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NASB | James 2:17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | James 2:17 So too, faith, if it does not have works [to back it up], is by itself dead [inoperative and ineffective]. |
Bible Question: My husband was raised Roman Catholic, although he is not practicing the faith actively, he results back to it in times of trial with his rosary. Without trying to insult him, I am trying to find the right words or explanations of what is wrong in the way they practice their religon. That is why he still feels so empty inside. Can someone help me? |
Bible Answer: Catrose62, while I am not a Roman Catholic and cannot therefore speak very meaningfully or definitively of "what is wrong in the way they practice their religion," I can nontheless speak empirically about my own faith. I was saved when I was 14 years old. But there have been times in my life when I have strayed, when I permitted the things of the world to take over and crowd out my walk with the Lord. And as a result, I felt empty inside, felt that something vital was missing in my life. My prayer life diminished and only in times of personal crises did I earnestly turn to God in prayer. I let secular works of literature take precedence over my study of the Bible. I let the Sunday newspaper fill the time when I should have been worshiping God in His house. In short, I fell out of fellowship with God. My faith, instead of being the active, vital faith that God wants us to have -- the kind of faith that gives us so many blessings in Christ -- became, as James 2:17 says, a dead faith, not backed up by deeds and actions of obedience. So the key issue, I believe, is not the church we belong to but the Christ we belong to. Are we giving Him our full allegiance? --Hank |