What does God want from us? If you took a survey among the people you know, asking them what God requires from them in order to gain His acceptance, what do you think they might answer? I think most people would say God wants us to be good; to keep the ten commandments, to follow the golden rule. God wants us to go to church. God wants us to give to the poor, be kind to strangers, be nice to our family members. Some people might stress the “don’ts” over the “do’s,” Don’t get drunk, don’t cuss or swear, don’t smoke cigarettes.

Let’s hope that all of us now understand that “keeping the rules” does not justify us before God, that doing good works cannot in any way contribute to our eternal salvation. Now what? Where does a Christian stand after salvation in regards to good works? Once we have been saved, what role, if any, does our behavior, good or bad, play in our eternal destiny? Can we lose our salvation by our performance or our failure to perform? And, if we cannot lose our salvation, does that mean we can just live any way we please?

Peck’s definition of original sin is, you might guess. LAZINESS: and his view of salvation is “to become all that you can be.” I don’t find these teachings in my Bible, do you? Peck stands the concept of grace on its head, inferring that the path of working and striving he has laid out is really the path of “grace.” Huh? I don’t get it. Listen to Peck’s statements about grace on p.306 of the book: