Prof. Miroslav Volf, Part 11

Here are a few more thoughts from the lecture in religion, held in the Hollis Room at Florida Southern College. Prof. Miroslav Volf was the lecturer from Yale Divinity School.

At the beginning of Prof. Volf's lecture, he talked about cheap grace. Cheap grace allows the sinner to keep on going same as usual, with everything remaining as it was before because we all sin. So, what is the point in changing, the sinner asks. There is no justification of the sinner, but only the sin. It's cheap.

I sat up a little straighter in my wooden chair because only a few nights before I had been reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His first chapter is all about cheap grace and how we are to be seeking costly grace, which is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because we don't deserve it and it is the only true life.

It was Christ who made it possible for the sin to be separate from the sinner. We are all both victims and perpetrators, so it is important to forgive others, even when they don't ask for it. The power of forgiveness is in the hands of the person who forgives. But then we are to ask ourselves, are we remorseful over the damage to ourselves? Or for the people we damaged?

We wrongly think, sometimes, that if we don't recognize a wrong doing, it's not real. That is far from the truth, of course. That is like saying stealing is okay just as long as nobody sees you do it.

Every untruthfulness is a form of injustice. We are doing wrong to someone by being untruthful. Isn't this something we learn as children? Yet, as adults we still need to remember being untruthful only hurts in the end.

Following his lecture, there was a question and answer session, where the audience got to ask some deep questions. I was impressed by the depth and difficulty of the questions asked. I watched Prof. Volf as the questions were being asked, and he stood in front of the lectern, listening thoughtfully. Before he began to speak, he paused, allowing his thoughts to coalesce. Then, he spoke slowly at first, building on each word as he constructed a tower of thought-provoking comments. I greatly admire one who thinks before speaking. What is spoken, then, becomes worthy of full attention.

These are just a few snippets of topics to chew on. Each one could easily be expanded upon as their own musing. The lecture was thoroughly enjoyable and I wanted to share a little bit of what I took from it.