The Place of Law

1/14/13              Al                       33

What place does the law have in the Gospel?  Isn’t it all about grace?  During a witnessing conversation at a Burger King a man named Al told me he believes that if he were to die today, he would end up in hell.  “Is that what you think God would say, or church people?”  I asked this because I rarely meet anyone who honestly believes God would send them to hell.  Al had told me he rejects organized religion but prefers his own private relationship with God, and that only God knows his heart, that he really has good intentions.  At first glance, it would appear that a focus on law and judgment has driven Al away from church, and grace and forgiveness have driven him to his own private relationship with God.  But as we talked it became more and more clear that Al didn’t know grace and forgiveness at all because he felt he was a good person who didn’t need forgiveness in the first place.  He had invented his own version of a god that overlooks his sins and doesn’t require a just punishment.  His main criticism of church people was that “they are too judgmental”, so in our conversation I found myself not wanting to make the same mistake.  But is it really a mistake?  Or is it a mistake to ignore or downplay the law?  What did Jesus do?