Reply #96: A great many...

[TreasonousBastard]

but not all.

The "good works" thing is not really understood by most people, although there are a number of interpretations of it.

Nowhere does it say that God can be conned by your doing whatever you feel like doing and a simple "Praise Jesus! Forgive me." wipes the slate clean.

Simplistically put, my understanding of it, which is a common one, is that if you are a believer, you will be lead by your beliefs to do the proper thing much of the time. There are other times when you have to force yourself to do the right thing, and there are still other times when you will fail. It is those times you failed that are forgiven, but you have to put in some effort.

It can also be said that because of our dual nature, having both good and evil within us, even when we do good works it is a failure and that is the point of forgiveness. It is our nature that is forgiven, not that which we do.

But, that's getting into vague areas of theology that's been argued for thousands of years.