In Consciousness Of The Pharisees

[ShuutokuTentei]

The law is often embraced when applied to others, but questioned
when it conflicts with self interest. Do we truly embrace the law
when it is “we” who transgresses it? What of our pointing fingers,
and what of those pointing back? The law is easy to scribe, tenuous
to administrate, and feverish to apply. Complacency and contentment
are the enemies of the law and the friend of anarchy. Which leads us
to the certain conclusion of imperfection, yet we have not even begun
to embrace and internalize the moral absolutism of “GODS Law.” The
Pharisees were the embodiment of comprehension and zeal regarding the
laws of Yahweh. They were spiritual/political leaders endowed with
the knowledge and power of Mosaic Law. They are believed to be the
fathers of modern Judaism. To them the ends justified the means, no
more, no less then the dogmatic approach many new age doctrines
decry. The question is: Was the application of their philosophy
initiated with a just and pure heart?
The search for just and pure heart is much likened to the
travails of Abraham in his search for ten righteous men. If we take
credence with this story, we concede the inevitability of
disappointment. Disappointment comes in forms both prudent and
insidious. Prudence often results in disappointment without the
specter of treachery. The insidious incite! Can we with reasonable
certainty label all the Pharisees insidious? Has history taken away
individual construct to pursue its own goal? There will always be
those who value silence and self preservation over philosophical
debate. “If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I
can achieve it.” “However for the moment, I am afraid so I am going
to leave it.” Then there are those who gird themselves with knowledge
understanding its consequences.
Yeshua was not estranged to Mosaic Law, he choose speaking over
silence, and sacrifice over self preservation. His entire life was a
living enigma to an ideal that the ends justify the means. So the
question arises: Did/does GOD deal in semantics? A hard concept to
justify if we want to put it in the same context with moral
absolutism. The Pharisees as a group spoke for GOD. Yeshua as an
individual spoke for GOD. Each had a unique perspective with very
different dynamics, and very different values. It has never been a
problem for GOD to be represented in man. It has always been a
problem for man to be represented as a GOD. Can we hope for
integration of the two?
We can always hope, but history has not favored resolution, only
promoted division. What was once one GOD has become many, all
referred to as Yahweh, Yeshua, and Allah in the greater sense, and in
a lesser sense further divided and segmented into individual belief
systems we refer to as denominations. Everyone is right, but everyone
is wrong, depending on ones perspective. And so it goes. Were the
Pharisees the catalyst for the death of Yeshua, or the instrument of
his resurrection? GOD only knows.

RS
Copyright 2009
http://groups.google.com/group/finding-god?

[Mathew Enoch Mount]

Hello,

Consider a section of scripture regarding false profits, "The word of
the LORD came to me: "Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of
Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their
own imagination: 'Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the
Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own
spirit and have seen nothing! Your prophets, O Israel, are like
jackals among ruins. You have not gone up to the breaks in the wall
to repair it for the house of Israel so that it will stand firm in the
battle on the day of the LORD. Their visions are false and their
divinations a lie. They say, "The LORD declares," when the LORD has
not sent them; yet they expect their words to be fulfilled. Have you
not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say,
"The LORD declares," though I have not spoken?" 'Therefore this is
what the Sovereign LORD says: Because of your false words and lying
visions, I am against you, declares the Sovereign LORD. My hand will
be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying
divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be
listed in the records of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the
land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD."
'Because they lead my people astray, saying, "Peace," when there is no
peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with
whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is
going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones
hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. When the wall
collapses, will people not ask you, "Where is the whitewash you
covered it with?" " 'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones
and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. I will tear
down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the
ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you
will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the LORD."
Ezekiel 13:1-14 (NIV)

Now consider what John the Baptist says to address the salvation of
the Pharisees, "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of
vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit
in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to
yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of
these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already
at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good
fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. "I baptize you with
water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful
than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with
the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and
he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn
and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire." Matthew 3:7-12 (NIV)

The point appears to be clear that the Pharisees for the most part had
not been fruitful, and that is the main charge of John the Baptist
against them. When a wolf attacks a lamb, its usual course of action
it to attack at the neck that adjoins the head to the body. Overall,
the Pharisees may have had a lot of stuff in their heads, but the fact
that the head and the body had not been working together to produce
spiritual fruit tells me that the neck was bleeding out blood causing
the head to see delusions and causing the body to be so weak as to
white wash a wall instead of rebuilding it.

Thank you,

Mathew Enoch Mount
mmo...@essex1.com

[Adam Colbert]

Mathew, i think you have revealed something very valuable with your
analogy in regards to looking at scripture whenever prophesy speaks of
a greater animal attacking a lesser as prey. i'm not saying it's *the*
most important thing to look at when reading such analogies, but it
might prove to be true hardly much less than all the time.

i want you to read your last paragraph again, only take out the
Pharisees and John the Baptist.......just leave a "miscellaneous" in
the blank, and then imagine all the possible reasons for and outcomes
from "the fact that the head and the body had not been working
together to produce spiritual fruit," as such reasons might ever occur
in the Church at large. using the example to include the Pharisees is
good, but you could even expand it to include other instances of
either a "successful" attack from evil on the Church (in any
circumstance and any scale, even right down to a congregation) or to
explain the failures of the body (the Church) when it is separated
from the head (Christ) for any reason, whether it was due to
corruption within the church or from an outside source, i.e. evil
spirits and such.

again, i think you're on to something, and perhaps it would be wise to
run with this and see what you can come up with.


adam

[mmo...@essex1.com]

Hello,

I realized many of these things Adam that you wrote about concerning my neck
bleed example, and I am glad that you can see these types of things as well.
Unfortunately the Jews of today as well as many Christian groups protect the
head and not the neck (Judas for example was the only one that called Jesus
teacher and not lord during the last supper), and this is evident with the
Jewish skull cap. Overall, the darkness has a way of fleeing from the light
in general, and that is why I am not particularly concerned by protecting the
neck. We nevertheless must be able to recognize a attack to the neck when we
see one, and we need to recognize when a Christian group is bleeding out of
the neck.

Thank you,

Mathew Enoch Mount
mmo...@essex1.com

------- Original Message -------
From : Adam Colbert[mailto:adamc...@hotmail.com]
Sent : 11/23/2009 2:23:30 AM
To : jesus-th...@googlegroups.com
Cc :
Subject : RE: Re: In Consciousness Of The Pharisees

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