The Grace of Creation is the Grace of Redemption

It's difficult to believe we're nearing the end of the Second Week of Easter. One concrete proof for the theory of time's relativity is that as I grow older time seems to pass more quickly, despite moving at the same pace it has since its beginning.

I had a discussion today with a friend about certain aspects of soteriology. What does Christ save us from? How does Christ save us? What sparked the discussion was my friend's understandably "visceral" reaction to the insistence of another friend of hers, who is an Evangelical Christian, not only to Penal Substitutionary Atonement but also to its companion doctrine: forensic justification.

Penal Substitutionary Atonement, for those who are curious, holds that instead of torturing and killing you for your sins, the Father allowed his Son to be tortured and killed on your behalf. According to this view, the torturing and killing of Jesus somehow satisfied the Father's bloodthirsty justice. Such a God makes Greek and Roman deities look positively benevolent and gives Moloch and Baal a run for their respective monies. In short, a visceral reaction is an appropriate response to such a monstrous theology, one that is wholly incompatible with God who "is love" (see 1 John 4:8.16).

Forensic justification, to use a metaphor employed by Martin Luther, holds that Christ's atonement "covers" your sins like a blanket of freshly fallen snow covers up a pile of crap. In other words, because of your sinfulness, without Christ's "covering" you look to God like a pile of crap. Here's some great news: nothing could be further from the truth!

A third faulty theological idea, one that underwrites Penal Substitutionary Atonement and forensic justification is Total Depravity. Total Depravity holds that, due to the fall, human beings are utterly depraved until they are regenerated by grace, which regeneration happens either when you say the sinner's prayer or when you're baptized, depending on which faulty perspective you take.

This troika of false dogma, which I am stating in a very forthright manner for the sake of clarity, also posits a real difference between the orders of nature and grace, treating them as separate and distinct, ignoring that creation finds its origin and completion in and through grace. Such a fundamental theology is not Catholic.

It's important to point out that God's plan was not thrown off-track by the Fall. Therefore, Jesus is not God's Plan B or Plan C. Jesus is not even Plan A. He is God's only plan from the beginning.

Even before discussing the above with my friend, I felt the need for a little redemption this morning. So, driving to work I put Jennifer Knapp's album Lay It Down in my CD-player (yes my vehicle is equipped with one). I wound up listening to the first track three times. What else is our traditio going to be if not "A Little More"?