Repentance necessary for salvation

[ManOfWord]

I understand the "technical" nuances of the question of "works." However, I can do NOTHING to make myself right with God. I can do NOTHING to make myself righteous in His eyes.

Repentance, IMO, is a yielding to God. It is taking the ownership of my life and turning it over to Him. It is not SELF centered, as most "works" are. Rather it is God centered. All my "works" are to proceed FROM repentance, not toward it. Repentance is the beginning. It is the birth of anything spiritual in my life. Only God can grant repentance.

"Works" can exist w/o repentance, but true repentance cannot exist w/o "works."
Repentance is NOT responding to an altar call or praying. Repentance is far deeper than that, and I fear that too many diminish the proper place repentance has in the whole scheme of things. In Judaism, it is Teshuvah. It is one of the most powerful things in Judaism. It means a truly fresh start. It is symbolized by a person walking by a moving body of water as a stream and emptying their pockets and throwing the contents, even if only lint, into the stream. They are carried down stream away and we are symbolically cleansed. This is the Jewish thinking. The Jews believe that the greatest gift to mankind is Teshuvah!