Gospel News — Jun-Aug 2012

24

of the Soviet Union. I wondered about it, but I don't think there was any discrimination in our faculty. But again, I didn't think so deeply.

As you probably know, in 1991 Latvia broke away from the Soviet Union and Soviet power in Latvia came to an end. There was a freedom of religion and freedom of travel and I bought my first Bible in English on a tour in France. Bibles were not freely available in the SU, but I had always wanted to have one. Then I saw an advertisement in a Russian newspaper for `Bible Basics', and I wrote off to Duncan for a copy of this literature, which I actually received. I studied the lessons. It all made sense, and I suppose I started to join the dots, and see that yes, God exists, and His existence answered the questions I had had without fully realising it. I was invited by Duncan to attend a seminar about the Bible. At the time I had the impression that church was for old ladies, and some 10 years ago I didn't feel it was quite for me. "The tragedy of old age is that you still feel young", Somerset Maugham has said. But I did attend, and was amazed that there were young people there and a very active and enthusiastic spirit for the things of God. I completed all the lessons of the Bible course and then Duncan suggested I should be baptized. I knew I had to make a decision to enter relationship with God and Jesus and other believers, and so I was baptized, and never looked back.

Now you have asked me to write about grace, God's undeserved kindness in giving us salvation if we believe, independent of our works, or according to the New Penguin dictionary: `unmerited divine assistance to human beings for their regeneration and sanctification'. In Russian and Latvian dictionaries issued in Soviet times this meaning of the word is not even recorded there, for God's existence was just

hushed up - why speak of something that doesn't exist? But the idea of getting something for free, as it were, is foreign to most people. Of course people can be kind, can be nice; but grace; but grace as it is understood in the Bible is unknown to them, I suppose that is true of all societies in the world. But I think this understanding of grace was especially foreign to people from the Soviet Union. There was very much the mentality that by hard work there would be progress and personal advancement. There was a distrust of anything `free', the common saying being "For free is cheese in the mouse-trap." The motto on every street corner was: `From each according to his abilities, to each according to his work'. Kindness and generosity are one thing: but God's grace is another thing. Especially that we are sinners. I like most people have a conscience, but there is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour within society: but the idea of sinning against a personal God, and that He can forgive you and give you eternal life in His Kingdom, well, these ideas were quite foreign to people living under atheism and a materialist mindset.

I suppose that forgiveness is one key to understanding grace. Soviet regime made people very focused upon themselves, wary of keeping out of trouble, of keeping their thoughts to themselves, and not forgiving. I translated the talks given by Brother Steve Gretton about forgiveness, and I found the ideas very helpful in understanding grace. Those talks were a step upwards on the ladder for me. Also helpful to me was translating an article by Duncan about the good Samaritan. We are the injured man, we are to accept that we are the injured man and to accept the help from Jesus, who is the good Samaritan in the story. I also found very helpful the idea that we are to take full responsibility for our own sins. Without this, perhaps, grace can't be understood. I think most people, and