well, apology accepted. i am sorry too, for taking it personally. no, beliefs don't offend me, i thought you were attacking what i believed. i'm not one for debates, i intended this thread to be used as a learning tool.
yes, you're right,....good works do glorify god, but good works cannot SAVE us.
it says "who among you is good? no one...for we all fall short of the glory of god" therefore, we need jesus to cleanse our sins. we are not to give up, of course, but again, our salvation is not based on our merrit alone.
no, jesus didn't mean to have god's law abolished, that's not what i meant. i meant that because of jesus, we can be considered sinless.
in romans, paul asks "so than shall we give up? no, we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. run the race. fight the good fight" and he's referring to our deeds; however, again, he points out that this is to glorify god, not to buy our own salvation.
as far as modern christians taking things and making it their own, so it suits their needs, well yes, i suppose that's true. i think there are many many flaws with the christian faith. they did horrible things in the past, and still do today. i think there's fault in many religions. i guess that's why i believe that we have sin in our lives.
there will be sin and hypocrisy in the church.....and sadly, many of us cannot practice what we preach. i know i often can't, and for me, i know i need god to help me live the way he inteded me to, 'cause i personally cannot do it alone. i cave into my sin daily, but i turn to him over and over again, hoping to have a more god honoring day than i did the day before.