"Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear."
In today's quote, Jesus made a point about what makes or breaks a true child of God that should be driven home to every soul that makes any pretense of being "Christian". Jesus said, "Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand: There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man."
This lesson should be on the minds of every one of us every minute of every day as we know that there is NOTHING in this world that can MAKE us more sinful in the eyes of God than we already are. The things we eat or drink, or the way we eat or drink can never make us appear more evil in the sight of God, however, vain and misleading words that might come out of our mouths can cause every good thing we do or say to be of no beneficial effect. They will also destroy what little positive image we might project.
Just as was the Hebrew religion of Jesus' time, today, what is commonly referred to as Christianity, is rife with non-scriptural, pompous and ritualistic traditions of mankind, created, not for the forwarding of the gospel of Christ but rather for the hypocritical ego boosting of a sin ravaged and self serving people. Observance of those pointless, and sometimes scripturally contradicting traditions provide excuses for lazy so-called Christians to avoid their true obligation, which is to spread the soul saving gospel of Jesus Christ and to love and care for every human being with which we come into contact.
It would serve the children of God well to abandon all the hype and ritual of what passes as today's Christianity and revert back to the simplicity of what Jesus told His people to do when He gave them the two "great" commandments: "The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31 in part)~
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