on cause/effect

"The very fact that I am saved by faith and that nothing at all is demanded from me should in itself cause me to strive." -- Kierkegaard (See also: Paul in Ephesians 2:8-10.)

The cosmological argument can take you to the existence of a creator god/God as the ultimate "First Cause". Cause/effect is a crucial feature of life in general and science in particular-- and a subject of confusion and controversy.

Likewise, we all have a basic choice to make (and controversy to resolve) about cause/effect in religious terms. Do your ("good") works cause salvation? Or does grace (and your faith in that grace) cause salvation-- which then causes good works?

Kierkegaard again: "Good works are like a child giving his parents a present, purchased, however, with what the child has received from his parents. All the pretentiousness which otherwise is associated with giving a present disappears when the child understands that he has received from his parents the gift which he gives to them."

Drop the pretentiousness, embrace the grace, give gifts from the wealth you have received.