I think in this case there are two kinds of faith. There is faith that is head-knowledge and faith that comes from the heart. Truly believing that a God emptied Himself of being a God and chose to become a man to save that which was lost as a result of the sin of Adam & Eve, that comes from the heart.

When a soldier is killed in war, we say he gave the ultimate sacrifice, his life, so that we might live free. How could you not love the man for it? The same holds true with Jesus. He gave His life that we might be free from the sin of Adam.

Because we are locked in flesh in this world, even a true believer sins because the flesh compels us to. I feel the difference that determines whether you a true believer and not a head knowledge Christian is if when you sin(and both are susceptible to sin) whether or not it matters to you. If you're sorry that you did.

I have enjoyed reading the posts. Mark you get pretty deep ,which I tend to do also. I was raised Methodist, converted to Catholicism over 30 years ago with no regrets. Have studied it a bit for the last 10 years or so and I'm constantly learning new things. We have an awesome God. I don't post much( I am a trapper, or at least I've made an attempt for the last 45 years or so) so no I'm not on here trolling, mostly learning. I would like to say, I believe we need to use all of the Bible and look at each verse within the context of the whole. This Faith without works discussion has been argued ,for ages, by people way smarter than me. I like to think that if you have Faith, how could you not have works? If you don't try to do as our Lord Jesus instructed us to do, do you really have Faith? If you tell your wife you love her, but don't show it, is it really love? Don't think she'd believe it. Try to do good to others and pray for them when they annoy the you know what out of you(Still working on this). Like Red Green would say, "Remember I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together". We are in this together no matter what religion you go by. We all need God's grace to make it each and every day. Prayers to all! Todd

Agreed Todd. Our post-modern times tell us we are smart, but limit it to 140 characters quite often, which breeds "slogans" and "sayings," none of which respect the deep heritage of our faith.
I have enjoyed the posts in this thread.
Thank y'all!

Blessings,
Mark