Monday, February 3, 2014

Religious Conflicts


Matthew 12:9-14

Does your religion conflict with your kindness and acts of mercy?  Most of you would state infallibly no, but would you be right?  Jesus encountered religious leaders that were looking for any excuse to destroy Him.  Now these guys could drag a good Catholic or Baptist in their dust in preforming religious acts.  If you went to church each morning to ask for blessing, they would do more, for they needed to be seen doing religious acts.

Could it be that the Pharisees had a form of religion with themselves at the center, could it be that they could explain and totally understand all the acts of God?  But a god that can be explained by the created must use the materials of the Creator to explain that god, and that god takes on the character of the ones who formed it.  That is not the God of Abraham; in fact, a god that can be explained and understood is always centered in the minds of a religion.  I have always found that a religious zealot believes that their actions are right and just, and anyone outside of their group is wrong.  Blaise Pascal gave us this insight: “There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous.”

Do you remember the account of Jesus going into the synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand?  The religious leaders asked Jesus if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath?  Now they were not seeking truth, their end game was the end game of all religious people, to confront, accuse and to destroy any who oppose their tradition or rules.  Jesus was such a person and this was His reply to their question: “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.” (Matthew 12:11-14)

This writer, until the age of 27, lived in rebellion against authority, and yet believed in God and Jesus Christ, and when I read Scott Stapp’s quote, I understand that others have also walked that road.  “I always believed in God and Christ, but I was in rebellion – trying to make my relationship with God fit into my life instead of making my life fit in with him.  I was stubborn.” (Scott Stapp)   In closing this paper, let me once more quote Blaise Pascal, “Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because he shows us both God and our own wretchedness.”  The closer I get to God, the more I see my own wretchedness, or as Blaise Pascal would state: “Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing Jesus Christ strikes the balance because he shows us both God and our own wretchedness.”


From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

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