Pharisees

Over most of Christmas break, I was really bored. And so I read my Bible. A lot. And I found a lot of things I never thought I’d find. A lot of things that have changed the way I think about faith.

Let’s face it. Jesus Christ was the greatest revolutionary history has ever known. His teachings flew in the face of the system. Jesus was the kind of guy who really stuck it to The Man.

In his day, The Man was generally the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, a bunch of pious, self righteous morons.

Frighteningly, that’s the description that secular society would give of Christians today. And a lot of us are.

I think it’s important to consider James 7: 8 – 10.
“
Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right about frauds like you, hit the bull’s-eye in fact:

These people make a big show of saying the right thing,
but their heart isn’t in it.

They act like they are worshiping me,
but they don’t mean it.

They just use me as a cover
for teaching whatever suits their fancy,

Ditching God’s command
and taking up the latest fads.”

“

Pretty startling indictment of people who hijack their religion in order to use it for their own means. And I think that’s a big problem about Christianity today. We tend to be far to quick to follow the commandments that give us a chance to show off how “Perfect” we are, and then ignore the fact that what Jesus really called us to do was to love and accept. That’s what he did.

I think far too often we forget that we’re all sinners, and that we’re all the same. Instead, we choose to pretend to be perfect, so that we can have someone to look down on.

Jesus didn’t look down on anyone. He loved and accepted the lowest members of society.

Maybe we should all give it a try. It’s something that I’ve failed at in the past. It’s something that I feel that I need to do better at in the future. Being judgemental isn’t a good thing.