Modern Day Pharisees

[Bootstrap]

No one is ever in the wrong spot, we aren’t too conservative like those legalists, and we aren’t liberals like them.

I've never found the conservative / liberal scale all that helpful. Jesus doesn't use those words or those concepts. We can never be too Christ-like. There are actually some ways that we SHOULD be like Pharisees - we should be willing to look different from the world, we should make our faith central, we should make time for prayer and scripture. And we should live out love and compassion for our neighbors better than most liberals do, just as Jesus did.

To me, the whole conservative versus liberal debate is a distraction from following the example of Jesus.

[Soloist]

I've never found the conservative / liberal scale all that helpful. Jesus doesn't use those words or those concepts. We can never be too Christ-like. There are actually some ways that we SHOULD be like Pharisees - we should be willing to look different from the world, we should make our faith central, we should make time for prayer and scripture. And we should live out love and compassion for our neighbors better than most liberals do, just as Jesus did.

To me, the whole conservative versus liberal debate is a distraction from following the example of Jesus.

I think you are missing the point. This is a flaw I’m pointing out.

[Bootstrap]

I've never found the conservative / liberal scale all that helpful. Jesus doesn't use those words or those concepts. We can never be too Christ-like. There are actually some ways that we SHOULD be like Pharisees - we should be willing to look different from the world, we should make our faith central, we should make time for prayer and scripture. And we should live out love and compassion for our neighbors better than most liberals do, just as Jesus did.

To me, the whole conservative versus liberal debate is a distraction from following the example of Jesus.

I think you are missing the point. This is a flaw I’m pointing out.

I think there can be more than one point in this thread, and I am making some points that others may also be missing. To me, the main point is that Jesus is the standard, in his example and his teachings, and it's easy for us to go astray by picking some other standard.

Is there another point you particularly want me to speak to?

[Soloist]

I think there can be more than one point in this thread, and I am making some points that others may also be missing. To me, the main point is that Jesus is the standard, in his example and his teachings, and it's easy for us to go astray by picking some other standard.

Is there another point you particularly want me to speak to?

Sure, why not express what you are working on rather then a obscure nameless body?

[Bootstrap]

I think there can be more than one point in this thread, and I am making some points that others may also be missing. To me, the main point is that Jesus is the standard, in his example and his teachings, and it's easy for us to go astray by picking some other standard.

Is there another point you particularly want me to speak to?

Sure, why not express what you are working on rather then a obscure nameless body?

I don't understand the question.

I don't think Jesus is obscure or nameless. I don't think the Pharisees are obscure or nameless. I think the scriptures and summaries I provided are very concrete, and they give pretty clear hints that could be used to apply these teachings.

If I am missing the point, please tell me what point Jesus is making about the Pharisees that I have missed. And perhaps suggest ways we can apply it today.

[Josh]

No one is ever in the wrong spot, we aren’t too conservative like those legalists, and we aren’t liberals like them.

I've never found the conservative / liberal scale all that helpful.

This is a perspective many liberals have. However, conservatives find such scales helpful. But we often use other terms such as “drifting”, “worldly”, weltlich, “proud”, or Hochtmut.

Jesus doesn't use those words or those concepts. We can never be too Christ-like. There are actually some ways that we SHOULD be like Pharisees - we should be willing to look different from the world, we should make our faith central, we should make time for prayer and scripture. And we should live out love and compassion for our neighbors better than most liberals do, just as Jesus did.

To me, the whole conservative versus liberal debate is a distraction from following the example of Jesus.

Our perspective is that being more worldly is being less Christ-like.

[Soloist]

I don't understand the question.

I don't think Jesus is obscure or nameless. I don't think the Pharisees are obscure or nameless. I think the scriptures and summaries I provided are very concrete, and they give pretty clear hints that could be used to apply these teachings.

If I am missing the point, please tell me what point Jesus is making about the Pharisees that I have missed. And perhaps suggest ways we can apply it today.

What I’m saying is talk about how it impacts you rather then a generic form of “Christian” that is unnamed and apparently not about Anabaptists.

[Ken]

I think there can be more than one point in this thread, and I am making some points that others may also be missing. To me, the main point is that Jesus is the standard, in his example and his teachings, and it's easy for us to go astray by picking some other standard.

Is there another point you particularly want me to speak to?

Sure, why not express what you are working on rather then a obscure nameless body?

I don't understand the question.

I don't think Jesus is obscure or nameless. I don't think the Pharisees are obscure or nameless. I think the scriptures and summaries I provided are very concrete, and they give pretty clear hints that could be used to apply these teachings.

If I am missing the point, please tell me what point Jesus is making about the Pharisees that I have missed. And perhaps suggest ways we can apply it today.

I tend to think Jesus was using the Pharisees as a convenient foil or example to make larger points. Just like he did with the parable of the Good Samaritan, which wasn't really about Samaritans but a universal lesson using an example that would be understood by his audience. When speaking of Pharisees he is really saying don't be LIKE the Pharisees who do this bad or incorrect thing....

I expect in real life there were Pharisees who were extremely doctrinaire and others who were more contemplative and thoughtful. But they were a convenient foil, especially in the context of the time when the Pharisees were probably the largest center of religious opposition to Jesus' revolutionary teachings.

[Bootstrap]

Our perspective is that being more worldly is being less Christ-like.

I agree. I find those terms very helpful for thinking clearly.

[Ken]

Our perspective is that being more worldly is being less Christ-like.

I agree. I find those terms very helpful for thinking clearly.

But Jesus also did not hide out in a monastery, enclave, or temple like many religious people then and now, writing, praying, engaging in philosophical or theological pursuits. He spent his time out in the world, constantly engaging with worldly people from every walk of life.