Republicans = Pharisees

[blm]

It's a bumpersticker that sends a definite message to those who read the Bible.

[Maat]

1. I'm going to have to take your word for it.

Not a biblical scholar. Any enlightenment you have to offer there is appreciated. I know that you have been trying to explain to me that the RR (Religious Right) are not true Christians. No one agrees with that more than I.

[AVID]

2. i found this link

http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/pharisee.htm

Of the three major religious societies of Judaism at the time of the New Testament (the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes), the Pharisees were often the most vocal and influential. The origin of the Pharisees is uncertain, but their movement is believed to have grown from the Assideans (i.e. the "pious"), who began in the time of the Maccabean Revolt (see The Maccabees) against the Greek/Syrian ruler Antiochus IV, or "Antiochus Epiphanes," around 165 B.C. It was during that roughly 4 centuries between the end of the Old Testament record and the birth of Jesus Christ, prior to the rise of the Roman empire (see Ancient Empires - Rome), that the idolatrous Greek influence was at its peak in Jerusalem (see Ancient Empires - Greece, The Ptolemies and The Seleucids). The first direct mention of the Pharisees was by the Jewish/Roman historian Flavius Josephus in describing the three sects, or schools, into which the Jews were divided in 145 B.C.

The name Pharisee in its Hebrew form means separatists, or the separated ones. They were also known as chasidim, which means loyal to God, or loved of God - extremely ironic in view of the fact that by His time, they made themselves the most bitter, and deadly, opponents of Jesus Christ and His message.

The Pharisees perhaps meant to obey God, but eventually they became so devoted and extremist in very limited parts of The Law (plus all that they themselves added to it), that they became blind to The Messiah when He was in their very midst. They saw His miracles, they heard His Words, but instead of receiving it with joy, they did all that they could to stop Him - eventually to the point of getting Him killed because He truthfully claimed to be the Son of God.

Jesus Christ had strong words about the Pharisees, and what awaits some of them:


"For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20 RSV).

[blm]

7. That would be good for a chain email.

We can start sending them through religious forums and our own email lists.

Maybe add some well chosen verses.

[blm]

3. The Pharisees were denounced for their religious hypocrisy.

They were strict against the smallest human infractions while allowing themselves plenty of room to be greedy for wealth, self-righteous, and vainglorious.

[JHB]

4. In context, they're very familiar...

...Loudly and aggressively demanding certain public displays of piety, endlessly rule-weaseling the "letter of the law" (except for certain favored passages) while largely ignoring "the spirit of the law" when it would inconveniently get in their way.

[blm]

6. I think we need to make this point EVERY day wherever we can.

It should turn Bible readers away from supporting Bush and his corporate cronies in the Republican party.

[Blue_Roses]

5. yep, exactly right

and look what happened to them. Jesus said "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."

[blm]

8. There really is a great collection of quotes about this that we should use

btw...Glass Menagerie?