A refusal to understand

Understand this, no Christian walking this earth today is perfect. We want to be better than we are. We are trying to do better. We are going to fail. However, God will not hold our failures against us. What man may hold against us is another matter.

I am not an expert on religion. What follows is what I believe as well as some empirical facts. YMMV.

In the wake of the Masterpiece Cake decision, experts on "Christianity" are coming out of the ether telling the rest of the world that the Bible says "We should stone divorced people, we shouldn't get tattoos, don't eat owls, don't kill a burglar during the day, if your brother dies, marry his wife. But we don't do these things anymore. For. A. Reason!"

Yes, Christians have a reason too, one which statements like the above choose to ignore. Such statements as above are made through ignorance (curable) or a refusal to understand (incurable).

Our reason is:

GRACE

Yeah. Christians don't should not do that stuff anymore for a reason. S'called Grace.

Grace is God's unmerited favor upon His children. You did not do anything to earn it. You cannot pay it back. You cannot do anything to earn it. It's free. It is life changing.

CHANGES THEY ARE A'COMING

The proof of the life-changing effect of a religious faith is all around.

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=rayqhfjmDIgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA2&dq=religious+faith+changes+the+brain&ots=MGJkD8Jb2W&sig=ZzBOWvAVs9hbJhwn6ZRVTbownvo#v=onepage&q=religious%20faith%20changes%20the%20brain&f=false

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/eileen-flanagan/changing-your-life-with-r_b_698170.html

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13537903.2017.1298905

https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MbURDAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=religious+faith+changes+the+brain&ots=bPHLKZK_IB&sig=MThTFbXeJFyg7SceNZDTCdeYpgw#v=onepage&q=religious%20faith%20changes%20the%20brain&f=false

WHAT HAPPENED?

Before I tell you what happened, I can tell you one reason why. I cannot tell you the whole reasoning behind it. No human can. We're dealing with an entity whose ability to reason is above ours. As soon as someone explains calculus to a dog so that the dog understands and can do the equations, someone will be able to explain God to a human.

So what happened? Love. Grace. Grace in the form of a bi-natured human who died and rose again, delivering the world from the consequences of sin. That is the ultimate expression of love - that one man should be willing to die for another.

Why did it happen? That's easy. Love.

What did it do? Again, easy. Love.

NOT BOUND

Christians are not bound to the Laws of the Old Testament. Under the New Testament, which is ignored by people who refuse to try to understand when criticizing Christians, we can eat an owl. In case you wonder, yeah, I'd try it. http://biblehub.com/niv/1_corinthians/10.htm

We can do anything. CAN - this is the ability to do so. It does not mean we SHOULD do it.

In this respect, the Law of the Old Testament is almost identical to the law of man.

You can murder someone under the law of man. Yes, you can. People do it every day. If the law was an effective block against murder, it would not happen. Yet, murder happens. You should not murder anyone. If you do and get caught, you are subject to man's penalties. The Bible, in the red letters if you have that version, even says man may be prosecuted and punished under man's law. Yes. It. Does.

Under the Law of the Old Testament, a punishment was prescribed. Under Grace, the Law of the Old Testament still exists. It was never set aside. Rather, the Law of the Old Testament was fulfilled by giving mankind the last sacrifice ever needed for the expiation of sin.

In other words, the prison sentence under God's Law was already served. The prison sentence under man's law is a different matter. Man's law says criminals have a debt to society - that is prison time, fine, community service, etc. God's law says sin has a debt to a fellow human and God - that debt was also spelled out in the Old Testament. Again, that debt is now paid in full, forever.

This is not a license to go out and commit murder any more than serving time for a murder and being released is a license to out and commit another murder.

CONFUSING

Yeah. This is confusing. I don't understand it completely. I believe no one walking around today does.

Yassee, I don't have to understand. You don't have to understand. Just accept.

Someone is going to call this stupid and ridiculous. Most of these people, not all, also support a bigger government. Yet, they do not understand everything government does, how or why. No one person can possibly understand all of it. Yet, they accept it while demanding more. I certainly do not understand that.

No difference.

A few people who call for no government at all also don't understand and more importantly won't understand.

Not much difference.

A few people call for much less government, a government that can be understood.

A somewhat bigger difference.

ONE LAST THING

This "what Christians can't do" all comes down to one thing - love.

Period.