You go to church, you faithfully take the Sacraments, and you are forgiven and you have some assurance you are going to heaven. [bless and do not curse]Not that different from Lutheranism really. [bless and do not curse]
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It's possible to provide a comprehensive solution, but it would be a big task and may actually be unhelpful by virtue of being complex and maybe hiding the actual point to be answered.
To focus on the question of how many good deeds are required, the answer is not:
"going to church and participating in the sacraments provides some assurance of going to heaven."
That's because going to church is an action taken to indicate belief that it results in the edification of the saints, so that they can quickly reach the state of being able to fulfill the requirements of the Law.
The problem in believing that merely attending church is an item on the list of requirements towards salvation is that, sometimes, the command not to avoid the gathering of saints can be followed by the letter and not by the spirit and thus, may not be profitable.
What exactly is following the letter of the law?
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The letter of the law versus the spirit of the law is an idiomatic antithesis. When one obeys the letter of the law but not the spirit, one is obeying the literal interpretation of the words (the "letter") of the law, but not the intent of those who wrote the law.
Source : Letter and spirit of the law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
If I stop at a red light at midnight with no observable traffic, I am following a law intended to provide maximum safety.
When the amber light turns on, I observe that a speeding motorcycle is about to jump the red. I could proceed at the green, but that would violate the intent of the law, to ensure maximum safety, since it would endanger the motorcyclist. Although I would have obeyed the letter of the law by proceeding through the green, I would have gone against its spirit.
The intent of the command not to avoid the gathering of the saints is to ensure that we edify each other, build up one another.
Those who study through correspondence courses know that a vital part of the learning process is missing, the discussing and interacting with the lecturer and with other students. In recognition of this, Paul asks believers to meet together and study. He rebukes those who proceed to study God's word without waiting till everyone is present:
1 Corinthians 11:20Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper, 21for in your eating each one takes his own supper first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22What! Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I will not praise you.
Following the intent of the law to gather together is to ensure that the answers that God gives to each believer is used to edify the church. If we gather together just because God's word commands it, and do not build each other up whilst assembling, then we have missed the intent of the law, and this leads to an unfavorable judgment.
1 Corinthians 11:29For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
Romans 2:25For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
To conclude, what ensures a favorable judgment is following the intent of the law, not going through the motions.
In other words, attending church and participating in the sacraments like baptism and communion do not lead to salvation, if the intent of these actions is not followed.
To properly answer the question of how many good deeds are required, we must study what Christ taught elsewhere.
In the parable of the king faced with the approach of an adversary, Jesus advises those in a similar position to examine their resources and decide if they had the means to defeat that adversary.
Is salvation the context in view in this parable?
Obviously not. It definitely does not mean that Jesus asked His listeners to choose between going to heaven and going to hell as a condition of self examination appears in the proposal. The goal can be reached if the assessment of the person's capability is favorable.
It seems more likely that the context In view is that of a king who will reward a great deed with a rich gift but will also reward a lesser deed with a smaller gift.
The first idea repeated in the parable of the builder who set out to build a tower and was ridiculed for not completing it.
To flesh out the situation, imagine being asked by the suzerain to contribute to the war against the Enemy. One vassal lord offers a hundred men, another the funds to build a battlement. Jesus equates this to giving up all one's possessions to follow Him. Another lord has already sunk all his wealth into building a dam to supply his kingdom's farms and has to ask for terms of peace: he will provision the army of the suzerain!
All three have offered acceptable support to the cause, one with terms of peace, a compromise, an extension of the deadline.
The teaching is that all these vassal lords have acted loyally, and it is loyalty, not acting against the interests of the suzerain, that ensures a favorable judgment.
Leading us to conclude that not being against God is being for Him. This is what receives a favorable judgment
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