Take the case of someone who has never done a single good act but claims that he has faith. Will that faith save him? If one of the brothers or one of the sisters is in need of clothes and has not enough food to live on, and one of you says, ‘I wish you well, keep yourself warm and eat plenty,’ without giving this person these bare necessities of life, then what good is that? Faith is like that: if good works do not go with it, it is quite dead…Faith without good deeds is useless.
The Letter of St James 2:14–17 and 20
(a) What does this author say it means to have religious faith? (b) Choose any one of the three extraordinary people discussed in this chapter. Then explain how he or she lived up to the Christian faith he/she claimed to have.
(c) Suppose someone were to tell you, ‘It’s pointless. One person cannot make any real difference with all the suffering in the world.’ In the light of the three stories you have read, how would you respond? Would you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer.
