{"id":170,"date":"2007-01-22T22:46:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-22T22:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jwalking\/2007\/01\/graceless.html"},"modified":"2007-01-22T22:46:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-22T22:46:00","slug":"graceless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/01\/graceless.html","title":{"rendered":"Grace…less"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here are some more thoughts on that paragraph<\/a> on love I quoted from Andrew Sullivan’s “blogalogue”<\/a> with Sam Harris.<\/p>\n

A decade ago noted evangelical author Phillip Yancey<\/a> wrote a book called What’s So Amazing About Grace<\/span><\/a>. As the title suggests, it was about that monosyballic word – grace… the freely given and unmerited favor and love of God. <\/p>\n

Yancey opens the book with a story told to him by a friend who worked with the poor:<\/p>\n

A prostitute came to me in wretched straits, homeless, sick, unable to buy food for her two-year-old daughter. Through sobs and tears, she told me she had been renting out her daughter – two years old! – to men interested in kinky sex. She made more money renting out her daughter for an hour than she could earn on her own in a night. She had to do it, she said, to support her own drug habit. I could hardly bear hearing her sordid story. For one thing, it made me legally liable – I’m required to report cases of child abuse. I had no idea what to say to this woman.<\/p>\n

At last I asked if she had ever thought of going to a church for help. I will never forget the look of pure, naive shock that crossed her face. “Church!” she cried. “Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They’d just make me feel worse.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yancey continues:<\/p>\n

What struck me about my friend’s story is that women much like this prostitute fled towards Jesus, not away from him. The worse a person felt about herself, the more likely she saw Jesus as a refuge. Has the church lost that gift? Evidently the down-and-out, who flocked to Jesus when he lived on earth, no longer feel welcome among his followers. What has happened?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yancey’s sweep is too broad – there are so many “down-and-out” who do find their love, comfort, and grace in the arms of churches. But not enough. That should be a greater conviction to the church of Jesus Christ than fighting against abortion, gay marriage or any other “social issue.” Paul said it well – you can do anything but if you don’t have love your work is useless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are some more thoughts on that paragraph on love I quoted from Andrew Sullivan’s “blogalogue” with Sam Harris. A decade ago noted evangelical author Phillip Yancey wrote a book called What’s So Amazing About Grace. As the title suggests, it was about that monosyballic word – grace… the freely given and unmerited favor and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith"],"yoast_head":"\nGrace...less - J Walking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/01\/graceless.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grace...less - J Walking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here are some more thoughts on that paragraph on love I quoted from Andrew Sullivan’s “blogalogue” with Sam Harris. 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