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2004-01-07
3:15 p.m.

This is the raddest thing I've read all year. Husband sent it to USA Today in response to a quote.

Dear Reverend Parham:

I read your quote in USA Today regarding Pete Rose:

"Pete Rose articulates the notion that divine forgiveness erases earthly accountability. God will surely forgive him, but that doesn't mean he should be automatically admitted to the Hall of Fame. He's looking for a cheap form of grace that is forgiveness without consequences for wrongdoing. The question for the Hall of Fame is whether his violation of rules was egregious enough to prohibit his recognition. I think his (14 years of) lying compounds his gambling problem. It suggests that his admission of wrongdoing lacks a purity of character that one longs for in the American pastime. Divine justice should not be confused with cheap earthly grace."

Rev. Robert Parham, executive director of the Baptist Center for Ethics in Nashville, USA Today January 6th, 2004

You define cheap grace as forgiveness without consequences for wrongdoing. Isn't that the definition of Christ on the cross? What kind of grace is it that while we were "still sinners" Christ would die for us and require merely faith that he did it for the promise of eternal life? It would be cheap grace except that it's even cheaper--it's free! How frustrating for the teetotaling moralist!

What kind of grace is exhibited in the parable of the workers where at the end of the day the employer paid those who had worked a full day and those who had only worked a few hours the same full day's wages? How infuriating is that!

Remember the Jewish lawyer who asked Jesus what the definition of "neighbor" was so he could coldly and merely execute the letter of the law? And Jesus told a story that had the lawyer imagining himself lying half dead in the road? Who would help him? A fellow righteous Jew? No. The clergyman? No way! It took a dirty and despised Samaritan to show true mercy.

You have been forgiven of your sins, Reverend. You are no longer a prisoner to sin, the chains have been thrown off. You were given a mercy you will never deserve.You have been called to act in the same manner towards others.

I can't judge Pete Rose's heart. But mercy doesn't ask questions of character. Mercy acts in spite of character. And yet you suggest that while "God will surely forgive him" all bets are off with regard to a sports award? Since when do human institutions have higher standards than God? I know. When they replace mercy with ethics, and become a god unto themselves.

I suppose the Apostle Paul will never be enshrined in the Hall of Fame either. In spite of his great batting average, people just can't get over all those Christians he slaughtered.

sincerely,

David Drury




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