The Spirit of the Pharisees

http://www.thepathfinder.org/diet.html

According to your mentor, the Pharisees of today are the leaders of local churches, such as pastors, who sacrifice their children, committing spiritual cannibalism. He believes this because he doesn't believe in God's ordained institution of the local church, and God's ordained office of the pastor and teacher. He rejects the authority of Scriptural teaching, and thus has to resort to allegorization of the Scripture to make it say anything he wants it to say. I am sure that you feel the same way.
DHK

 

I edited out Travelsong's post because I warned to keep to the topic posted. He posted an attack on me, and a comparison to the music forum, which had nothing to do with the topic that was started.

On the other hand you started a topic here on Pharisees. It is perfectly relevant, in the light of where you have recently been taking your information from, to quote from that source, what your source considers a Pharisee of today is. That is what you wanted to know is it not? I answered your question with the source material that you gave on the other thread. How much more accurate could I have been. What do you mean then by sticking with the topic. I have.
DHK

 

The Pharisees were a group or sect of the Jews that arose in the third century B.C. They were the conservatives of Christ's time (in opposition to the Saducees). They developed into self-righteous hypocrites. Their name comes from "parash" meaning "to separate." They were the largest and most influential sect in New Testament times.
That is a brief description of who the Pharisees were at the time of Christ. I detest questions such as yours, because again, they become allegorical in nature. What does the Pharisee of the time of Christ represent today. He represents the Pharisee that no longer lives. He lived in the time of Christ and no longer lives today. There is no need to project a group of people from the past into the future today. Again we can learn Biblical principles from the situations that they provided for us in the passages of Scripture in which they are found, and also in which Jesus said about them. However, there are no Pharisees of today. There is no need for allegorization of Scripture.
DHK

 

You misrepresent me Seth.
There are quite obviously hypocrites today, or as you say, those with a hypocritical spirit. Does that necessarily mean that they have the Pharasaical spirit within them? Of course not. Why must you allegorize like that. Jesus condemned hypocrisy without ever referring to the Pharisees many times. So did Paul, and so did the O.T. prophets before the Pharisees ever existed. Hypocrisy is a sin that existed in all ages, not just a sin of the Pharisees. To equate it with just the Pharisees is wrong. To say it is the spirit of the Pharisees is wrong. It is a sin, one of many condemned in the Bible. The Pharisees committed it, and so did others (such as Ananias and Sapphira).

Sin is sin. God hates all sin, no matter what it is. There are only certain sins that God has attached to certain individuals or groups of people. I will give you two. If you can think of some others go ahead and name them, by here are two for starters.

1. Sodomy: homosexuality named after the inhabitants of the wicked city of Sodom.

2. Simony: giving or taking money in order to gain a position of higher prominence in a church. It comes from the story in Acts 8 about Simon:

Acts 8:18-20 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. (Simony)

God hates all sin.
DHK

 

Then there are those who would want to throw a big party and if they did that, everyone would want to come to their church because it would be so much fun. They would be the kind of church that loves people so much that they think everyone would want to know Jesus just be the fact they exist. They would not even think of sharing their faith for fear that it might offend someone and not be a very good witness. But they would share their facility with the Mormons in a effort to be good neighbors. Certainly they wouldn't want to stir up trouble because that might scare some away. After all they are trying to reach everyone. They would love to have the Mormon bishop come and teach them because they think he is a Christian because he says all the right things.

They wouldn't have any problem telling the congregation, "The steaks are ready" while the preacher is giving the invitation. They know it is important to tell the pastor to quit preaching because it is time to eat. That kind of Pharisee values steak more than the bread of life. He knows what is important for his body to exist in America and what is important to win people to Jesus. That kind of Pharisee would gossip and talk about the preacher expressing his opinion on how many people are coming into the church whom they do not know and taking away their power. So they would need to get rid of him. He just has too much power because people are giving their life to Jesus. Those kind of Pharisees wouldn't want the preacher to share his faith with the Mormons because he might stir up too much trouble in their little community causing them to look bad because for 60 years they have been trying to reach them but just have not been able to. The pastor needs to go because the Pharisees have been trying to reach their neighbors and he will make them look bad.

 

The best summation of the pharisees is that they judged by outward appearances.

They saw holiness as observing rituals and making a public display of their "piety".

They were the guys praying out loud for everyone to see. They were the guys who would condemn everyone else without examining the sin of their own hearts.

Jesus saw right through their phony displays of righteousness. He saw directly into their hearts.

Do we see examples of Pharisees today? Absolutely, this board is filled with them.

 

Well said Travelsong.

I won't accuse anyone here of being a Pharisee. But I think the spirit of Pharisaism is alive and well today.

I can see that this discussion seems ready to enter the realm of legalism in churches so I won't abet that!

Pharisaism in our churches can be seen in the form of the church member who sees only the outward appearance of things. The snooty trustee's wife who shuns a visitor because she's wearing pants or is unmarried with kids (without knowing why she is so). Similarly the one who says a teen is not right with God because he listens to CCM is Pharisaic.

Christ reproves sin with love.

The Pharisee judges the person he/she perceives to be sinful - and does so in a manner not consistent with Christian love.

 

Seth,

Did you ever notice how hard it is for people to see a Pharisee>

Here's what I mean; Nobody ever admits that they themselves are the Pharisee. It's always someone else!!

No matter how many times someone is shown the truth, it could not possibly be them!!

Working for Jesus,

Tam

 

The Pharisees knew the truth. But they hardened their hearts, they did not want to believe.
They believed Jesus would be resurrected, Jesus's disciples did not. They also saw the miracles but this did not make them turn around.
They did not want to repent.
I would say a Pharisee in our times is somebody who is carnal, who tries to fulfill the Law and who thinks he can enter heaven by doing good deeds. This reminds me of the catholic church doctrine....

 

It's like the saying, "If you don't see the problem, you are."

 

Also the religious folks, the Pharisees added to the law and burdened people down with all their rules and regulations. Jesus doesn't do that. Anyone who would set up rules and regulations that become a burden to people and keeps them from the freedom Jesus gives is a Pharisee.