Joseph,
In your column, "More confusion about salvation by grace," you say: “There's only one way to achieve immortality, and that's to follow the prescription of our Creator. Follow His commandments, repent when you fall short, and love Him with all your heart, soul and mind. The nice thing about this recipe is that it works every time."
That statement is, at the very least, poorly written and misleading, if not wrong.
We all have immortality. Some of us will spend it in the eternal place of punishment, others eternally with God.
" ... to follow the prescription of our Creator."
That sounds like setting up for a list of duties to perform.
"Follow His commandments, repent when you fall short, and love Him with all your heart, soul and mind."
These are works and, in the context of the preceding sentences, that equals works righteousness.
In your column, you mix justification with sanctification.
Justification is what Jesus did for us. That gives us eternal life with God.
Sanctification is our showing our thanks for the justification that God has given us. If we don't show our thanks, that shows that we aren't justified.
Sanctification is following his commands, repenting when falling short and loving God, but none of these give us eternal life with God.
If you say that doing the works of sanctification are the way to get eternal life with God, then that is works righteousness.
Richard Ortiz