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Post by Scott Ross on May 13, 2008 13:58:41 GMT -5
Matthew 15
3Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?
4For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'
5But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,'
6he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
7You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8" 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'" Jesus was pretty adamant about what he thought of rules taught by men. I like the fact that he has made it so clear to us that when following traditions of man, we are worshiping in vain. Keeps me focused on the simple message he taught, rather than on the complicated and unscriptural message many religions try to make their congregations follow. Scott
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Post by gratefulforgrace on May 13, 2008 18:13:33 GMT -5
I don't think it is just the religions trying to make their congregations follow them. There seems to be something in human nature that wants there to just be a set of rules to follow, cut and dried, to make things simpler. Since things don't always work that way, that leads to people trying to follow man-made rules...even when they are rules based on something good, it is dangerous to ever let yourself get in the situation of relying on a rule rather than remember the reason behind it.
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Post by rules on May 17, 2008 0:09:39 GMT -5
we are so free. right. in a pigs eye. on the simple, we are not as free as any animal or insect. we can't pee outside at a busy intersection, can we? not that i want to, just some thoughts on rules... i didnt read the chapter.... i will, tho. i surely can come up with something better than this...
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Post by wanttobewithGod on May 17, 2008 2:44:14 GMT -5
15:8 Scott, I really appreciate the verse you mentioned, too. It is similar to the thoughts I had in the hymns thread I started on the main board this morning....about God knowing our TRUE hearts. (Well, that may not be at all what the *verse* is about, but what I should have said, is that's what it made me think of.)
We can go to church, any church (or not) and honor God all day long...but He KNOWS without a single doubt...if we really mean it and how we're living our lives. That verse that mentions he knows the hairs on our head..the number of them...He knows ALL about us and our hearts. It's been good for me tonight to remind myself that we may deceive others and we may even do it well...but we hide *nothing* from God. I want to try harder to be closer to God so He doesn't say He never knew me on judgement day. M.
(and it's really not "fair" to piggyback off of Scott's thoughts here...I will go through and read the chapters again as well...) M.
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Post by Scott Ross on May 20, 2008 10:22:59 GMT -5
It's been good for me tonight to remind myself that we may deceive others and we may even do it well...but we hide *nothing* from GodBoy you sure got that right Michelle. We can even do a pretty good job on occasion of deceiving ourselves...... Scott
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