Faith is the mental effort to believe. According to research, during a typical day, a person uses about 320 calories just to think. Different mental states and tasks can subtly affect the way the brain consumes energy. Applying effort to the belief in things you don’t know, raises additional strain on cerebral energy consumption. Is this not works? Is not this something you do?
Additionally, the mental wrangling required to believe in deities is indeed effort. To outsmart the contradictions of the Hebrew religion also induces stress and issues of self worth, further adding to “works”.
Faith in Jesus is works. Contradictions 9:17 Apologetics is even further efforts that contradict the biblical promise.
Grace and faith are ideas in opposition that require caloric effort. The only way to evade that is faith like an atheist—total trust in letting go. Only then can grace be achieved through unbelief—through no effort whatsoever.
