Theo1689
Well-known member
As some of you know, the few Mormons who are on CARM (and a couple of them have started to participate in this particular forum) constantly dodge criticisms of their Mormon doctrines, and instead try to attack the doctrines of those who challenge them.
A Mormon poster recently threw out the phrase, "easy grace", as some sort of mud-slinging against Evangelical Christianity, and since such a topic isn't appropriate in the Mormonism forum, I thought I'd address it here.
First of all, I've never heard of the term, "easy grace", so I asked the poster to define it for us. Of course, he ignored the request, as the goal of Mormons is not productive discussion, but simply to throw around terms. I suspect that he INTENDED to accuse us of "cheap grace", which is a well-known phrase originated by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but that he's not familiar enough with the term to remember it correctly.
"Cheap Grace"
"Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession ... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Many recognize that some groups under the umbrella of "Christian" proclaim that all you have to do is wake down an aisle, pray a prayer, and that will guarantee your supposed salvation, even if you spend the rest of your life living in sin. Most Christians I know condemn this teaching (and rightly so), since the Bible clearly teaches that someone who is saved will not continue to live a life of practicing sin, unrepentantly. This is called "cheap grace" because the continued life in sin cheapens and disrespects Christ's great sacrifice on the cross for those very same sins.
Those who DON'T hold to "cheap grace" will, as Bonhoeffer points out, be repentant, be a part of church authority and church discipline, will confess their sins, and value the cross (by not adding their further sins to the already heavy burden).
I can only speak for Calvinists (non-Calvinists can weigh in for ourselves), but the reason that for us it is not merely a decision of the intellect and nothing more, is because we believe that when God saves a person, He REGENERATES them, and gives them a new heart of flesh to replace their heart of stone, and gives them faith and repentance, and a new nature that longs to love God and obey Him. Not because it will "give us salvation", but only because we love God, and that it is the right thing to do. To accuse any Calvinist of believing in "cheap grace" is to demonstrate an ignorance of what Calvinism teaches.
"Easy Grace"
I've never heard this term before, and therefore do not know what the poster meant by it, and he refuses to define the term himself. I suspect he meant "cheap grace", but just in case he didn't, I can take a guess on what he thinks it means, based on the meanings of words.
"Easy Grace" sounds like a derogatory term that "grace" is not good, or it is not truly grace, unless it is NOT "easy" to obtain. And that is precisely in line with what Mormons believe, since they reject "faith alone", and reject the idea that grace is "UNMERITED" favour. Indeed, some of their leaders have spoken and written about "meriting the grace of God", and I know of no other phrase which is as cringe-worthy.
But for Mormons, apparently "grace" must be hard.
You have to WORK for it.
God forbid that God gives a gift to one of His creation without asking for something first.
A Mormon poster recently threw out the phrase, "easy grace", as some sort of mud-slinging against Evangelical Christianity, and since such a topic isn't appropriate in the Mormonism forum, I thought I'd address it here.
First of all, I've never heard of the term, "easy grace", so I asked the poster to define it for us. Of course, he ignored the request, as the goal of Mormons is not productive discussion, but simply to throw around terms. I suspect that he INTENDED to accuse us of "cheap grace", which is a well-known phrase originated by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but that he's not familiar enough with the term to remember it correctly.
"Cheap Grace"
"Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession ... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Many recognize that some groups under the umbrella of "Christian" proclaim that all you have to do is wake down an aisle, pray a prayer, and that will guarantee your supposed salvation, even if you spend the rest of your life living in sin. Most Christians I know condemn this teaching (and rightly so), since the Bible clearly teaches that someone who is saved will not continue to live a life of practicing sin, unrepentantly. This is called "cheap grace" because the continued life in sin cheapens and disrespects Christ's great sacrifice on the cross for those very same sins.
Those who DON'T hold to "cheap grace" will, as Bonhoeffer points out, be repentant, be a part of church authority and church discipline, will confess their sins, and value the cross (by not adding their further sins to the already heavy burden).
I can only speak for Calvinists (non-Calvinists can weigh in for ourselves), but the reason that for us it is not merely a decision of the intellect and nothing more, is because we believe that when God saves a person, He REGENERATES them, and gives them a new heart of flesh to replace their heart of stone, and gives them faith and repentance, and a new nature that longs to love God and obey Him. Not because it will "give us salvation", but only because we love God, and that it is the right thing to do. To accuse any Calvinist of believing in "cheap grace" is to demonstrate an ignorance of what Calvinism teaches.
"Easy Grace"
I've never heard this term before, and therefore do not know what the poster meant by it, and he refuses to define the term himself. I suspect he meant "cheap grace", but just in case he didn't, I can take a guess on what he thinks it means, based on the meanings of words.
"Easy Grace" sounds like a derogatory term that "grace" is not good, or it is not truly grace, unless it is NOT "easy" to obtain. And that is precisely in line with what Mormons believe, since they reject "faith alone", and reject the idea that grace is "UNMERITED" favour. Indeed, some of their leaders have spoken and written about "meriting the grace of God", and I know of no other phrase which is as cringe-worthy.
But for Mormons, apparently "grace" must be hard.
You have to WORK for it.
God forbid that God gives a gift to one of His creation without asking for something first.