Future Grace Chapter 1

James Amos has been trying to get me to read this book for about 3 years maybe longer. "it's the 2nd best book ever written, (number 1 being the Bible.)" I'm more of a fiction guy myself, but at about 10 pages into the intro I was beginning to think he might be right. This book is some serious heavy lifting in the "turn your brain inside out with questions" department though. I have also been meaning to write something longer then a sentence on my Xanga for about 2 years now. So here is my idea, after I read a chapter I am going to write about some of the things that I am thinking about. My hope is, that if there is anyone out there that still reads these things, that you might post some comments back about what you are thinking, especially if you have read this book but even if you haven't. Like I said it's pretty heavy, but I am really enjoying what I am getting out of it and thought it might be cool to share/discuss it with other people. So here goes Chapter 1.

How Satan can use subtle lies to destroy big truths.

"That's not Chapter 1's title but the title of what chapter 1 has me thinking about."



It's amazing to me that when I follow subtle theological lies they always seem to connect to and undermine big biblical truths. Take the classic hot topic Choice vs. Election. I think the bible is pretty clear on election, we are called by God. But what happens if you follow the implications of choice? You almost instantly have to start to question some central dogmatic questions like, "Is he all knowing?" and "Who is in charge of my life, me or God?"
The debtors ethic I think is another subtle lie. Basically the debtor's ethic says, "Look at what God has done for me. Jesus, I owe him! (pun intended.) It's obvious that we should be grateful for what Christ has done for us and that we should show him gratitude. The lie here is that the way we should show gratitude to God or to anyone for that matter is to repay them. Perhaps it's the rugged individualism that is so ingrained in us, but it seems pretty common place in America that the way you show gratitude is to pay someone back, one good deed deserves another, but that is just plain wrong. The word gratitude comes from the word gratis meaning "without price or payment." Something for nothing. When you won't allow a gift a to be a gift it becomes a debt and this gets very messy when you are talking about the gift of the Cross. The Cross is an obviously non-repayable gift. If your response to a gift is repayment you can think of the Cross as an amazingly high interest credit card kind of a debt, we're talking guest on Oprah because you are crazy and stay at home moms will watch you with bewilderment at how you could let it get so out of kind of debt, and every time you sin (which if you are me is a lot) the debt gets deeper. Ironically, or perhaps cunningly by the devil, the freedom you felt from recognizing what Christ did for you and your gratitude are now replaced with a sense of indebtedness. So now your energies that are going towards a debt you never repay and if Satan can keep you within that frame of mind you will do one of two things or a combination of both. 1st you will spend your spiritual time and energy trying to pay down the unpayable debt until you die. or 2nd you will avoid God because you know you owe him and you don't have the money. Both of these pull you away from response God wants and asks from us in the Bible, trust him and worship him. Trust and worship are the correct ways show God our gratitude. So what does this lie undermine? Well basically the entire Gospel. No one deserves Heaven or the Grace God bestows upon by his sacrifice on the Cross not even a little bit. To assume that you could pay back the Cross just a little bit, like just the interest, is ludicrous and ultimately insulting. It puts a burden on your shoulders that God doesn't want us to bear and knows that we can't bear. It's the reason he sacrificed his son. It's the most beautiful gift ever given, don't try and repay it, just enjoy it.

Today we didn't have power so we made bratwursts in the fireplace.