardless of what they may have done in their pasts. Children love, as do we, because it is our nature to love, we learn to be selfish, we learn greed, and we learn to be mean to others. As we grow to adulthood we have to relearn how to love, albeit the love we give/receive is never perfect.

We see the total absence of God today, only in glimpses to be sure, but we do see them. We see this in the hearts of men and women that are featured on the “breaking news” of the day. These people usually have committed crimes against humanity we would normally consider unthinkable, or heinous in nature. Surly anyone who would commit a crime against the most innocent in our society must have rejected the love that is offered to each of us gratuitously from our God, Spirit, or Higher Power as we understand it. This would be an example of the complete absence of God as a violent expression. Now let’s extend that thought to a non-violent thought. In my paper “To be Apathetic” I convey the idea that the opposite of love is apathy. Imagine a world where nobody cares, not for a single soul. Where children are ignored to the point of starvation, not because they were actively denied food, clothing, and love, but because nobody cared to reach out with charity, which is active love. Remember the word “love” is an action word; you must follow your heart and do good things. Could this be a paradigm of Hell? On the one hand a place of senseless violence and on the other hand a culture of apathetic narcissists.

           

            This is a surface look into an idea of what Heaven and Hell could exist in the future for any of us. Heaven could be anything you consider beyond the most majestic thought of our imaginations, and Hell could be equally atrocious, beyond evil as we might believe possible. With this in mind I will leave you with a well known piece of scripture and I hope it will bring about a new essence of appreciation to you.

(1 Corinthians 13, 13) “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love”.

May the blessings of peace and love fill your hearts with the grace to do good things.

Scripture is from the NABRE

by David E. Gonzales