[FONT=georgia, palatino]Religious pollster George Barna has come out with his annual report on the state of the church. In my view, it is less a report on Christianity as the epitaph of cheap grace.[/FONT]
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[FONT=georgia, palatino]Cheap grace was coined by the late Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship.[/FONT]
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[FONT=georgia, palatino]"Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate." [/FONT][FONT=georgia, palatino]
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[FONT=georgia, palatino]Cheap grace, as opposed to costly grace, has been the mantra of the "numbers matter most" crowd down through the years. The results aren't pretty.[/FONT]
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[FONT=georgia, palatino]Barna notes in his "Six Megathemes Emerge From Barna Group Research in 2010" the disturbing trends in the modern church world:[/FONT]
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[FONT=georgia, palatino]1. The Christian church is becoming less theologically literate.[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia, palatino]2. Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented.[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia, palatino]3. Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia, palatino]4. Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia, palatino]5. The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian Church.[/FONT]
[FONT=georgia, palatino]6. The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.[/FONT]
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[FONT=georgia, palatino]Christians are more interested in participating in their communities, but they see no change in their own lives or in those of their neighbors. That's an expected result of the "cheap grace" mentality. Only changed lives change lives. [/FONT]
The Epitaph Of Cheap Grace
Discussion in 'News & Current Events' started by freeatlast, Dec 16, 2010.
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Churches equate tolerance and being PC right up there with the Gospel. As a matter of fact, it is their Gospel. This is another heresy that has crept into the churches, and it wears a badge of love and light, and is a doctrine of devils. Tolerance in our society is set, by protocol, to tolerate everything but true biblical Christianity.
I just got the book BONHOEFFER: PASTOR, MARTYR, PROPHET, SPY. Your post makes me look forward to reading about this man of God's life.
Thanks for your post.
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Thanks again.