Here is a portion of a thread that was locked. Since you can't post a whole article, I have posted just a portion in this thread. All opinions should be welcome here, including this one by ninja:
YESTERDAYS are still with us
Yesterdays are still with us
The Pharisees might have had good intentions and were sincere in their endeavor to please God, at least in the beginning. What they decided to do is build a wall around the law the 613 commandments. This wall consisted of 100 to 1,500 (the Sabbath was the queen and had the most laws applied to her) additional laws added to the former commandments.Their logic was like this, by putting a fence, a protective barrier around the Holy Law one would first have to break this law before they would break God's law and become guilty and be punished. The problem was that as time went on the Jewish people become more familiar with and obedient to the fence laws of the Pharisee’s than to Gods law.After all there was so much more to study before one could break through and become actually guilty from God. Whenever we have two sources of where truth comes from one is eventually going to rise above the other. Neither one can ever be on a equal basis with the other. While it may be stated as such we know from the historical record and practical experience it just is not so.
In the New Testament Period Jesus whole ministry was a contention with the Pharisees traditions.They wanted him to validate and approve what they called the tradition of the elders( fathers) Mk.7:1-9; Mt.15:1-4, contention grew between Jesus and the religious leaders as they wanted his approval of their traditions to be considered equal with scripture. Jesus was clear he was not going to approve of their traditions,saying, "you lay aside the commandment of God and hold higher the tradition of men." The Pharisees set up a barrier between God and man making the commandments of no effect because they stopped people from seeing the word of God. Jesus always brought their traditions to the ultimate authority the word of God. Mk.,7 "These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me and in vain they worship me teaching as doctrine the commandments of men. By adding traditions alongside the word they watered down the truth, and the emphasis shifted. The Pharisees laws were burdens that God never intended, it brought them in bondage because it went beyond scripture. This is why Jesus said in Mt.11:28, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
The Catholic church ignores these warnings and defends their position by saying"We must, therefore, conclude that the Scriptures alone cannot be a sufficient guide and rule of faith...because they are not of themselves clear and intelligible even in matters of the highest importance..." (The Faith of Our Fathers p. 73). The Bible says the very opposite what they wrote was understandable if not why write it instead it would have to be told and explained by the apostles everywhere they went
YESTERDAYS are still with us
Yesterdays are still with us
The Pharisees might have had good intentions and were sincere in their endeavor to please God, at least in the beginning. What they decided to do is build a wall around the law the 613 commandments. This wall consisted of 100 to 1,500 (the Sabbath was the queen and had the most laws applied to her) additional laws added to the former commandments.Their logic was like this, by putting a fence, a protective barrier around the Holy Law one would first have to break this law before they would break God's law and become guilty and be punished. The problem was that as time went on the Jewish people become more familiar with and obedient to the fence laws of the Pharisee’s than to Gods law.After all there was so much more to study before one could break through and become actually guilty from God. Whenever we have two sources of where truth comes from one is eventually going to rise above the other. Neither one can ever be on a equal basis with the other. While it may be stated as such we know from the historical record and practical experience it just is not so.
In the New Testament Period Jesus whole ministry was a contention with the Pharisees traditions.They wanted him to validate and approve what they called the tradition of the elders( fathers) Mk.7:1-9; Mt.15:1-4, contention grew between Jesus and the religious leaders as they wanted his approval of their traditions to be considered equal with scripture. Jesus was clear he was not going to approve of their traditions,saying, "you lay aside the commandment of God and hold higher the tradition of men." The Pharisees set up a barrier between God and man making the commandments of no effect because they stopped people from seeing the word of God. Jesus always brought their traditions to the ultimate authority the word of God. Mk.,7 "These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me and in vain they worship me teaching as doctrine the commandments of men. By adding traditions alongside the word they watered down the truth, and the emphasis shifted. The Pharisees laws were burdens that God never intended, it brought them in bondage because it went beyond scripture. This is why Jesus said in Mt.11:28, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30 "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
The Catholic church ignores these warnings and defends their position by saying"We must, therefore, conclude that the Scriptures alone cannot be a sufficient guide and rule of faith...because they are not of themselves clear and intelligible even in matters of the highest importance..." (The Faith of Our Fathers p. 73). The Bible says the very opposite what they wrote was understandable if not why write it instead it would have to be told and explained by the apostles everywhere they went
