Not many people know about God’s restraining grace, and more so when it is being withdrawn from societies that were once predominantly Christian.

Multicultural Britain

Whatever way one defines multiculturalism, multicultural Britain highlights that the Christian culture that once predominated in Britain no longer does so.

There are many consequences from this, but one effect is the lower tolerance and lower standards concerning speech and behaviour.  This is a judgment from God upon our society.  His restraining grace is being withdrawn, the restraint that accompanies the preaching of the Christian Gospel.

Generational change

People talk about Gen X (1965 to 1980) and Gen Z (1997 to 2012) which is their way of describing the different attitudes of one generation from the other.

The older generation claims not to understand the younger one.  One simple example is the different work ethic of the generations, whereby Gen Z (16-27 year-olds) has one million unemployed or economically inactive workers.  The nation has been hoist on its own petard by encouraging young mothers into the workplace and diminishing the tax incentives for married couples.  Now Gen Z prefers to spend six hours per day on smart phones rather than working in gainful employment.

I find myself explaining to older people that they grew up in a generally Christian culture with its values instilled into them even if they do not personally identify with Christianity.  The younger generation are growing up in a different Britain, so they think differently, even selfishly and sometimes violently with teenage knifecrime.

The blame game

Some want to blame this change of culture on immigration, but Britain has always had immigration.  The main issue is the lack of Christianity in public life and the failure of the national churches to teach the nations.  Is it too much to evangelize those on our doorstep?  British missionaries evangelized the world in former generations, but British Christians are failing our own nations.

Restraining Grace

So what is restraining grace?  It is that generalized restraint that the knowledge of the Christian Gospel puts upon the native wickedness in the heart of fallen mankind.

Some people call it Common Grace to distinguish it from Saving Grace, but this term is not helpful because restraining grace is not common to those who hear the Gospel, nor does it describe what this gracious influence does.  It restrains but it does not prevent wickedness.

Its source

Restraining grace is a feature of God’s benevolence to a Christian society whereby His Holy Spirit restrains wickedness in a general way, by people’s consideration of the evil effects and consequences of sin. 

Listening to and regular reading biblical teaching has this effect, but not all people will read nor listen to the Bible.  However, being in and around the godly has an effect upon the thinking, speech and behaviour of the ungodly, because if people will not read the Bible then they may read the lives of the godly.  The godly are living epistles 2Cor 3:2-3.  This is why some people want to be as far away from the godly as they can, and do not want to engage in their conversation.  Recently a retired and well-educated medical doctor walked abruptly away from me at the very mention of the name Jesus, and a former Christian emailed that he wanted nothing to do with Christianity.  Thankfully his email said Christianity rather than Christ.  It was full of exaggerations, not only in content but in expression, suggesting that he was not in a happier, more tolerant spirit than when he professed Christianity.  I assume that he had a bad experience with institutional Christianity.  This may be a wrong assumption but it is clear that he never had any good experience with the living Christ.  He may be a prodigal son on whom the Lord’s rich grace may yet be manifest.

The current situation – the loss of restraining grace

We have now fallen upon hard times with little Christian teaching, behaviour and example for the general public and especially the rising generation to follow.

The divine restraints upon society are being withdrawn and society tries to fill the gap to maintain order with secular means.

Jesus called His hearers an evil generation Lk 11:29 and this description fits our generation. 

The discourtesy and the ‘couldn’t-care-less’ attitude, that one now encounters more frequently than before, is a manifestation of God withdrawing His Spirit.  Some people complain that if there is a God then He is hiding Himself Ps 10:1, Isa 45:15. Is it any wonder that God leaves them to themselves when they tell Him to do so? They prayed Jesus to depart from them Mk 5:17, Mat 8:34, and that is exactly what He did. When many of Jesus’ disciples gave up and departed from Him, He did not run after them but challenged His twelves apostles if they also would go away Jn 6:66-67. If people don’t want God they will not be forced into heaven against their will but they will discover too late what it is like to ‘live’ without God – it is called eternal death because it is no life at all.

Judicial blindness

The result of losing restraining grace is that people do not recognize the Lord’s hand in judgments when they happen Lk 13:1-5. Those who read the Bible and, in particular, the Old Testament learn about God’s providence and His withdrawing His favour from whole societies. Those who do not read the Bible draw their conclusions from elsewhere.

This inability to recognize where their troubles come from is a feature of our generation.

Tobias Ellwood M.P., a former UK Defence Minister and Chair of the UK Defence Select Committee, points to the new type of “grey-zone warfare [at 21:46,48 hrs]” by Russia. He suggests that the old image of war is blinding people to the new forms of warfare. Truly, societies are “blinded” to spiritual warfare. This is not new but it becoming more prominent as restraining grace is withdrawn from society. Mankind has always been at war with his neighbours, even if it is only ‘the battle of the sexes’, which has taken on a new meaning in recent years.

Mankind staggers on from crisis to crisis, unaware from where its troubles arise.

It is time for a Christian Voice to be heard in public to explain what is happening and to suggest the solution. It is time for national leaders to listen to the Prince of Peace Whom they demean as a babe in a manger once a year.

Links:

30 Nov 2023: different types of warfare.

1 Jan 2025: Republican Senator John Kennedy, at a Press Conference today [at 19:20 hrs] after the New Orleans terrorist attack, questioned: “I wish I understood better why bad things happen to good people”.