Marginal Christianity

3. If we live in a religionless world we better be about the business of “Losing Our Religion” (REM) . This is DB’s third word to us. His corollary might be the Mets’ former star relief pitcher Tug McGraw’s famous slogan during a pennant chase in 1973, “Ya Gotta Believe!” Religion, which infected DB’s German Church infected as well much of the American church he was aware of. For him, religion consisted of -a metaphysically dualistic world in which the immaterial, inner realm, the spiritual, the eternal, the otherworldly, was superior to the material and the goal of human longing. -an individualistic orientation which privileges the other-worldly fate of the individual soul. -a part of a person’s life rather the whole. -belief in a “god of the gaps,” one who only comes into play where we cannot take care of ourselves (for example, death and guilt). -a focus on the performance of the right things, religiously and morally, that keep God pleased with us. -a

The Christian has to let grace truly be grace enough so that the world does not lose faith in this cheap grace. In being worldly, however, in this necessary renunciation required for the sake of the world--no, for the sake of grace!--the Christian can be comforted and secure in possession of that grace which takes care of everything by itself. So the Christian need not follow Christ, since the Christian is comforted by grace! That is cheap grace as justification of sin, but not justification of the contrite sinner who turns away from sin and repents. It is not forgiveness of sin which separates those who sinned from sin. Cheap grace is that grace which we bestow on ourselves... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without the living, incarnate Jesus Christ. --Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from "The Cost of Discipleship" One of the more interesting phenomena I recently saw in the social networking world was the heated arguments and mass de-friend