Posted on 04/27/2008 3:36:18 AM PDT by markomalley
THEN.... STOP IT...
Reflexes are hard to change; harder to stop . . .
for all of us. LOL.
YOU WILL NOW BE frisked for attacking CONCEPTS...
Yes, yet another can infer another is a drug addict and go away chuckling
Ex. (admittedly off the wall). In 1940 it was legal to marry a girl of 14. In 2007 the law is revised to change the age to 18 and make the law retroactive to 1940. This would result in hunting down all those old "criminals" and punishing them with the new law.
In my example I was making the point that the RCC, which didn't exist for the first few hundred years A.D., rewrite history to claim they were THE church from day one. This claim would require that the Apostles who actually wrote the New Testament to be Catholics.
Thus EX POST FACTO (retroactive) history.
OK?
Are you referring to me?
I immediately apologized.
And that is not said to pick on Catholicism. Judaism has been around much longer and suffers from the same problem. As does Mormonism and Protestantism.
Some of the doctrines and traditions of men are evidently harmless – outer or under garments, gestures, schedules, colors and so on. And yet Christ found great offense in the Jewish tradition of washing hands:
He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with [their] lips, but their heart is far from me.
Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of men.
For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, [as] the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, [It is] Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; [he shall be free]. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. – Mark 7:5-13
Arguably, more than any of the Apostles, Paul was educated in the Jewish doctrines and traditions of men. So when Jesus called him in a great display of power, Paul made it a point to not learn through the filter of the minds of other men, but instead went off for three years to receive Spiritual truth directly from Christ.
For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called [me] by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. – Galatians 1:11-19
In my view, it is a grave Spiritual error that some mainstream Protestant groups, laying aside the words of God, have concluded that homosexuality is not only tolerable but acceptable behavior for a Bishop. Likewise, in my view, it is a grave Spiritual error that Mormons and some Protestant groups have elevated on par with Scripture, words of modern day prophets which contradict the words of God. And likewise, in my view, anything on your list vis-à-vis Catholicism which is rooted, not in the words of God, but in the doctrines and traditions of men, is a grave Spiritual error.
But none of these hold a candle to Judaism’s error in elevating the doctrines and traditions of men as if they were commandments of God. They were chosen. They were blessed. They received the oracles of God with great signs. They experienced God's promises made and kept. They handed down both the words of God and their own traditions and doctrines faithfully. Truly, if there were any way other than God’s spiritual gift of “ears to hear” to receive His words – they would have.
If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him [that which is] wrong; Then both the men, between whom the controversy [is], shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, [if] the witness [be] a false witness, [and] hath testified falsely against his brother; Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. – Deuteronomy 19:16-20
Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people. – John 8:14
Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, [yet] found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, – Matthew 26:59-60
The judgment of God against those who would break the commandment was severe so that they would know how important it was. And surely the Jewish lawyers knew all of this.
And yet, amazingly, they held their own tradition as guardians of Judaism higher than the commandment of God. And thus, they brought God's judgment on themselves.
May God help us all to not make the same mistake.
Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, [take heed] lest he also spare not thee. – Romans 11:18-21
Hear God. Believe Him. Trust Him. Love Him surpassingly above all else - including all the doctrines and traditions of men.
Men like Luther, Cauvin, Zwingli, etc. Agreed!
Most excellent analogy. Many thanks for posting it.
I don’t think Christ cared that they washed their hands before they ate, I think it was the ritual of doing it that was the problem. From some commentaries I’ve read, each household kept a big pot of water for this ritual washing, and in the pot were a few ashes of the red heifer. In fact the water didn’t get them clean, the ashes were supposed to. These were the same pots of water that Jesus “turned into wine”, so you see the imagery.
Karl Marx's.. "The opiate of the people(religion)" phrase was quite powerful in its contest.. Alluding to "it" may have strained some "tempers".. Oh! and adding to the "jist" of it.. in a denominational(sheep pen) context might have pushed to "tilt" the conversation..
Many posts (here) are riding a razors edge of offense.. Except for me personally.. It would hard to offend me.. at lease, HERE...
Ah yes, I see what you mean by ex post facto in this context. Your absurd claim demonstrates it very well. Good show!
you are a gentleman and a scholar, unlike some
What do you make of the authority to bind and loose given to the Apostles?
But whatever the backdrop on the tradition of washing hands, I urge my brothers and sisters in Christ to beware the doctrines and traditions of men. Only by hearing God, by reading and taking in the words of God, by following the Spirit's leading can we Spiritually perceive the difference.
To God be the glory!
Actually in those days there WERE no bathrooms.. Washing the hands may have been a wise thing to do.. If you get my drift.. Especially since they took bread and DIPPED it into some preparation TO EAT.. I would say washing of the hands SHOULD HAVE been a requirement.. IN MY HOUSE..
Not much is said about Jesus sense of smell.. Could be Jesus suffered many things not written about.. way before the cross... KNOCK KNOCK.. am I coming thru with this?.. LoL...
Since I’m on a lunch break, I would like to answer this one:
Jesus Christ gave His apostles the authority to bind and loose on earth according to God’s mind (literally “having been bound [or loosed]”) as it is in heaven. In other words, the apostles were authorized to speak authoritatively for God and in accordance with the mind of Christ. The power to bind and loose given to the Biblical apostles is also expressed in their being called the foundation of the church: “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone” (Ephesians 2:19, 20).2Christ and His apostles alone have the authority to give permanently binding revelation to the church. The record of their binding is contained in the New Testament.
Further evidence for such binding is found in Hebrews: “God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world” (Hebrews 1:1, 2). God has spoken authoritatively through Christ, the corner stone of the church. Hebrews also mentions the apostles: “how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will” (Hebrews 2:3, 4). God has preserved the teachings of Christ the corner stone and the apostles and prophets (the writers of the New Testament), and this serves as the once-for-all laid foundation of the church. The church becomes the “pillar and support of the truth” (1Timothy 3:15b), but the church does not continue to be the ongoing giver of new, binding revelation. That function ceases.
This is an extract from this page: http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue102.htm which also contains details on:
False Binding – The Roman Catholic Church
False Binding – The New Apostolic Reformation
False Binding – Rick Warren’s Oaths
False Binding –Judaizers
False Loosing – The Emergent Church
False Loosing – Theological Liberalism
False Loosing – Hyper-Dispensationalism
The Importance of Hermeneutics
A great article that I highly encourage all who claim Christ to read and humbly consider.
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