“Then he will say to those on his left [goats], ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Mat 25:41
(Tyler O’Neil – PJ Media) On Wednesday night, Mayor Pete Buttigieg took a break from lecturing the Religious Right about how it isn’t Christian enough. Instead, he decided to spout heresy about salvation.
While talking about systemic racism and his challenge connecting with black voters, Mayor Pete said, “I care about this because my faith teaches me that salvation has to do with how I make myself useful to those who have been excluded, marginalized, and cast aside and oppressed in society.”
In other words, salvation has to do with works. Only by making yourself “useful” to the marginalized can you be saved.
This idea makes sense. The ancient Egyptians believed that in the afterlife, your soul would be weighed. If your soul was light and pure, due to good works, you would be rewarded. If your soul was heavy and dirty, due to bad deeds, you would be punished.
Yet this is the opposite of what the Bible teaches. The New Testament clearly teaches that people are sinful, deserving hell, but they are saved through the grace of God, through faith.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not of yourselves — it is the gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which He has before ordained for us to walk in” (Ephesians 2:8-10).