The Uncommon Christian

“We’re not under the law anymore. Now, we’re under grace.”  I hear this a lot from practicing Christians. Even preachers have said similar things. Both while delivering sermons and while speaking with me one-on-one. We have songs dedicated to God’s grace and how we’re no longer bound by the law. I can’t say that this has always bothered me because I haven’t always known what I do now. However, having learned more about God, and Christ, that style of thinking makes less sense to me. To fully understand, I think that it’s important for Christians to know what grace is. We seem to think that grace is synonymous with love. Even online definitions of the term refer to grace as unmerited favor or the act of being favored by God. However, multiple times throughout the Bible grace is made synonymous with pity. Being favored indicates that you have approval. What is bestowed on you is a sign of support. Pity is a sign of compassion. Although our actions don’t merit God’s approval,...

Is war biblical? Perhaps. However, is it Christ like? According to a 2018 poll reported by ABC News, 83% of Americans believe in Christ and consider themselves to be Christian in some form or fashion. This number fluctuates from poll to poll because it’s based on calls to a fraction of all US homes. However, I think that it is safe to say that roughly 80% of US adults consider themselves Christians. According to Gallup polls, a total of 72% of US adults supported the Iraq war. This means that, even if all non-Christian adults supported the Iraq war you still have 52% of all US adults supporting a war while considering themselves to be Christian. So, it looks like almost all US adult Christians support war or can view it as justifiable in some cases. Although God could rightly be referred to as the god of war can we really say that Christians should support war or justify it? There are many instances in which God promoted war, but are we bound by Old Testament law? Are we not under ...