Open Question For Jerry Falwell (and those who agree with him)

The post I'm responding to is a month old, but I just saw it. I have to address this: Hmm. To quote your favorite Bible teacher, Arach, "They will know you are my disciples by your love for one another."His brother, James (not sure if you believe it was his brother who wrote the letter, though) said, "Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."While that last quote is not from Y'shua (Jesus), I think it's obvious he would have agreed. He describes a judgment in which he tells the sheep that they'll be rewarded because they visited the sick, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, etc., not because of what they believe.We may mark who is a Christian by what they claim to believe, but Christ marks them by what they do. "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven."

You said earlier that faith produces love, works, etc. That's all fine, but here you say "we don't call someone a Christian because they are righteous," but Christ says that we call someone a Christian because they love one another. You can say faith produces love, but faith can't be seen. Love can be seen. Professing belief is utterly meaningless.Thus, you may call everyone who professes belief a Christian, but a lot of people don't agree with you, and Christ is among them."Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven."The profession of the Pharisees is that they were sons of Abraham. The profession of Christ was that they were sons of satan, vipers, hypocrites, disciples of hell, and several other none-too-favorable epithets.I remember talking once with someone about faith in Christ, and a co-worker came in and joined in with me. The person I was talking to said to the co-worker, "I don't want to hear anything you have to say, because you're a hypocrite. Go away." My co-workers profession meant nothing to this person whose actions did not match up with his profession. I think most people feel that way.Thus, I also disagree with your statement that: That is not true. Maybe none of us are perfect, but I have always been able to produce a list of people I knew who didn't fall short of the mark at all by my standards, and another list of people who are nothing but stinkin' hypocrites. Others are in between, but I've always known people who do not fall "far short" of the mark, but are wonderful representatives of the faith they profess.

At this point I'm willing to just drop the discussion. We've both had our say, and we'd just be repeating ourselves.However, can you clarify--no, explain--this last statement. I don't have a clue what you mean by "our representation extended to how we act towards other christians." Maybe I'm just dense. If you're "just saying" that, though, then it's a summary sentence, and I guess I'd better stop and ask what it is you're concluding with.