The Christian Pharisee

What is SIN?  That's very simple, sin is anything that's in disobedience with God's word (the written and the spoken), and even sometimes against your own good conscience.  However, the CHURCH has often labeled things as sins that simply in of themselves are not.  Throughout church history, FALSE DOCTRINES and TEACHINGS have crept into the church to do the devil's work, one of which is to burden the people of God in living righteously by STEALING the freedom, joy, peace, hope, and love (and so much more) that comes through real SALVATION through JESUS CHRIST and the receiving of and living by His Holy Spirit, and ultimately, knowing the Father and coming into the realization of what it means to be a son and daughter of God.

Burdens and anything else that leads us away from the Simplicity of the Gospel (good news) and the previously stated truths, often times come from being too busy in the world OR in religiousness.  The SPIRIT of RELIGION is a spirit I believe is a main cause of burdens in the church.  It is a cancerous infiltrator to the body of Christ, slowly but surely robbing the body of it's POWER the more it is allowed to stalk about. 

The PHARISEES of Jesus' time had this same spirit.  They added strict rules and regulations for the people to follow many of which they themselves wouldn't even follow, telling the people it was God's law... but God never wrote it.  In fact, the PHARISEES were the ones Jesus had to correct most of the time, publicly defusing their self-righteousness and evil.  Even going to great lengths to tick them off and confuse them with what he said and did, even though it was all good things that the Father told Him to do. 

Granted some of the things they taught they truly believed was the right thing because it was indeed handed down from their ancestors, however many of these things as well Jesus had to correct them on.  For example, Mathew 19:3-12: Jesus is asked by the Pharisees the question of divorce that was allowed by Moses.  Jesus' answer is basically that Moses allowed divorce because of the hardness of the people's hearts, but that from the beginning God intended for a man and a woman to marry and become one person, and never wanted divorce to be a part of it.

Oddly enough, many Christians have become MODERN DAY PHARISEES.  The only difference is that many of them don't know their Bible like the pharisees of old would have known their Torah.  OOOH I've heard of just about everything being a SIN!  Playing any kind of instrument, playing certain kinds of instruments, watching TV, going to the movies, playing with cards, smoking, chewing, drinking, wearing certain kinds of clothes or jewelry... just about everything that isn't in the Bible and usually nothing much said about that what's in the Bible.

Now these things can all have good and bad effects, and some of which the Bible may have a word of ADVICE or two concerning, but they aren't SIN.  Granted unless God told you specifically not to do it, or to do it and you didn't (careful with that one), but don't push what God told to you onto other people.  And keeping in mind that some of these kinds of things, for some people could cause them to ACTUALLY sin.  Also keep in mind a sense of balance... too much of one thing... maaaay be bad for you. 

God expects His children to be mature with time, to know the solid boundaries of right and wrong according to His written and spoken Word, and our own limitations.  It's not our place to name anything a sin unless God says so, and when we know what that is, it's not our place to regulate it among everyone (strangers) or to judge them for it, our mandate as CHRISTIANS is to LOVE them, to listen maturely to God and let Him guard your lips and actions.  ESPECIALLY if they aren't Christians, you won't do them any good by being their policeman and judge.  A word of advise spoke kindly, a nudge, but your responsibility is to show them the love of God and pray for them.

Pastor Says Gays Should Die Out... What Does The Bible REALLY Say?

Recently, a North Carolina preacher spoke a message in which he essentially said that GAYS should be rounded up behind an electric fence and killed off.  It appears everyone you hear on the news will either take the pastor's side on the matter precisely OR is completely outraged by his statement against gays and homeosexuals.  The premise of his statement 'appearently' was that being gay is wrong and destructive.

SO... what does 'the Word' (aka the BIBLE) have to say about it?  Was the pastor really speaking 'God's Word' when he says all gays, lesbians, and homeosexuals should die?  Just what is God's feelings toward's homeosexuals?  The answer may surprise you, Christian or not.

THE ANSWER IS: eh, it's a bit of a toss up... let me explain.  The TRUTH of the matter is that ''ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God'', that ''the wages of sin is death" that's physical death and eternal death.  Those two verses alone should tell you that if we're being judged for our actions, our thoughts, our motives, then we ALL deserve to be put behind a fence and die, further more we all DESERVE eternal seperation from God, the giver of all good things, meaning we all deserve to go to Hell. 

But GOD doesn't want that!  It's simply the natural punishment for all of our sins.  And if you think you've lived a good enough life, just think: Jesus takes the issue of sin to a whole new level.  According to Him, the one the Bible says will judge all of mankind... if you've even looked at a woman lustfully, you've already committed adultery in your heart, and that if you've even had an angry thought toward your family than you've already murdered them in your heart.  We have all sinned at least once and MORE THAN LIKELY more times than you can even count... and that means death.

That's the whole reason Jesus came to the Earth, lived a totally: radical, loving, supernatural life, and then took our place on the cross.  That's why He raised from the dead and sent down His Holy Spirit.  "For God so LOVED the WORLD that He gave His ONLY Son, that WHOEVER believes in HIM should NOT parish [die eternally] but have everlasting LIFE... For God DID NOT send His Son into the world to CONDEMN it, but that the world, through Him, might be SAVED."  John 3:16-17 (I think).

Let me clear some of your perspectives on Jesus... go read the gospels about Him man, I promise you won't be offended (unless quite possibly you're a RELIGOUS leader or have that 'old time religion' thing hanging onto you).  Let me tell ya, the only people that Jesus really OFFENDED (and on purpous) was the RELGIOUS LEADERS of the time.  Everyone else LOVED Him and everything He said and did (most of the time, even when they didn't always understand).  Here's an example of how He treated SINNERS.

There was a time when the religous leaders caught a woman in in ADULTERY (voluntarily sleeping with someone who is not your spouse), the punishment of which was death (in fact, it's quite likely it was one of them committing adultery with her).  They violently dragged her out naked and threw her in front of Jesus stating what they had caught her doing and that she should be stoned to death according to the Law.  Waiting for Jesus' reply, Jesus stoops down and starts drawing or writing in the sand.  It's assumed He was writing down sins that each one of them had committed in their own lives in secret, but we don't really know what He was doing.  But soon afterwords Jesus stood back up and said "Who among you is without sin?  Throw the first stone."  And one by one they left.  Once everyone had gone Jesus looked at the woman and asked her "woman, where are your accusers"?  "They are gone my Lord" she said.  And Jesus said: "neither do I condemn you, go and stop sinning."  (Pariphrased).

The GOOD NEWS, is not that we are sinners... not that that person or this group of people should repent or they'll die, not "I'm better than you, so do what I say to please God."  The GOOD NEWS IS THIS: the Song of God came and lived a perfect life, He died for you and for me, meaning we can now have eternal life!  But it doesn't stop there!  He also raised from the dead and sent us His HOLY SPIRIT down from Heaven for all believers, so that we can can be adopted into God's family and actually live a rightous life and look forward to eternity in Heaven, reconnected with our Creator!!!  Which isn't boring by the way :) it's actually exiting!  It means that we can lift off the burdans of sin and death even if you didn't know you had it.  It means we can personally talk with God, and Hear Him speak back to us.  It means we don't have to worry about purifying ourselves because we have His Holy Spirit who continually works on renewing OUR MINDS!  And Jesus isn't just doing hohum up in Heaven, He's constandly praying to the Father on OUR BEHALF, and He's also building a place for us.  It also means so much more, healing, gifts, wisdom, prophesy, I can go on and on.

BUT, I'll leave that to you, get saved, accept Jesus Christ, ask Him to forgive you and than to come into your life, do it right now.

Remember to read your Bible, start in the NEW TESTIMENT if you can, and always have prayer with God.  Find a some other CHRISTIANS who encourage you.  It's just like having a conversation with a good friend or a good parent.  And remember this saying: The Spirit without the Word is dangerous... but the Word without the Spirit is deadly... it comes from the verse "The law brings death, but the Spirit brings life."

AND... for the religous leaders, I would ask of you... on behalf of God, stop preaching from the Old Testiment unless you know what you're talking about!  Yes it's good for us to read, for our examples, for testimonies of the good things God did for His people who were under His covenant.  But understand this, that the laws that were put in place then were necissary for thier covenant with God, but that we are under the Law of Grace, the Law of Love.  Go read about the fruits of the spirit for goodness sakes in Galations 5:22-23, go read the LOVE CHAPTER in 1 Corinthians 13.  Think about it!  Jesus' one and only COMMANDMENT (that He spoke in the NEW TESTIMENT and said it was a commandment) was that we should love one another!  You could fill a book and than some with what the new testiment has to say about love and respect and all the GOOD things that we are supposed to do, and you'd even find a few nuggets about what we AREN'T supposed to do like saying someone's stupid, or pass a sentence on someone (as in to say what they are worth [unless it's good and positive... building up]).

Now, is being gay, lesbian, homeosexual wrong?  Yes, the Bible's clear on that, but so are so many other things that we are ALL guilty of doing that it is ALSO clear is wrong, even if we didn't realise it at the time.  And it's NEVER WORKED to change people to tell how horrible they are.  Let me tell you something, God sees the potential in ALL OF US (and it's really good:), He sees the things that are wrong and He chooses not to force us to change, but to gently work on us to see the things which are wrong... and also those which are right.  He loves us how we are, and He loves us too much to let us stay that way.  DO YOU WANT TO PUSH PEOPLE AWAY FROM GOD... OR DRAW THEM CLOSER TO HIM?  Do you want to be judged by the same measure you've used to judge other people?  I think many of you would not... that might have to be something YOU need to repent of.

Before I end this post let me end with a cool story for you all concerning GAYS, LESBIANS, AND HOMOSEXUALS.  I recently heard of a brother in Christ, a pretty radical dude who goes around in a monk suit (who's name I won't reveal... and don't remember, lol) who was invited onto an MTV REALITY SHOW.  I guess he's pretty big in some of the (good) radical Christian circles and the guys at MTV wanted to put him in a house with a bunch of gay guys to see what kind of TROUBLE they might be able to cause for the TV show.  To everyone's surprise, all this guy did while living in this house was love the guys he was around.  I dont' mean love like sex or anything, but just the supernatural love God gives His kids.  He did nails with them, and did their hair, etc.  He was even asked if he would mary them a couple times, he just said no and continued loving.  I mean the MTV people were so JAZZED OUT that I heard they wrote a two page cover story on the guy.  He was then able to share some of his beliefs and share Jesus with a crowd that would otherwise not want to hear anything about Jesus. :)  Jesus is LOVE, and He LOVES all of you!

Well that's my opinion on what the NORTH CAROLINA PREACHER said about GAYS, LESBIANS, AND HOMOSEXUALS VS what GOD AND HIS WORD say.

If you have a comment or question please write it below, trollers will probably be deleted, lol, but all serious posts I will try to answer as best I can when I can.  Also if you know of any issues you would like addressed in my next post please let me know in the comment section :)

If you'd like to know more about my blog please go here :) or visit the post at the very bottom of the page entitled: Religion, Christians, and The World.

Thank you!
And God bless you all :)

~Elijah

About: 'Religion, Christians, and The World'

'Religion, Christians, and The World' blog description:
www.religionsend.blogspot.com

This blog is designed to share my views of issues I hear about concerning Christians, the World, God, and the Bible from a Godly, Biblical perspective as best as I can.  I also hope to help answer any questions you may have concerning these things, which you are free to post on here any time.  Just pick someplace where it says to write a comment :) I'm not here to fight or argue endlessly in loops and trollers probably will be deleted.  But all honest curiosity and truth seekers comments are welcome and I'll try my best to answer you whenever I can.  My message to all of you is God is in a good mood and He loves all of you.  AND... believe it or not, He's not religious, lol.  Thank you all :)
God bless.

P.S. If you know of an issue you'd like addressed in my next post, please write it in the comment section below and it just might be :) Thank you.

~Elijah