Christians, Atheists, Jews, and all others: What are your thoughts about this?

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Here is a much abbreviated version of Jesus speaking in Matthew 23:13-39:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?
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Questions:
1) The scribes and Pharisees were the religious leaders. Do you think Jesus would say similar things about many Christians and Christian leaders today?
2) Do you find it powerfully ironic that the hypocrisy that Jesus so despised is the same hypocrisy that non-Christians despise about Christians and Christianity, today?
3) How does the “Do not judge” teaching of Jesus fit in with these “woes” that He pronounced? Especially when He speaks of them as “sons of hell”, calls them “Serpents” and a “brood of vipers”, and asks, “how can you escape the condemnation of hell?”?

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12 comments a “Christians, Atheists, Jews, and all others: What are your thoughts about this?”

1) Yes…..I have believed that for a long time.

2) Nothing has changed in 2000 years…..sad.

3. WOE!

Blessings!

Jesus would not be happy with the church today because it doesn’t bring in new believers.

I didn’t read it because if it is in the bible it is of no value to me. I am an atheist and I don’t consider the bible to be the word or inspired word of a god.

God has the right to Judge. Jesus is, therefore he had the right.

It doesn’t get into scripture if it isn’t relative to the times. Although Jesus was complaining about his religious leaders of his time, the Pharisees, Gentile Christians could surely perceive echos of their attitude in the Christian leaders of the early Church. It’s a chronic institutional problem. There’s always a temptation for leaders to simplify their jobs, merely maintain appearances, and manage their followers rather than serve them. That’s why Jesus kept emphasizing the importance of humility in leaders, because it’s so easy to forget the core mission for the sake of institutional efficiency.

Although Jesus cautioned against rushing to judgment, we can make a distinction between personal motivation and organizational effectiveness. Incompetence is considerably different from corruption. Is the Church leadership merely fumbling and disorganized or does the system seem rigged? Jesus wasn’t pointing out a particular person, he was pointing at how the poor and powerless were being abused while the rich and connected were gaining wealth and honor.

Corruption doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There are enablers, people who permit the injustices to continue. And it’s not just the elites. Often ordinary members are willing to tolerate a bad situation because reform is more hassle than they want to deal with. So no matter whether we’re a bishop or a simple congregant, we need to ask ourselves regularly whether we are living out our Christianity sincerely, whether we’re making things better or allowing them to get worse.

1 Yes, of course He would.

2 Nothing new under the sun !

3 They seek the Free in Christ to put them under the same bondage they suffer from.
There are consequences for our actions whether we judge or not. You have to stand for something or you will fall for anything !

Ever noticed how most people who smoke pot don’t like to do it alone. Along with allot of other things too.

1. Absolutely! …allow me the liberty of some minor editing…

Woe to you, pastors and priests, hypocrites. You erect false barriers to heaven to deny gay people, fornicators, divorced people and other “sinners” access to God.

Woe to you, pastors and priests, hypocrites! You travel all over the world to find converts only to teach them the same hypocrisy you believe and then abandon them.

Woe to you…you give money to feed the poor while blaming them for their own problems and denying others the freedoms you enjoy.

I could continue but I think that’s enough…

2. Yes, I do find it “powerfully ironic” (great phrase by the way). Jesus was so clear about what he wanted his followers to do…specifically, how he wanted them to treat other people. Perhaps this is what Jesus was talking about when he made it so clear that the path was narrow…why he warned that “MANY” who cry out “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name…cast out demons…do many great works” will be told to depart because “I never knew you…you workers of inequity”!

3. Judge not lest you be judged…for with whatever measure you judge, so also will you be judged. So many people focus on cleaning the “outside of the cup”…on appearance…more importantly, on avoiding the appearance of sin. …and they judge others based on what’s on outside too! Don’t they see that they are essentially asking God to do the same thing…and I guarantee he’s going to find something flawed in even the most perfect facade a mere human can create. Even worse, he’s going to keep digging and what he’ll find will be far worse than the dirtiest cup anyone else presented to him!

I mean REALLY, what would you rather have…a crystal wine glass full of raw sewage or a dirty broken cup full of clean water?

1a Jesus says this to hypocrites today also. But then, they don’t listen to Jesus so they won’t hear him. Until they come to repentance.
1b Christians can’t be hypocrites. Hypocrites are those who say they love Jesus Christ, yet really haven’t committed to Christ confessing Jesus Christ Lord of their life while believing in their heart He raised from the dead.
1c A hypocrite is one who preaches Christ, yet isn’t born of God yet, so isn’t really a Christian. Jesus doesn’t know that person intimately. Jesus knows every child of God intimately.

2a I know that hypocrites many times turn people away form Christ. One of the reasons why I was disillusioned was because an ex leader at our church had incest with his daughter & had a child. He apologized to the Church leaders, but ‘oops’ he did it again with his grand child. He couldn’t pastor anymore when he got found out, but was still going to the Church. But the reality is that he wasn’t born of God. He was a hypocrite & only apologized cuz he got caught. There was no repentence before God, nor confession ‘unto God’ that Jesus Christ was his Lord & Savior while believing in His resurrection. It was all for man for show & to cover up.
2b But also many are turned away because they are presented Gods love & truth the ‘correct way’ & they are just rejecting Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.

3a Christians aren’t suppose to judge other Christians, condemning & accusing them. Lest we be critically condemn ourself. But this is critically judging / condemning others who are born again Christians.
Jesus is talking about judging our brothers & sisters in Christ.
Who are Jesus brothers & sisters? Those who do the will of the Father. It is written in the bible that the will of the Father is to believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. To be born of God Gods way.

The reality is that the conscequences of hypocrisy is bleak.

you shall not judge other or you shall be judged? who is the real hypocrite here you or your Jesus?

Christians always need a wake up call, for none of us are perfect. That is why we must continually pray that the Lord would be our mouths, for gentle speech, for loving yet truthful words ( not sugar coating anything for why cover up the truth?) but sharing it in love as we CAN do, especially through Christ, who is our strength and help in time of need! Telling others about sin IS love, ignoring their sinful state would not be love. Just as God tells us He disciplines us (His sheep) because He loves us! I want to know when I am sin. And we should warn others just as Jude says, because we love them, we care…not because we think it will earn us a spot in Heaven, for we know we are not saved by works- but by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8)
We need to be continually HUMBLED. Yes humbled. Confessing any sin in our lives- asking the Lord to show us any sin in our lives as we should never want to be in sin! Praying for the Lord’s wisdom and guidance daily through His Holy Spirit, that our speech be gentle, seasoned with salt as Colossians 4:6 says.
And James 4:6 says God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. We need to always come on bended knee– humbling ourselves before God, knowing through conviction when we are in the wrong…..desiring to be a follower of Christ.
Self righteousness is such ugliness in the heart of a believer.
With Christ living in us we are capable of getting rid of it, through Him- for Apart from Him we can do absolutely nothing- He is the vine and we are the branch! (John 15:5)
How do we continually abide in Him? Through His Spirit….in which He gives to us who believe…leading us, teaching us His truth when we study the scriptures and keeps our eyes focused on HIM. The minute we take our eyes off of Him, the ugliness at heart begins to show….because we live in this world and our flesh is weak- but we also know the Spirit is willing. And we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us~ Phillipians 4:13

Another verse just came to mind that I pray the Lord will help me with is James 1:22 to be a DOER of His word, and not just a hearer….

the moral majority
the christian right
are NEITHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Being a religious leader in Jerusalem was very different from being a pastor in a secular society today. Israel’s history, culture, and daily life centered around its relationship with God. The religious leaders were the best known, most powerful, and most respected of all leaders. Jesus made these stinging accusations because the leaders’ hunger for more power, money, and status had made them lose sight of God, and their blindness was spreading to the whole nation.

The Pharisees’ converts were attracted to religion, not to God. By getting caught up in the details of their additional laws and regulations, they completely missed God, to whom the laws pointed. A religion of words puts pressure on people to surpass others in what they know and do. Thus, a hypocritical teacher was likely to have students who were even more hypocritical. We must make sure we are not creating Pharisees by emphasising outward obedience at the expense of inner renewal.

It’s possible to obey the details of the laws but still be disobedient in our general behaviour. For example, we could be very precise and faithful about giving 10 percent of our money to God bur refuse to give one minute of our time in helping others. We need to fulfill God’s other directives too!

Jesus condemned the Pharisees and religious leaders for outwardly appearing upright and holy but inwardly remaining full of corruption and greed. Living our Christianity merely as a show for others is like washing only the outside of a cup. When we are clean on the inside, our cleanliness on the outside won’t be a sham.

Christians, Atheists, Jews, and all others: What are your thoughts about this?

12 comments a “Christians, Atheists, Jews, and all others: What are your thoughts about this?”

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