New Testament -> James
The coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
James 5:8
James for Skeptics
James is one of my favorite books in the bible. I don’t know, maybe it’s just the ex-Catholic in me, but James doesn’t contain much that is objectionable, and has some really good stuff. Evangelical Protestants, of course, don’t much like the book of James, though few will admit it as openly as did their hero, Martin Luther. He despised it, calling it an “epistle of straw” since it so clearly contradicted his perverted belief that salvation comes from faith alone, independent of one’s actions.
Verses seldom quoted by born-again Christians:
Pure religion ... is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
1:27
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
2:14
Faith without works is dead.
2:17, 20, 26
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
2:19
By works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
2:24
Ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
4:14
(All we are is dust in the wind.)
Ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
5:1
Of course, James also has some silly stuff. For example:
• If you are merciless to others, God will be merciless to you. (Two wrongs make a right.) 2:13
• James says that, even in his day, all beasts, birds, serpents, and sea creatures had been tamed by humans. 3:7
• If your prayers are not answered, it’s your own damned fault. 4:3
• Whoever is a friend of the world is an enemy of God. 4:4
• “The coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” 5:8
• If you are sick, rely on the power of prayer. It works every time. 5:14-15
- The Bible:James 1
- The Bible:James 2
- The Bible:James 3
- The Bible:James 4
- The Bible:James 5
