Re: Why Christianity is Fake
Jesus was very clear that one has to adhere to the law or they would not make it into heaven.
His words:
7 ¶ Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
I am by no means a Bible scholar, but I think to just look at this passage on its own is too simplistic ...
When I look at Jesus' own examples throughout his life I see that I have to look deeper.
On several occasions is Jesus himself reported to have broken the laws:
He broke the Sabbath laws by healing on the Sabbath and instructing a healed man to carry his own mat on the Sabbath.
He broke the cleanliness laws by allowing his disciples to eat without first washing their hands.
He intervened and prevented the stoning of an adulteress.
(These are just a few that spring to mind at 11.30 a night ...)
So how then can Jesus tell us to keep the law, if he didn't himself???!
Reading through the gospel, the entire message of Jesus' teaching seems to be that it is never good enough to 'just obey the law for the sake of obeying it' ...
Compassion for his fellow men seems to overrule the law alone:
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
(Matthew 12: 1-8)
He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." (Matthew 12: 11-12)
Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27-28)
Jesus also said that all the laws could be compressed into these two:
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
(Mark 12: 29-31)
On the sermon of the Mount Jesus tells us how far we
really have to go to obey the law. Just following the letter by far isn't enough:
He equates looking at a woman lustfully with committing adultery -
punishable by death according to the Law.
He equates having angry thoughts about another person with committing murder -
also punishable by death according to the Law.
He tells us to turn the other cheek, to walk the extra mile, to forgive, to love not just our friends but our enemies too, and to not judge others unless we are perfect ourselves ...
In short, he asks what is humanly impossible!
Who has not ever coveted something that wasn't his?
Who has not had judgmental thoughts about others?
Who has not had angry thoughts about others?
The bottom line of Christ's message is this:
We cannot do it. None of us can! If entering the kingdom of heaven is dependent on us adhering to all those laws, then we are all in trouble!
Without God's grace and mercy we cannot get there!
That's not to say that we shouldn't strive to keep the laws.
In fact I would say that following God fills you with the desire to do so.
But however hard we try, we will never be good enough in our own strength ...
Here endeth the sermon!
Gotta stop rambling now.
Peace
