What too many whites seem to demand from these families\u2019 statements, however, isn\u2019t really grace. As the journalist Jamelle Bouie pointed out, people like Santorum insist on what the German theologian and anti-Nazi freedom fighter Dietrich Bonhoeffer called \u201ccheap grace\u201d \u2014 the \u201cpreaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance\u201d from those who have sinned. The forgiveness they want is so cheap that I can only call it \u201cWal-Mart grace\u201d: low-priced but shoddy, destructive of real community and built on exploitation.<\/em> The author goes on to suggest a theological error\u2013that whites need to atone for their years of racism. \u00a0As if they could do so. \u00a0In fact, the heart of the gospel is this: \u00a0We cannot atone for our own sins. \u00a0Only Jesus can pay that price.<\/p>\n However, while we can\u2019t atone for the past, we can choose a better future. \u00a0We go forward trying to live differently, and making what amends we can out of love and gratitude. \u00a0The word that the author should have chosen here is the word \u201crepentance\u201d. \u00a0This is the word that Bonhoeffer chose. For even as Jesus says \u201cI forgive you\u201d, he also says, \u201cgo, and sin no more.\u201d \u00a0To do otherwise is indeed to cheapen that precious gift of grace.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/body><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the aftermath of the tragic shooting in South Carolina, a shockingly racist hate crime, this bit piqued my interest: What too many whites seem to demand from these families\u2019 statements, however, isn\u2019t really grace. As the journalist Jamelle Bouie pointed out, people like Santorum insist on what the German theologian and anti-Nazi freedom fighter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[171,167,165,166,169,170,168,20],"class_list":["post-278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections-of-the-fall","tag-atonement","tag-charleston-shooting","tag-cheap-grace","tag-dietrich-bonhoeffer","tag-hate-crime","tag-l-a-times","tag-racism","tag-repentance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions\/283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em>
\nSource: LA Times editorial online at:\u00a0http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/la-oe-0625-baptist-charleston-forgiveness-20150625-story.html<\/a><\/p>\n