Salvation by faith and works : intellectually ridiculous?

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My time here has exposed me to people who hold the view that salvation is achieved by something other than just faith in the finished redemptive work of Jesus Christ (salvation by faith alone).

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Dismissing works can also get into something that, IMHO, is intellectually ridiculous. James 2:26 (KJV)A Blue Letter Bible commentary on Jehovah's Witnesses' appeal to James 2:26 as a Bible teaching that salvation is through faith and works leads to John 6:29: (NKJV)I think that the BLB discussion gets us into a circular situation. James says you must have faith and works. The BLB response is that the "works" are simply faith. In other words, unless I'm terribly mistaken, to be saved you must have faith and . . . faith.

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James says you must have faith and works

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No he doesn't. He says "faith without works is dead" If there are no works then the faith is dead.

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James 2:24 (KJV):

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Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

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Faith and works are separate things, according to James. A man could have faith only, but he would not be justified. It is by works he is justified.

Perhaps this is a topic for a new thread, but at James 2:24 As you can see, a man is justified by his deeds and not by faith alone. I found this:Wesley's Notes on James What Wesley is saying here is . . . I have no idea what he's saying. I doubt he did either. I don't know where he got the idea that James was speaking of "dead faith" vs. Paul's "living faith," or where he got the idea Paul was speaking of works prior to faith while James was writing of works that came after faith. It seems that James said you had to have both, whereas Paul said faith alone was sufficient.