I was reading a blog earlier and discussion came up on Karma and Grace. Now people are a little funny in that despite the world around us, which really isn't "fair" we have this tendency to think there should be some sort of cosmic justice. People who do bad things will get punished and visa versa. I think unfortunately many christians don't let go of this "Karma" theology but incorporate it into their christianity. What I mean by that is that if something bad happens to someone good, well they'll get payback through eternal bliss, whereas bad people are going to get eternal smackdown in hell. Surely that's just another form of Karma??
Anyways, the concept of grace is pretty important to christianity. Someone facetiously/argumentatively asked on this other blog "well could Hilter be in heaven, if you believe this whole grace thing?"
Now I think the idea of grace is important practically for living a happy and fulfilling life. Practicing graceousness towards others and also to ourselves can be very freeing and is a healthy way to live.
I've got some questions that I'll look up but feel free give your 2 bobs worth ;)
- Is grace covered much in the new testament? Is it more a NT concept?
- Do any other religions have a similar grace concept?
- Is there actually a biblical basis to "christian Karma" - maybe some OT verses?
- Does forgiveness require grace?
- What's the relationship between grace and love?
- What is grace?
I read that grace is getting what you don't deserve. That's a bit simplistic I think but interesting.
5 comments:
A good book you should read is "What's so amazing about grace" by Philip Yancey
It's a great book!
I think it's interesting you brought up that christians bring karma into their faith...while we are against the idea of karma, we do the things you describe in your post. Eternal smackdown etc. That's NOT grace!
And I believe that forgiveness and grace go hand in hand.
I'm interested to hear what other people have to say about this. Good topic petey :)
Wow, where does one start! Grace is such a HUGE concept!
My Dad's favourite saying for Grace is that it means
God's
Riches
At
Christ's
Expense
Or, basically as you put it, I read that grace is getting what you don't deserve.
Though it is 'simplistic' it captures a lot of what Grace is. Grace is undeserved merit. It is almost like God giving you a degree even though you haven't done the work to get it.
As Bek suggested, IMO grace and forgiveness go hand in hand BECAUSE often times 'grace' isn't the 'just' or karmic response (to bring karma into it). God has to be 'gracious' to forgive us, or 'gracious' to send his son to die for us because it is the LAST thing we deserve. We 'deserve' death, we 'receive' life. Wow, I love Grace!
It's kinda like one of those things that I don't think our feeble minds will EVER be able to FULLY comprehend. It is simplistic and complex all at the same time!
Grace to me means undeserved kindness. It's good to know that God's love doesn't depend on us being "good" all the time. Although it's sometimes hard to accept in practice :)
I remember reading recently in a book by Shane Claiborne (I think it was The Irresistable Revolution) about the concept of grace and/or redemption. He basically said that if we don't believe in it, then we can rip out a big chunk of our new testament, given that a lot of it was written by a former terrorist who went around killing Christians.
Well said all. I think forgiveness requires grace. Thank goodness we don't always get what we deserve.
I think experiencing grace is also very powerful, because until you've experienced it I think it's much harder to practice it.
I also think true love requires grace.
Post a Comment