Tim Samoff // Weblog (old)

August 21, 2006

[Book Review] A Heretic's Guide to Eternity: Chapter 3...

Chapter 3 of the book ”A Heretic's Guide to Eternity,” by Spencer Burke, is called, “Grace and the God Factor.” It is most likely the key chapter of the book, dealing with a subject (God’s grace) that is brought up throughout Burke’s entire treatise.

Burke begins the chapter with a very sweet tale of his son telling him how much he loves him. Burke is struck with the question that if his own son can love him so profoundly, how much does God actually love us? Or, maybe more importantly, ”...what does it take to receive God’s love?”

These may seem like simple questions on the surface, but in reality most of us know that, in Western Christianity, the idea is that we do have to earn God’s grace… But, isn’t “earned grace” a paradox?

“Could it be that God’s love and grace are actually as subversive as my son’s declaration of love to me that day? Could it be that love finds us no matter where we are and we don’t have to do anything to get it? Could it be that—beyond religion, reason, and conventional wisdom—grace is something to be opted out of rather than opted in to? Is it not something you get but something you already have?”

In the previous quote Spencer Burke brings up, what I think is his thesis for “A Heretic’s Guide to Eternity”: Is God’s grace something that must be opted out of rather than opted in to?

It’s because of these questions—and the quest for something that more adequately defines the true essence of God’s grace—that people are turning away from organized reliogion, towards a new spirituality.

“For years, we have assumed that organized reliogion is the only way humanity can have a relationship with the divine other—whoever that may be. But today, many people are beginning to realize that faith can exist outside the realm of organized religion. The only problem is that religious people don’t understand this option—nor do they want to. They feel threatened by the shift to spirituality, and they’re quick to point out its dangers rather than see its potential. Still, in spite of their best efforts, interest in spirituality is flourishing.”

As the chapter progresses, Spencer moves from defining grace and what this new spirituality is and focuses more on what traditional Christianity primarily sees as the main reason for grace: sin.

“Religion declares that we are separated from God, that we are ‘outsiders.’ Grace tells us the opposite; we are already in unless we want to be out.”

Burke ends Chapter 3 by explaining the paradox of how Chrsitianity’s “grace” is contradictory to God’s grace.

“I grew up in an environment where grace was described as ‘unmerited favor.’ The only problem what that getting this ‘unmerited favor’ still required doing something—namely, ‘asking Jesus in your heart’ or praying a prayer.

“I’m reminded of those people in the mall who are always offering me a ‘free’ gift—and telling me I just have to fill out a survey or apply for a credit card to get it. Let’s be clear. If I have to do something to get it, it’s not free…

“If grace really is unmerited favor and I really can do nothing to get it, then that should be the end of the story. But in my experience, it never is. Religious people love fine print. They just can’t seem to get away from it no matter how hard they try. It’s always God loves you—but…”

This is actually a concept I’ve been dealing with since I was a young child. If God’s grace is free, then why do we have to do so much to get it? If it’s not free, I wish someone could tell me why?

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