[soulforce]

Originally Posted by VinceField

I don't accept false information. Do you? Probably not. The difference is that I have an objective, absolute and infallible standard for truth, whereas you use mere subjective experience, fallible logic and human emotion.

That's an opinion not a fact, because it presupposes that all scripture is true without evidence. By all means prove it.

Secondly I do use experiences, logic and emotion to ascertain truth because those are all senses that God has given me to experience truth and it has worked for me so far and for the human race. We are still alive.

You can conflate doubt for error but once again the burden of proof rest upon the one who makes the claim. And as of yet you have provided no evidence apart from scripture that your faith base claims are true. Fact.

You are expressing a disconnect with the message of the gospel and scripture as a whole. I'll break it down as simply as possible for you. Through faith in Christ we are saved by the grace of God. Before faith we are unable to do good in the eyes of God. With faith we are given the Holy Spirit, which gives us a new heart and allows us to follow God's will. A person with "living" faith has the Holy Spirit and thus does good works. A person with "dead" faith does not have the Holy Spirit despite his alleged claims of faith, so even if he tries to do good deeds, they are not from God.

According to your scriptures even the demons can recite biblical passages or doctrine but that doesn't tell me what's in your heart. It doesn't tell me what kind of person you are and if you even practice what you preach. To give me the cookie cutter christian manifesto doesn't even tell me the level of understanding of your words. Yes sure I believe that you understand the Christian manifesto, but do you know Jesus? Hmmmm. That's what I like to know.

No, James never said that. You are reading that into the text. James clearly and simply said that his good works are the proof of his faith. Your interpretation does not logically follow from this. Good works don't cease when one has the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not indwell those with works, He indwells those with faith. Thus it is losing your faith that would cause a person to lose the Holy Spirit, not a lack of works.

Actually James did say that furthermore James never once used the word proof (at least in this version), so semantically speaking your wrong.

James 2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without [a]your works, and [b]I will show you my faith by my works.

Hence not by grace (sorry Romans 4), but "by my works". I don't think it's very difficult to interpret this line at verbatim. However you're going to tell me that's not how I should interpret this passage, because we need to invoke Romans 4: in order to interpret James 2 accurately.

But I'm pretty sure James didn't have access to the book of Romans with him when he wrote that text. Hence it is logical that you are the one being eisegetical about this scripture not me.

No, your experiences determine what you THINK is truth, which is quite different from what you said. The fact is that your reasoning is fallible and thus cannot logically be the standard for truth. Truth exists apart from what goes on in your head. God is truth and His revelation is truth. Any foundation apart from this is self defeating.

Incorrect, because the only way to experience "the truth", even the bible is to rely on ones experiences. Hence yes of course I rely on my own experiences to ascertain truth. We all do! Including you. I bet I can prove that every single thing you believe to be true is based from an experience. You have no logical argument to make against me here.

Where we differ is the interpretation, perspective and source of our truth. If you said that you don't like my sources, because they're not from your sources. Fine that's okay. I can respect that. I personally don't think the bible is 100% true so that makes us even. There are too many inconsistencies and contradictions as far as: science, history, and even theology is concerned for it to be the only standard for truth. You can still disagree with me there but that's not going to change the fact that the bible is not a perfect book.