Grace=Freedom from sin or freedom to sin?

God has been teaching me a lot about grace this year. I have written about this a couple of times. For instance, God has been teaching me and I have written about how grace means a lot more than just forgiveness of past sins, and that it means freedom from sin more than it means freedom from the consequences of sin. As God has been challenging me with this I run into more and more people that are struggling with false definitions of grace and freedom. Grace becomes a license to sin, and excuse to do whatever we want. I had a conversation with a student last night who was struggling with a roommate’s faith and actions and how to respond (this is like the fourth conversation I have had along these lines in the last three months) that reminded me of this whole discussion. Then, when I got home last night I read this in a book by Pete Grieg called The Vision and The Vow (buy it and read it):

As I look around the Church at this time, I see a real danger looming: I am concerned that the message of grace, which is currently being propounded so passionately from pulpits and paperbacks around the word, might merely be a “license to chill”—an all-embracing, one-size-fits-all, mindless rationale for accepting the greatest comfort and personal pleasure in any given situation. Such an aberration of grace labels those who break its code—those people who are seeking to be more disciplined and sacrificial in their faith—“religious,” “pious,” “driven,” “culturally irrelevant,” “caught up in good works,” “perfectionist,” or simply “legalistic.”
Of course, there is an ever-present danger of legalism and unhealthy pietism in the Church at large, and we all need to be told to relax at times, to be reminded and re-assured of God’s love and endless mercy. But in a culture forsworn to self-gratification, the danger far greater to us than legalism is surely the tendency toward the deification of pleasure in the name of grace.
Grace is calling us to “give up the game of minimum integrity.” Too often we are reduced to trivial debates about how far we can go sexually or how much we should give financially—all shades of gray in the ethics of obedience. And I suppose if we are mere adherents to a religious code, then such negotiations are fine and necessary. But if we are caught up in an infatuation of the holy, if this is a religion of living relationship and burning passion, then the impulse will not be to get the best deal, but rather, to give with joyful extravagance. When in doubt, we will not try to negotiate the minimum personal outlay, but rather will go the extra mile.

I hope this offers guidance to some of you, comforts others, and challenges some!

Gospel of Judas?

Many of have heard the recent reports on the "newly discovered" Gospel of Judas. Here are some links that might be insightful. Dr. Witherington is a NT scholar from Asbury. He has been on ABC news, NPR, etc. He has been sought as an authority in the discussion about the ossuary of James. Anyway, would love to get your feedback!

These link to the national geographic stories
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0406_060406_gospel.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/04/0406_060406_judas.html

A couple of responses from Dr. Witherington:
http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2006/04/gospel-of-judas-et-al-part-one.html
http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2006/04/gospel-of-judas-part-two.html
http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2006/04/gospel-of-judas-npr-discussion.html
http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2006/04/sad-truth-about-judas.html