Don't G.R.A.C.E. people over-emphasise God's love, or suggest it is soft and fluffy, and overlook God's justice and wrath?
There are certainly some universalists for whom this criticism would be true, but evangelical Christians who believe that all people will come to Christ eventually don't need to imagine God to be a soft touch.
They have the same approach to sin, sinners and the need for repentance as any other evangelical has. The GRACErs just believe that everyone will get to this point eventually, not only those who say the "right" prayer or believe the "right" information before they leave this planet.
God's love is unconditional and universal, but very robust. His love includes both judgement and forgiveness. Because he loves us, he calls our sinfulness to judgement (conviction we sometimes call it) and offers forgiveness and reconciliation to those who respond to that with repentance.
Because the Bible tells us that God will have mercy on us all, that all will confess Jesus as Lord and that death will be the final enemy Jesus will defeat, GRACErs believe that all will be judged, forgiven and reconciled to God eventually.
There are certainly some universalists for whom this criticism would be true, but evangelical Christians who believe that all people will come to Christ eventually don't need to imagine God to be a soft touch.
They have the same approach to sin, sinners and the need for repentance as any other evangelical has. The GRACErs just believe that everyone will get to this point eventually, not only those who say the "right" prayer or believe the "right" information before they leave this planet.
God's love is unconditional and universal, but very robust. His love includes both judgement and forgiveness. Because he loves us, he calls our sinfulness to judgement (conviction we sometimes call it) and offers forgiveness and reconciliation to those who respond to that with repentance.
Because the Bible tells us that God will have mercy on us all, that all will confess Jesus as Lord and that death will be the final enemy Jesus will defeat, GRACErs believe that all will be judged, forgiven and reconciled to God eventually.
As I said in my previous post, I wonder if we are overemphasising the question of whether God is a soft touch. If we turned the question perhaps to a more sensible one of "how bad do we think sin is?" then whether God is a soft touch is not the issue.
ReplyDeleteThis concern about projecting God as a soft touch is interesting. How much does the question reflect on whether one thinks that they have somehow missed out on something because they didn't get to sin like the bad guys?
If people with concerns about God being projected as a soft touch really understood the nature of sin, and how it really has its own reward, I don't think they worry to much about whether someone was going to be punished by God as well.
Another point to make on this subject is that God is love (1Jn4:8). I am not aware of any verse that is just as pointed in saying that God is "justice" or "wrath".
ReplyDeleteFor so many Christians, the love of God is so immaturely formed in their hearts that they really don't understand it. As a result they form ideas and emphases on subjects like justice and wrath, as if they are somehow just as important as love. The state of their own hearts has much to do with what they see as important in their theologies.
I suspect that when subjects like justice and wrath are put in their proper subordinate place under the central issue of God's love, greater clarity on the whole subject of grace will emerge.
This is not to say that justice and wrath don't exist in the economy of God. The problem arises when such ideas are expressed through Christians with an imperfect understanding of the power of God's love.
Excellent point.
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