January 8th, we went to a conference for evangelical churches in our Kagawa prefecture. I would guess about 50 or so pastors and believers attended. Professor Yamato brought out how some 1000 years ago Japanese Buddhist priests- Honen and Shiran- proclaimed a salvation by grace. Interesting! He also pointed out that they have no Christ or cross and emphasized Ephesian 2:8-9, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Christ's grace moves us to work.
