Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

November 25, 2012

Cheap Grace?

By Mark Labriola

The great thing about Facebook is you meet some of the most interesting people. Friends of friends of friends. For me, the most fascinating aspect is you have the chance to engage in political as well as theological discussions with people you may never have the opportunity to engage in real life circles of friends.

This weekend was one of those times. I found myself participating in a string of comments in response to the parody of Thanksgiving‘s Black Friday and the Friday during Easter week when Jesus Christ was crucified. The post declared that the Crucifixion was the most Amazing Free Gift ever offered.

In response to this discussion an agnostic chimed in with a rebuttal to the fact that Eternal Life was free, and that he understood that to be a Christian one must surrender his life and that by no means is free.

This then caused a barrage of comments from others, including myself, in an attempt to explain God’s free gift to the agnostic. After several failed attempts it was finally agreed to let him die in his sins if that is what he insisted on doing. This then soon unveiled that one of our defenders happened to be an antagonist of Grace being the sole path to Christ and eternal life. He was strongly opposed to the idea that a person is saved through Grace alone and appealed to his interpretation of scripture as a defense for human works being an integral element to receiving eternal life. He said he had been a preacher for over 30 years and would never subscribe to the idea of CHEAP GRACE.

How can a Christian say they understand who Christ is, the creator of everything, His love for mankind, His sacrifice and suffering, then refer to it as CHEAP?

I refer to the picture above. There is nothing cheap about the Grace (the unmerited favor) God offers us through Christ. He paid an eternal price for every sin of mankind, from Adam’s to those committed by every person in human history, now and until the end of time. That’s the extent of His value to God the Father. To think that a mere imperfect human being could have anything else worth contributing to a perfect Holy God is abhorrent to my very soul. The arrogant pride of man and his belief that he can somehow validate or invalidate Christ’s sacrifice never ceases to amaze me.

If you are an agnostic or a misinformed Christian, please try to understand this. The Gift God offers to all people is not cheap. It’s not cheap or incomplete in any way because it cost Him everything. The price of forgiveness for man’s sin was very high and paid through the death of a man whose existence is priceless, God’s only Son.The gift He offers every human being is Eternal Life by simply accepting through faith that His suffering and death is completely sufficient as full payment for your sin. Anything more than that is not Grace so please don’t refer to God’s gift of unmerited favor He calls Grace as CHEAP!

And that’s a Christian American Opinion

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August 6, 2012

A Christian American’s Redress

By Mark Labriola

So the question comes up all the time, “how can I be a Christian and resist the government’s authority?” Doesn’t Paul the apostle make it very clear that we are to submit to governing authorities? Romans 13:1-7. I will try never to take the word of God out of context. Paul was speaking very clearly about government authority in general and their purpose to restrain evil. I believe Paul (and of course the Holy Spirit) is directly referring to the Executive Branches of Government i.e.”he does not bear the sword in vain”. In the United States of America we have a constitution that describes the authority of the government and responsibility of its citizens.  Our government’s constitution preamble states:  We the People of the United States in order to form   a more perfect union…

Our Declaration of Independence states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government.

Americans have a history of “self governance.”  Abraham Lincoln acknowledged this in the Gettysburg Address. “…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth”.

We are a government “of the people”, “by the people” and “for the people” as well as a nation under God. So as citizens of this great country we have a Biblical responsibility to follow its laws that we, through our republican form of government created but also have a responsibility and a right to alter or abolish it as an unalienable right if it moves beyond its constitutional limits.

So how can I do this and remain within my scriptural boundaries? Well if we read the “Bill of Rights” we can read in 1st 9th and 10th amendments to the United States Constitution which allow us the freedom and responsibility of  demanding our rights from our government through redress. If our rights are being violated we have a Christian obligation to resist. Not only for our sakes but for the sake of our children and other Americans whose rights afforded them by our Constitution and laws are being violated.

So when a fellow Christian brother or sister rebukes your outspoken position using Romans saying it is God’s will to submit to our government, let them know you are, and then  that you expect them to get off their couch and stand up for our country as well…In the name of  our founding fathers, the constitution and your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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