tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7361429.post2180333634599939434..comments2023-11-03T00:59:06.808-07:00Comments on Common Places: Let Freedom RingRachelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09552221110548320109noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7361429.post-82622471438388746312008-07-22T02:41:00.000-07:002008-07-22T02:41:00.000-07:00Love the post, Rachel. It's amazing how many centr...Love the post, Rachel. It's amazing how many central tenets of our faith get twisted back into conventional thinking so quickly that we miss their revolutionary-ness. I think we like the feeling of being upstanding citizens and not scandalous prophets. This fits well with N.T. Wright's current book tour (caught him on Colbert--thanks for the tip) about how the things that most Christians think they know about heaven are wrong, and wrong in ways that affect our lives here. Is there a book out there somewhere about "100 things most Christians don't question about their faith but fail to understand it if they don't" kind of thing?<BR/><BR/>Regarding justice, and the thirst for retribution, I often say that the good news of the gospel is that _other_ people's sins are forgiven. Because I think that most people are eager to think well of themselves, so the idea of forgiveness for their own sins is quite easily accepted, and leads to a kind of cheap grace. But to accept that other people's sins are forgiven -- insert name here of disliked relative, obnoxious movie star, pointy-haired boss, opposing political bigwig, not to mention murderers and abusers, etc. -- is much more of a struggle. And is truly good news, because to wallow in a state of arrested retribution is the opposite of freedom. To be given the gift of joining Jesus in forgiving their trespasses, to see them as God's creation and loved in cradled arms -- well, that is a saved life, freed up from bindings of hate and resentment, and can be restored to what God intended for each of us.<BR/><BR/>But even knowing this, it is hard to live it always. The retribution impulse is hard to quell. It'd be nice to have one bound volume with a lot of these key, difficult-to-maintain-in-our-culture ideas that could be poured over and over. I seem to get these treasures in random places that then slip through my synapses when I want to recall them.Steven Lansinghhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07019445807854678404noreply@blogger.com