(urth) Gideon

[Dan'l Danehy-Oakes]

On Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 10:27 AM, Jeffrey Brent McBeth <mcbeth at broggs.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 08, 2009 at 10:11:43AM -0800, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes wrote:
>> On Thu, Jan 8, 2009 at 9:27 AM, Jeffrey Brent McBeth <mcbeth at broggs.org> wrote:
>>
>> > Freedom being equated to being unconstrained by morality seems a bit
>> > antithetical to the Christian belief that morality is what sets you
>> > free.
>>
>> That's not the Christian belief. The Christian belief is that *Christ* is
>> what (who) sets us free.
>
> Who requires you to be moral to receive His grace.  We cannot ignore
> the mechanism for the freedom (Him), but it is the morality that is
> the part that is in our control, not Him.

I don't want to start a whole theological argument, but I think you've
reversed cause and effect here. It is not that acting morally allows
us to receive Christ's grace; rather, it is that Christ's grace allows
us to act morally. Unregenerate humanity, the "old creation,"  is
conceived of as corrupt and fallen, and incapable of doing any real
good. "In Christ I am a new creation," and capable of doing real
good.

But this is only the ancient dogmatic question of faith v. works,
which led ultimately to the great Western schism.

-- 
Dan'l Danehy-Oakes, writer, trainer, bon vivant
-----
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