The LDS view of grace versus works is that your works must demonstrate righteousness but since we are all sinners God's grace and Christ's atonement fill in the gap to then allow us into Heaven.
In mainstream Christianity there has always been fierce debate between faith versus works with scripture validating one side while invalidating the scripture of the other.
The LDS view is seen by many as trying to have your cake and eat it too because arguments from both sides are right. Basically the LDS position is taken to task because it refuses to choose one side over the other by choosing a third option therefore both sides attack.
I'll post links to scripture for and against both grace and works at the end of this article.
The reason I agree with the LDS stance is because I believe that as Paul wrote: "9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Romans 3:9/3:23
So if we haven all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God works alone won't save us.
An argument in favor of grace is that we cannot purchase salvation through works but I look at it as works being indicative of a saved heart of a saved and truly changed soul rather than works serving to purchase salvation.
Jesus said that ye shall know them by their fruits meaning works. Good fruit does not come from a bad tree just like bad fruit does not come from a good tree.
And some may argue that good people do bad things and bad people do good things but one would have to know the contents of the hearts and minds of others to truly know that, to truly know ones true motives.
So I favor the LDS position because we need grace but we can't get by solely on grace that is lip service to The Lord because if you have been truly changed by Christ then your actions will bear that out just as your speech and thoughts will as well.
You cannot ignore the teachings of Christ and assume that since you believe the Bible to be inerrant and literal that you can do as you please and be saved because you believe Jesus to be the savior that that's all it takes is believing in the grace of Christ.
But then since we all sin works alone are not enough, grace is required.
And I feel that the scripture favoring grace is just as true as the scripture favoring works because both are essential I think.
I don't think one scripture invalidates another. They serve to further deepen understanding by looking at both ideas and even by contrasting and comparing them.
From Wikipedia:
The means of justification is an area of significant difference between Catholics/Eastern Orthodox andProtestants. Broadly speaking, Catholicand Orthodox Christians distinguish between initial justification, which in their view occurs at baptism, and permanent justification, accomplished after a lifetime of striving to do God's will. Most Protestants believe that justification is a singular act in which God declares an unrighteous individual to be righteous, an act made possible because Christ was legally "made sin" while on the cross (2 Cor 5:21). Justification is granted to all who exercise faith, and that is viewed as a gift from God (unmerited favour) byLutherans and Calvinists, who use Eph 2:8, as well as Acts 16:14 and Phil 1:29 to support that belief. Catholics and Eastern Orthodox use James 2:14-26, Galatians 5:19-21 and Matthew 19:17 to support their belief that justification is kept through avoidinggrave sins. Justification is seen by Protestants as being the theological fault line that divided Catholic from Protestant during the Protestant Reformation.[1]
And on works we have this from Wikipedia:
Apostle Paul connects grace with works writing to his fellow-worker Titus in Titus 2:11-12 that the grace of God has appeared in order to live an upright and godly life. For him good works are a consequence of grace (compare 2 Cor 6:1) and he even says that on theJudgment Day "...each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body" (2 Cor 5:10). The Letter to the Hebrews says that doing good is a God pleasing sacrifice (Hebrews 13:16). Furthermore, like in every book or epistle of the New Testament, doing God's will is emphasized (Hebrews 13:21).
This verse also speaks about the cooperation between the believer and God in regard to the believer's deeds because God works out in a Christian what is pleasing in his sight. Jamesstates in his letter that a person is "considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone" (James 2:24).Apostle John describes the life of a Christian as walking in the same way in which Jesus walked, which includes necessarily also deeds (1 John 2:6). In his letter Jude describes false teachers as "fruitless trees in late autumn", indicating that true believers should bear fruit in their lives (Jude 12).
