Grace

There is a concept in Christianity, "being saved by grace". It's one of the more important tenets of the worship of Christ, and as such I find it odd that it seems to be a point of such division amongst the various sects. Some believe that grace and grace alone will save you. Others that it's a combination of good works and grace.

Those two ideas seem to be at rather constant odds with each other. I'll admit I don't fully understand why. Doing good works seems like a generally benevolent thing to do. But I have on many occasions heard proclaimed Christians damn near arguing against them. Once good works are mentioned they start in with a lecture about Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast." It even sounds sort of straightforward (in this translation at the very least). God has saved you so you give him the credit. There is no "be a good person" loophole into paradise. Now that being said you'll hear a lot from Christians saying that this doesn't mean you shouldn't do good works. It just means that you should give God all the credit for it.

To look at a different model, I remember the metaphor I was told to explain this to me when I was young Mormon. Good works are the ladder that will get you closer to God. But in the end it doesn't matter how high you get on the ladder, only that you try to get as high as you can, because Christ's sacrifice will take up all the slack. I honestly see it as a good compromise between the idea of buying your way into Heaven by not being a dick whilst still throwing all the credit to the Homie on High.

The real problem I have, is not how it's explained or justified, but with the very idea of Grace itself. Or at the very least the current understanding of the concept. I'll be the first to admit, it's a concept that has been brewing and mutating for thousands of years at this point. I'm certain it meant something completely different when it was first conceived then what it is now.

Now, I understand its appeal. I really do. No matter what you do, or how horrible you are, there is hope. You can bath in the blood of the Lamb and be made clean again. You will be rewarded for your belief in him and the glory that you direct towards Him. There's a clean comfort in this. Particularly for those that assume that the natural state of mankind is abomination.

The base assumption of Grace is that only a God could care about helping others without trolling for glory. And even then, that's sort of the point, to give the glory to God and not hog it for yourself.

And that's something that always bothered me. I mean I understand how dangerous unchecked Pride can be, and that seems to be what this is trying to stop, but what you're doing in reaction is something that passively encourages the worst kind of spiritual, ethical, and philosophic laziness. It leaves your entire fate in somebody else's hands. There's a freedom in that I have to admit. The freedom from responsibility.

And that's the crux of the matter for me. Being saved by grace implies a lack of responsibility for your actions. That is the whole point of Christ's sacrifice isn't it? That we can be terrible people and still find glory through him, through repentance or truly taking him into our hearts. Now with repentance there's less issue for me. Because at the very least you're doing something. There's an aspect of admitting you have done wrong, and trying to make amends.

But that's not what I see as much from the diehard "saved by Grace" adherents. Jesus (Joshua) took on their sins with his great gift. And now that they have taken Him into their heart, or been baptize in His name they are somehow no longer burdened by their actions. They can punt off the guilt over what they did onto someone else.

I mean no offense as I go over this. I'm just trying to understand why it just smells so deeply wrong to me, and it always has. I was taught to only do that which I could be proud of, and to try and make amends where I could. But regardless it was for me to take responsibility for my own actions. Be they good, evil, neutral, nonsensical, they are MY actions.

And if I wasn't going to fully accept the consequences, why in the seven hells did I do them?