| Vertigo-X said:
Then there are parallels that can be drawn to today: both religious and political. Not to say every religious person is like the Pharisees, of course. |
Definitely! In any scheme of power you will have people who have their priorities in the WRONG places, and religious organizations are no exception to this.
For the group not to fall into legalism (that's what it's called, having the rules before the heart), they would need to be much more in tune with the sufferings of people and understand the emotions of others. It's no wonder that Jesus was first a carpenter and then a Rabbi without home, while the pharisees held the high positions, let alone being born in a manger.
The Cost of Following Jesus
18When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
That's why I created the thread why I love Jesus but hate religion. It's because though Christ was a man of faith, he wasn't a legalist. His heart was first and foremost with his father in heaven (God), and second with his fellow man, and then all the rest. His priorities were in the right order. So even if Christianity is a religion, in order to distinguish Christ's ways from all the other forms of religion, including christian legalism, one is only left with expressions like "I love Jesus" as the best way to describe his faith, so as to contrast with legalism, e.g. deeds leading to salvation/holiness, which according to the apostle Paul are as good as menstrual rags.
It's how it is and evil made its way through even the purest of things (the Christian faith). And this is no new tactic of sin, as can be seen in the book of romans regarding the Mosaic law. In other words utter corruption by taking the sacred things and using them as a means for evil (in this case below the law of Moses, in the case of your post the law of Christ and the Christian teachings).
Struggling With Sin
7What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”b 8But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. 9Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
