You are acting as though the hierarchy came to the people and asked them if they would please fast from meat every Friday for a good cause, and they all said, we'd love to, and you know it didn't happen that way, you had the power to "bind and Loose", and it took you all those years to have mercy on your people, you should be ashamed of your selves, and that was exactly what Jesus meant when he told those who made the law, that put grievous burdens on the people then wouldn't use a finger to lift it off of them.
First of all, abstaining from meat one day a week is not exactly a "grievous burden." Anybody to whom it would be such is exempted by law (pregnant women, children, the old and infirm).
Secondly, in this rapidly secularizing culture the removal of a weekly reminder to folks that Jesus died for us in a way that had a real impact on peoples' lives is hadly showing them "mercy." If anything it leads to a weakening of the faith and contributes to the coming of the "post-Christian" era.
SD
SD, Once a week is not a grevious burden.
How's about 52 times a year, and 3,120 times in a 60-year period. This is works, that do nothing for a man's salvation, other then making him think he is paying his way, which then does away with the free gift of salvation.
Secondly, in this rapidly secularizing culture the removal of a weekly reminder to folks that Jesus died for us in a way that had a real impact on peoples' lives is hadly showing them "mercy." If anything it leads to a weakening of the faith and contributes to the coming of the "post-Christian" era.
I guess when it comes to the Spiritual part of salvation, we just can't get through to you.
How many people do you think who kept meatless Friday, came to know God from this mini sacrifice? It simply became a ritual that they kept every Friday with no consideration of what it represented. That is why repetition is condemned in the word, because it becomes vain when man no longer puts his heart into it and simply does it because it's Friday again.
Man cannot make laws that bring others to God, and God himself knew that, and that is why Christ had to come. Man does not become good by doing good things unless he is doing it from his inner person, and he may even appear to be a good person, but as Christ said they are become as whitened sepulchers.
Mt23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.</b?
It is the Holy Spirit in us, that helps us do things for the right reason, and never because it pleases a man or a church, but God.
As I have tried to make the point of comparison before, It’s like the man who drives slowly and carefully through a school zone to make sure he doesn’t hit a child, compared to the person who watches his speedometer in case he’s being tracked by radar, and never looks out for children.
I might add, if you drive through the same school zone every morning, and you never see a child, how hard is it to not become complacent and simply watch the speedometer or the crossing guard at the inter section, it is hard to be totally aware of life at every waking moment, and repetition numbs the senses even more.