Redeeming Grace in the Canon of the Restoration PDF Download

Author: John Draney
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781468010558
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
The purpose of this book is to thoroughly contemplate redeeming grace, the power by which the faithful are set on the throne of Christ as he is set on the throne of his Father (Revelation 3:21), and the rest of the family of Adam and Eve are made recipients, to one degree or another, of the gift of salvation. I have little if any interest in so-called enabling grace, the divine help by which Moses leads the children of Israel out of Egypt, or Joseph Smith brings forth new scripture to the world. The latter often seems to be the only variety with which we members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are familiar, but the former far exceeds it in power and permanence, for by redeeming grace the highest, eternal purposes of God are realized in us. Enabling grace helps us do something. Redeeming grace, however, does something to us. Long after the glory of the Exodus and the Restoration fades-manifestations of enabling grace in the time of fallen mortality-the culmination of redeeming grace will endure in the perfection of the once mortal citizens of the heavens. However expert we may become in matters of our pragmatic, practical religion, we must always remember the grace by which we will reign with Christ in eternity, the redeeming grace of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. For many years now the notions of redeeming grace and the mechanics of the atonement have weighed heavily on my mind. I have gradually become aware of a significant disconnect between the popular apprehension of redeeming grace and what is written-hidden as it were in plain sight-in the canon of the Restoration. This disruptive dissonance is driven by the pervasiveness in the church of varying levels of legalism (the same ailment afflicting ancient practitioners of the law of Moses), the interpretive construct alleging that we enter heaven because of our own obedience to, and compliance with, commandments and covenants (sacred contracts). Through the lens of legalism, the gospel is merely an improved law of Moses, a divine to-do list such that if we "[do] those things [we] shall live by them" (Romans 10:5), obtain through our own effort and exertion the requisite skills and qualities to dwell in the presence of a holy, perfect God, and otherwise personally overcome, with the assistance of our Redeemer (to the extent necessary), all the obstacles preventing us from a joyous reunion with our Heavenly Father. Consequently, my most ambitious goal in this work is to take a figurative wrecking ball to legalism's incomplete, distorted, inconsistent, faulty, and shortsighted appraisals of redeeming grace and the atonement that seem to permeate much of the teaching on these subjects in the church. Whatever the reason for our collective reticence to acknowledge the full reach and effect of the redeeming grace of Jesus, the Savior of the world, let us cast off any and all errors accumulated over the years, disentangle ourselves from the burdensome shackles and inherent blindness of legalism, and behold with new eyes the perfect intercession of the Lord, and the merciful dissemination of its blessings through grace to the fallen family of Adam and Eve. You may scoff at the claim by an unknown like me that many, both in the restored church of Christ and in Christianity at large, miss the mark with regard to grace. You may insist that you will never alter your allegedly mainstream, orthodox appraisal-or denial-of redeeming grace. But if you pay attention to the pages that follow, and ponder the words of the canon of the Restoration contained herein, I promise you, you will do just that.