{"id":4378,"date":"2016-05-31T15:37:30","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T22:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/uncommongodcommongood\/?p=4378"},"modified":"2017-01-04T10:49:43","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T18:49:43","slug":"is-it-a-fundamental-human-right-to-live-off-gods-grace-as-borrowed-capital-with-no-intent-of-paying-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/uncommongodcommongood\/2016\/05\/is-it-a-fundamental-human-right-to-live-off-gods-grace-as-borrowed-capital-with-no-intent-of-paying-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It a Fundamental Human Right to Live off God\u2019s Grace as Borrowed Capital with No Intent of Paying Back?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"7027595009_f3c5fc23e4_z\"<\/a>
Photo by: Tax Credit<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Is it a fundamental human right to live off God\u2019s grace as borrowed capital with no intent of paying back? Often, we live as if God will be gracious to us, no matter how we live. Voltaire, the deistic critique of orthodox Christianity in the 18th<\/sup> century, was reported to have quipped, \u201cGod will forgive; it\u2019s his business.\u201d Is it? How do we know? Was Voltaire living in light of borrowed capital from the Christian tradition he rejected without paying tribute?<\/p>\n

Voltaire was likely far more cognizant of the biblical backdrop to grace than many young people in our moralistic therapeutic deistic age (MTD). According to sociologist of religion Christian Smith, \u201cWhen teenagers talked in their interviews about \u2018grace,\u2019 they were usually talking about the television show Will and Grace, not about God\u2019s grace.\u201d[1]<\/a> Still, many young people\u2014and no doubt, older people, too, presume that God is in the business of helping them when they need it\u2014a deity on demand. As Smith states, \u201cGod does not need to be particularly involved in one\u2019s life except when he is needed to resolve a problem.\u201d[2]<\/a> But how do we know that God will help us resolve the problem? Should we assume that God will respect our wishes and fill our orders?<\/p>\n

Now if it is the case that we are to be fair and good to others, and fair and good people go to heaven, as many MTD\u2019s maintain,[3]<\/a> how do we know that we fit the bill? Or do we simply assume God will pay the bill with grace if we can\u2019t pay in full?<\/p>\n

What such assumptions also seem to beg is that God is good and righteous and holy (even though our MTD world does not emphasize these attributes); otherwise, why would this deity let the good people in to heaven and exclude the bad people, as MTD\u2019s tend to think? Someone\u2019s got to pay for misdeeds in our culture; after all, we\u2019ve all heard that there\u2019s so such thing as a free lunch\u2014or a free ride, for that matter: someone\u2019s paying for the gas.<\/p>\n

The biblical account of Moses portrays a man who ran away from his problems in Egypt\u2014and from God, no doubt. But God tracked him down. At times, it seems he wished that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob never sought him out in the wilderness and called him back to Egypt to lead his people out to the Promised Land. And yet, we find increasingly a person passionate about knowing God and doing God\u2019s will. Exodus 33-34 depicts Moses as asking God to show his glory to him. Here is the disclosure he receives:<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Lord\u00a0descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and\u00a0proclaimed the name of the Lord.\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0passed before him and proclaimed,\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Lord, the\u00a0Lord, a God merciful and\u00a0gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast\u00a0love and faithfulness,\u00a0keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but\u00a0who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children\u2019s children, to the third and the fourth generation\u201d (Exodus 34:5-7; ESV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

God reveals himself as gracious\u2014forgiving us of our transgressions and sins, even though we don\u2019t deserve it. And yet, God will not clear the guilty; they should not presume upon God\u2019s good graces, or take divine grace for granted. Still, God longs to forgive. While it is not a fundamental human right to be forgiven, it is a fundamental drive of the Almighty to forgive. But we must respond to his invitation. We must confess our sins, as 1 John 1:9 declares:\u00a0 <\/sup><\/strong>\u201cIf we confess our sins, he is\u00a0faithful and just to forgive us our sins and\u00a0to cleanse us from all unrighteousness\u201d (ESV).<\/p>\n

The Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament provide the means of cleansing for forgiveness from guilt\u2014the spotless lamb of sacrifice, which the New Testament discloses as Jesus (See Hebrews). Those who make use of God\u2019s gracious provision don\u2019t live off borrowed capital, but God\u2019s grace bound up with the sacrifice of innocent life.<\/p>\n

Still, when we presume upon God\u2019s grace and mercy, we are living off borrowed capital with no intent of acknowledging our debt. How fair and good is that? Such presumption may work with a deity on demand, but not the demands of the Almighty, who does not owe us anything, especially not grace.<\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>Christian Smith, \u201cOn \u2018Moralistic Therapeutic Deism\u2019 as U.S. Teenagers\u2019 Actual, Tacit, De Facto Religious Faith,\u201d page 53: \u00a0https:\/\/www.ptsem.edu\/uploadedFiles\/School_of_Christian_Vocation_and_Mission\/Institute_for_Youth_Ministry\/Princeton_Lectures\/Smith-Moralistic.pdf<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>See Smith, page 47.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>See Smith, pages 46-47.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it a fundamental human right to live off God\u2019s grace as borrowed capital with no intent of paying back? Often, we live as if God will be gracious to us, no matter how we live. Voltaire, the deistic critique of orthodox Christianity in the 18th century, was reported to have quipped, \u201cGod will forgive; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1284,"featured_media":4379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIs It a Fundamental Human Right to Live off God\u2019s Grace as Borrowed Capital with No Intent of Paying Back?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is it a fundamental human right to live off God\u2019s grace as borrowed capital with no intent of paying back? 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