God Beyond Religion: The Importance of Grace in Deconstruction

 In my view, it is beyond doubt that evangelical Christianity and orthodox Christianity suffer from gross error. As I view people who were once evangelical who begin deconstruction, this is often the path of the journey. The first step is to move into what can be called the grace movement. From there they reject Paul and become what one could call red letter Christians, that is, they adopt only the words of Jesus. From there the final stage is to reject Christianity out of hand. Many simply no longer follow Jesus or think that being a Christ follower is important. This stems from an either-or view of scripture. Either, the bible is the word of God, or it is not valuable in any way shape or form and has no mystical revelation in it.

However, insofar as I know, the bible is the only source for understanding divine grace. I don’t think that it is over simplistic to say that the good news, or the gospel can be summed up in the concept of divine grace. The New Testament concept of grace is divine favor. It is the concept that one need not fear divine retribution. Luke recorded in the Acts of the Apostles the following: Acts 20:24  “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” Divine grace is indeed the good news.

Now let’s look at another factor that could seem either-or to a deconstructing Christian. Either the Penal Substitution Atonement is correct, and grace is needed, or grace is unnecessary. Divine grace serves a much greater purpose than remedying penal substitutionary atonement. Divine grace believed, creates a heart of love. Divine grace is a natural attribute of a God that is love. It is important to realize that this fact is only clearly stated in the Christian bible. If one throws the bible away, one can speculate that God is love and therefore gives divine grace, but with the Christian scripture one knows that because it is in writing. Further, if one rids themselves of the current acceptable scriptural lens a lot of mystical revelation from source can be found amongst the culturally motivated input.

I am not suggesting that there is a slippery slope that one slides down if one rejects the bible and Christianity. I am saying that one cannot understand the fullness of the love of God without the concept of divine grace. It is best stated by Paul in 1 Cor 13:5 saying that it keeps no record of wrongs. One can say that “keeps no record of wrongs” is only found in some translations. This is true, but looking at the Greek word logizomai, one finds that it means reckon. So, it is really saying love does not reckon wrongs. This is important because it shows the fact of divine grace, and it is divine grace that provokes love and grace within the individual.

There are of course differing concepts of the atonement that have been accepted over the two millennia of Christianity. If one adopts a Christus Victor view of atonement, that is that Jesus Christ was victorious over death and the accuser, one has the foundation for being transformed into supernatural love. The victory over death is the assurance of eternal life, and the victory over the accuser is the assurance that any and all accusations, whether from oneself or others including the concept of a Satan, has no deleterious effect. In other words, we are eternal beings that are loved by the creative source and are actually family. Another mystical revelation of the New Testament is that we are partakers of the divine nature. This stems from the fact that we are created in the image of God. God is a conscious creative spirit. This makes us conscious creative spirits as well. Jesus certainly taught this according to the apostle John.

Yes, there is misogyny in the bible. It is even in the New Testament. Yes, the bible suggests that slavery is acceptable. Yes, the Old Testament portrays God as a vindictive violent personage. All of this is undeniably true. However, the prophet Joel mystically prophesied that the Christ Spirit would be poured out on all flesh. This was proclaimed to be a reality by Peter at Pentecost. This means that all of us innately have the spirit and the spiritual discernment to be able to distinguish between what is mystical revelation and what is the cultural input of humans. All one has to do is ask how it lines up with love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. This is a great yardstick, and one must also realize that grace always trumps judgment.

Yes, the important mystical message that Christianity has to offer is grace and love. While it is not that often practiced by a ton of Christ followers, it is very plainly there in the Christian scripture for those who can discern.