Boanerges

We have seen the ways we can be pharisitical do you have any ideas of how we can be the opposite( christian)

You might not be a pharisee if:


you are quicker to love than to judge

your relationship with God is personal, alive and fresh(not the I met God in 1972 thing)

you understand what God meant when He said " I desire mercy and not sacrifice"

if you love to give sacrificily and quietly- building God's kingdom is one of your favorite things

your heart breaks for the lost, the lonely, the hurting

if someone comes to your church right out of the gutter, smelling bad and dressed in rags you are the one to love them and make them feel welcome

Theophilus

You might not be a pharisee if you while attending the church rules meeting you make a paper airplane out of the paper used to print the statement of faith on.
Not that I have ever thought about doing such a thing

Padelford

I used to make boats from papers in church. But that was a while ago.

Boanerges

airplanes and boats ok but no spitwads children!

Theophilus

Always with the rules, No fire crackers in the in the santuary during service, no sharks in the baptismal, No spiking the communion.



Seriously though, There is a little pharisee showing out of all of us at times.
It is part of being both human and christian.
The differance is that a christian might do it, but a pharisee makes a life of it.

I like the line;
Christ wants us to make deciples the old fashion way
One witness a at time.

writeinvest

Jesus made it pretty clear that he abhored the way that the Pharisees had obscured the laws of God with their man-made traditions.
Mark 7:7-9 "Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 8 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. 9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition".
So I guess this means that we should always be sure that we use the Word of God as our only source of doctrine and don't get caught up following religious traditions that aren't taught in the Bible.
The other big thing that always stuck out to me about the Pharisees was their pride, like the way they prayed in public and boasted about how much money they were giving etc. I think Jesus really demonstrated to us that humility and kindness in serving others is what is important.

__________________
Debra Lohrere
Author of Christian Investment and Prophecy Books.

Boanerges

Good answer- we need the Word of God breathed upon and revealed by His Spirit so we dont end up in this situation:

2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
With God's presence and His Word we cannot go wrong

adoptivemommy

Hi writeinvest, I'm Adoptivemommy(Laura)

I really like your comments about pharisees. As Boanerges could atest (LOL ), I have a thing about the "pharisee" like attitude. I really think it's intersting that all through out the new testament, Jesus was nothing but kind, loving and especially forgiving(e.g. the woman at the well, the adulteres who was about to be stoned, etc.) and yet he was the toughest on the pharisees! Just so we're clear, I am NOT saying that He did not love them or that He would not forgive them, but I am saying that His attitude was very hard on those people. I really beleive it was because of the burden the pharisees were puting on the very people they were supposed to help, love and encourage. Jesus was from the begining all about forgivness and mercy and the pharisees did not apply either of those things. They were more interested in the letter of the law than they were in helping people. (e.g. not healing someone who needed it badly just because it was Sabbath!). If you want to translate the "pharisee" like attitude in today's Christianity, I think it's also about not having mercy and understanding for a brother or sister in Christ when you know they are sinning. It's so easy, especiall when we KNOW the word and we KNOW they are sinning, to judge and merciless, and many times we use the phrase: "Well, they know better than that!" Well, so does the person that stands in judgement and yet they judge anyway. I know I'm going on and on..., so, to conclude, I think what I'm saying is if all of us Christians would start at home base by showing mercy and understanding to our brothers and sisters, loving and "covering" their sins ("Love covers a multitude of sisn!), the world would truly start to see what Christ is all about.

Laura