There are nine Gifts of the Spirit and there are nine Fruit of the Spirit. Don't you think they all work together to help us become better christians....not just saved christians?
I do know the difference between the Gifts and the Fruit. I personally believe that Fruit is superior. I agree with you when you said, "Gifts are given from above...just like when one person gives a present to another....but fruits are grown as we walk in the Spirit." When someone gives you a gift you can use it or you can lay it aside. You can also flaunt it in front of others to try to make them think you are superior. The Bible is clear that God gives the gifts as He chooses not according to how spiritual a person is. A person with a gift or gifts of the Spirit can become very spiritually weak and even in a backslidden state as I once was. God still did not remove gifts that He gave me when I was in a backslidden state. I do not believe that a person producing the fruit of the Spirit could possibly live in a backslidden state. I think producing fruit is a sign of spirituality. I think it proves we are truly abiding in Christ. When I was backslidden even in my confused mind, I knew I still had some gifts. That kind of freaked me out since I wasn't even sure that there was a God, but any fruit that I once had was pretty withered up.
I enjoyed your post. I addressed the rest of it here:
http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1873729#i
I noticed an error I would like to correct in my post. "When I was backslidden even in my confused mind, I knew I still had some gifts. That kind of freaked me out since I wasn't even sure that there was a God, but any fruit that I once had was pretty withered up." It was actually only one gift that I noticed I had that freaked me out. I thought I would correct this in case this is important to any reader. I apologize. I noticed other mistakes in my grammar, but I will leave them. The context of the message is what is important. I was very tired when I wrote it. We can't edit anymore.