Works Salvation ACTUALLY Creates a License to Sin

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It's time to REALLY understand the seriousness of sin.  I have been met with one damning accusation after the other from the hypocritical works salvation crowd (who are ironically living sinfully as they could like some of them are VERY sexually immoral!) that I am teaching a license to sin whenever I declare the truth of the PERSEVERANCE of the saints.  What part of perseverance can't they understand?  However here's a little bit of reality of what works salvation is implying or directly teaching:
  • If your good works exceed your bad works, God will certainly accept you.  You don't have to live a perfect life to work your way to salvation.
  • If you can keep X out of the ten commandments like if you can keep at least half, you can go to Heaven already.
  • If you try to keep all the rituals of your religion (ex. lighting incense in Buddhism, confessionals and attending Mass in Roman Catholicism, five times a day prayers in Islam) you can win salvation.

However this legalistic system does become a LICENSE to sin for these reasons:
  • If you teach that it's okay to let your good works exceed your bad works to win salvation, then it's okay for me to live a sexually immoral life (that's just one sin for them) then I can make up for it by philanthropy, helping the old ladies cross the street, handing over wanted criminals etc. or it is okay for me to be a criminal as long as I donate huge sums of money to the Masses?  That in turn with the idea that my other good works can cover my bad works, then I can indulge in this sin all I want as long as I do good works to make up for it?  That's pretty screwed up and wicked!  God's standard is so holy even my slightest sins deserve Hell!
  • By deleting one of the ten commandments in the Roman Catholic system (Exodus 20:4-5) concerning GRAVEN IMAGES which also exists in the Roman Catholic translations of the Bible, it eventually allows the sin of idolatry to flourish.  Then it creates the implication, "If I can remove the second, why not the rest?"  Isn't it any clearer WHY a lot of Roman Catholics are living so sinfully?  I've seen the local prison ministries catering to religious Roman Catholics who are seen in their hypocrisy with external piety but can't be changed because they are IGNORANT of God's righteousness (Romans 10:3).  Sad really.  That's why whenever I witness to Roman Catholics, I really have to include the second commandment which their superiors have deleted from their commandments posted outside their parishes!  In fact, almost every world religion includes the worship of graven images while claiming they don't worship the image but the one portrayed is nothing more than a license to sin to idolatry.
  • Ritualistic salvation is also a license to sin.  So it's okay to sin all I please as long as I go to confession, make mantra chanting to remove the bad karma then I can sin all over again?!  Quite different from Christ's forgiveness that does more than forgive- it CLEANSES from unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
  • The Pharisees were also guilty of doing of allowing certain sins as stated in Matthew 5:17-48 with the following CHANGES they did with their works salvation system because of their ignorance of God's righteousness:
    • They have condemned physical murder but NOT hatred.  Jesus condemned that thought in verse 22.
    • They have failed to guard their hearts not only from hatred but also from lust.  Verse 27-28 clearly show that lustful thoughts is already in itself adultery.  To be honest, who in here hasn't lusted after anyone?  Lustful thoughts create bad actions like why do you think David ended up in scandal with Bathsheba?  Clearly it started with LUST.  2 Samuel 11's account reveals he saw her bathing, he stared longer, he lusted after her and then it led to a series of bad events that led to murder of her husband Uriah!
    • The Pharisees ended up having a liberal standard of divorce.  That is in verses 31-32, Jesus condemned the idea of legalized serial adultery.  They think that they can just put away their women.  What's so hypocritical in the Roman Catholic institution is that they can allow "annulment" but not divorce when both are similar theologically- declaring a valid married null and void.  In fact, even a lot of divorcees who have remarried have either remarried in a Roman Catholic parish or civil court are STILL receiving communion during Mass.
    • They had a liberal swearing that took God's name in vain. (V. 33-34)
    • They have gone as far as to pervert God's judicial system into a system of personal revenge.  In  verse 38 you read that Jesus was condemning their interpretation of eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.  In fact they created a system of petty vengeance WHEN even the Old Testament DOES NOT condone revenge at all.  Exodus 21:24-25 DO NOT by any means create the rule of revenge, it was to make sure nobody got punished BEYOND what they have committed like I don't gouge out my student's eyes for cheating in an exam, rather I send him to the discipline office for suspension!  In fact verses 43-44 even show how FAR the Pharisees have gone in perverting the Law while they think they are so righteous.

God's system is even more complicated than "Good works exceed bad works."  God who is SO holy cannot tolerate EVEN one sin and it's stated in these verses:
  • Exodus 32:33- "And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I BLOT OUT of My Book!"
  • Deuteronomy 18:13- "Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God."
  • Deuteronomy 27:26- "Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this Law to do them.  And all the people shall say, Amen."
  • James 2:10- "For whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offend in ONE POINT, he is GUILTY OF ALL."

Looking at it, God's system requires ABSOLUTE perfection that man cannot reach it.  All I can say is in trying to win my salvation, I am just as bad as rich young ruler who loved money or I am as bad as the Pharisees, tax collectors and prostitutes and I am no better than anyone- people need His life changing salvation not me struggling to change themselves to get salvation!  The Pharisees tried to keep the whole Law but ended up giving licenses to revenge, lustful thoughts and liberal divorce because they were ignorant of God's righteousness and tried to establish theirs which they cannot.  I can do all the good I want but when an attractive woman comes along and EVEN if I don't do anything physical but just that lustful eye, I am automatically guilty of adultery.  Even if I steal just ONE candy bar, I am already deserving of Hellfire.  This is where the stupid concept of mortal sin vs. venial sin falls down because any sin NO MATTER how big or how small, deserves God's awful judgment.  However God has provided the solution in Romans 3, Romans 4:1-8, Ephesians 2:8-10 and Titus 2:11-14 that is through His Son, man is saved FROM their sins NOT in their sins not by their OWN effort by His work (Philippians 2:13). It's God that works, not man in salvation and even a Christian's good works and hating sin is NOT because it's necessary to stay saved but rather, they do good works and hate sin ONLY because they are saved.  It beats legalism out, creates good works and God's Law a DELIGHT not a burden.  David's Psalms delighted in God's Law, Paul declared his delight in God's Law (Romans 7:22).