I posted a verse on Facebook from the book of James where the writer makes clear that if you want to be “saved” stop talking about your beliefs and do something worthwhile for others.
In my faith heritage, we were the direct opposite. It was ALL about belief.
I think part of the problem is that the word “saved” is all tied in with Heaven and Hell theology. But I don’t think that was even on the mind of the writer of James. As I read through it all again… it is behavior, behavior, behavior.
He wasn’t trying to get anyone a Heavenly gates ticket… he was trying to get them to be good humans (at least as far as he understood it).
John the Baptist was doing the same thing. When people came to him asking, “What should we do?” He didn’t give them a list of postulates to believe… he told them how to behave.
“The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”
Tax Collectors? “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
Law enforcement? “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely.”
Not too long after John’s proclamations, Jesus went on to tell all the folks who thought they had the “god-thing” in the bag that it was actually all the outsiders who were entering the Kingdom ahead of them. Why? Because the outsiders were about the practice of being GOOD HUMANS.
I know the bible has plenty of not-so-great bits… pretty awful bits honestly… but it was written by a lot of different folks. In its best moments though, it calls us to be good humans.
I don’t hold any supernatural beliefs. I am not trying to get out of Hell or into any Heaven. But I really want to be a good human. I think it is in that space that Jesus, John, James, and I could have a conversation.
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