I once heard a joke that illustrated Ephesians 2:8-9 quite nicely:
An upright, clean-cut man dies and finds himself standing before St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. St Peter says, “Ok, so here’s how it works. You need 100 points to make it into Heaven. Tell me all the good things you’ve done, and I’ll aware you points depending on their goodness level.”
“Sure,” the man says. ”I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her–not even in my heart.”
“Not bad,” says St. Peter. “That’s worth three points.”
“Three points??” The man frowns, but continues, “Well, I also attended church all my life and supported its ministries faithfully with my tithes and service.”
“That’s definitely worth two points,” St. Peter nods.
“Two points?” The man is alarmed. “How about this? I started a soup kitchen in my city and volunteered every weekend at a shelter for homeless veterans.”
”Excellent, that’s good for one more point,” St. Peter grins.
“ONE POINT??!!” The man has a sick look on his face. “Sweet mercy! At this rate, the only way I’ll get into Heaven is by the grace of God!”
“Come on in!”
Tags: grace, Heaven, joke, salvation by works
February 28, 2008 at 7:40 am |
Bonnie, do you intend for your tags to be as amusing as they are?
The problem with this joke is that, while illustrating a good point, it maintains a dichotomy between faith and works, which is not as helpful for many Christians as it might have been at one time. Or at least it’s not helpful for me and I doubt it’s terribly helpful for you. It seems to privilege the mental or emotional aspects of our faith life, IE the mind that can acknowledge Christ and his saving grace with sentiments and utterances. On the other hand it almost denigrates the physical, loving aspects of our faith, the ones that are directed toward our poor and the creation of loving relationships.
I think the point of this joke is to say “look, it’s not what you do, it’s Grace that gets you saved.” This is true, but faith and its works are both fruits of the same saving Grace, right?
February 28, 2008 at 2:09 pm |
True, though you may be surprised how many people believe that salvation is earned. But as you said, if the seed of faith has taken root in good soil, then it will and must bear good fruits.