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The Commentary

Secular grace deception

US TV shows are not among my favourites, but they are extremely popular. Certainly series like Scrubs and Glee are de rigueur for most 20s and 30-somethings.

These shows regularly promote the friendly face of what we might call ‘secular grace’. The ethos is one in which everyone is accepted. That is absolutely right when it comes to such matters as race or disability. But the agenda of these shows is more generally to do with morality — especially sexual morality. Morals are relative, a matter of opinion. We are all aware of our own failures. So we don’t judge anyone. We just accept — like grace.

Pushing the envelope

You find this secular grace / political correctness running through series like Friends, Frasier, Sex in the City, House and all the way back to M.A.S.H. If you want to follow the trail on this, the book Prime Time Propaganda by Ben Shapiro, subtitled ‘How the Left took over your TV’, would be a worthwhile read. Shapiro’s thesis is that there is no organised conspiracy, but creative people tend to be liberal in outlook and are drawn to work in a creative medium like TV. Being liberal and seeing traditional morality and family life as restrictive to self-expression, and therefore, in their terms, an ‘evil’ in society, they have tried to ‘make a difference’. So they produce light entertainment which subtly questions and undermines the old standards. Audiences laugh along as their viewing pushes the envelope on moral issues.

For many this secular grace is seen as more ‘gracious’ than God’s grace; it not only accepts people as they are, it doesn’t try to change them. Within this liberal ethos the gospel is made to look narrow and the church comparatively unloving. This propaganda is a large influence today and closes many minds to the gospel. But it is a lie.

The cost

We have talked about this a number of times at home and here are some of the things which emerged from our post-TV watching conversations.

First, the makers of secular grace TV shows give the impression that morals are totally relative. But even they will draw the lines somewhere. Is paedophilia okay? Are terrorists to be accepted? How about consensual cannibalism? The answer would be ‘no’. They do not believe morals are actually relative. They have simply redrawn the line to suit themselves. It’s hypocrisy.

Second, Those who push the envelope of moral issues rarely show the results of taking their advice. The serious consequences of sexually transmitted diseases are not mentioned. The misery of women battling to make ends meet as single mothers and the statistics concerning the way children from broken homes are disadvantaged plays no part in the script.

Third, the idea that secular grace is more loving than God’s grace is a lie because secular grace costs nothing. It does not cost one leper to accept another leper. It would be hypocritical not to. It does not cost a sinner to receive other sinners. But God is not a sinner. He does not have to accept us. He is holy and has every right to reject us. But he does not. Instead he paid for our sins in the person of Christ at the cross. And it cost Jesus everything. That is true grace. The immensity of God’s holiness therefore becomes the measure of the enormity of his love.

The truth is summed up in Matthew Henry’s memorable words: ‘You have a holy God above you, a precious soul within you, and an awful eternity before you’. Therefore, we would add, you need a loving Saviour beside you.

John Benton