Attacking Dead Orthodoxy

There is such a thing as the spirit, or the tone of a book of the Bible. If you missed the controversial spirit and tone of Galatians for instance, then you really missed the message of most or all of the book. The book of James is very provocative--by design. By urgent necessity James is provocative. James is God's abiding attack on dead orthodoxy. It is a CLAIM not a doctrine that James is provocatively questioning: What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man SAY (emphasis added) he has faith, and have not works? There is more dead orthodoxy in the USA than there is dandilions in the meadow. Therefore we must provoke our neighbors (and ourselves) to examine their claims. Then we must provocatively help our neighbors apply scriptural tests of genuine redemptive experience. Finally, we will most likely become appropriately provocative if we get our minds around the stakes: James 2:19,20.