Here We Are

by Matthew
Welcome to 'Unashamed of Grace'.

The members of this blog are absolutely convinced of the wonderful truth of God's gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. We know that we have eternal life, not through any merit of our own, but through Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection. Eternal life is a gift; it is not conditional upon any works of righteousness before or after conversion.

We believe that traditional Calvinism and traditional Reformed theology have failed to realize this. In particular the doctrine of Perserverance severely compromises the free nature of grace and damages any ground of assurance. We hold, on the contrary that justified sinners are eternally secure in Christ. This is not conditional upon perserverance, though perserverance is demanded of believers and failure to perservere has consequences both in this life and the next.

We do not delight in debate. We do not relish confronting fellow believers, but we have no choice but to contend for the apostolic doctrine of grace.

We all believe that Free Grace theology has been seriously misrepresented. Accusations of 'Easy Believism' abound. I have seen too many ugly comments along those lines. We would challenge both Calvinists and Arminians to take a good look at the Scriptures and question their positions. If we are in error, show us how. Do not just quote verses at us (we have all read the New Testament, let us not patronize each other), but show us why you think your interpretation is better.

Why a team blog? The members of this blog feel that traditional Calvinism is a little overrepresented in the blogsphere. We are concerned that many Christians are quite unaware that there are theologies other than Calvinism and Arminianism.

There may well be many Christians who have never considered the possiblity that James 2:14 talks about a genuine faith, rather than a false or spurious faith, as Reformed theology holds.

We believe that we can be more effective in sharing the message of the free offer of grace by working together, as well as by blogging as individuals.

The members of this blog are all broadly Dispensational in theology. This theological system will be reflected in our posts and has has had a constructive role in shaping our methodology. That is not to say, however, that the doctrines of Free Grace can only be shared by those committed to Dispensationalism.

I met this little group on-line and I can say that they are wonderful people who truly love their Lord. I have been helped enormously in my understanding of the Word by Antonio, Rose, HK Flynn and Nate.

We are not exactly uniform in our theology. There may be differences within the group over theology. I am a little more 'Arminian' in my view of election than some of us. I am also the only Post-Tribulationalist in the group. We are also varied in our knowledge of the Free Grace scene. I have never even read a book by Zane Hodges. I am only a recent convert to a consistent Free Grace position. Rose says she is willing to learn more about it, but has embraced the simple "no-strings-attached" qualities of the Free-Grace soteriology, as she understands it so far. Some of us, therefore, have as much desire to learn through participating in this blog as the desire to promote our views.

We welcome constructive comments from people of all theological persuasions. We are here to listen as well as to "talk."

Please visit us again.

Matthew