Hello,
The word 'Beware' is one which is intended to stop us in our tracks and take notice, and is used by our Lord Himself in His earthly ministry on several occasions. such as the following, which need to be looked at within their contexts:-
'Beware of false prophets' (Matthew 7:15)
'Beware of men' (Matthew 10:17)
'Beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees' (Matthew 16:6, 11,-12)
* It is this third one that I am concerned with in this thread. Though there are others which are worth looking up and considering.
* Luke 12:1 tells us that 'the leaven (ie., doctrine) of the Pharisees' is hypocrisy. The Pharisees 'transgressed the commandments of God by their tradition' (Matthew 15:3), making 'the commandment of God of none effect' by their tradition (Matthew 15:6). They by, 'laying aside the commandments of God' held the tradition of men (Mark 7:8). It is said more strongly again in Mark 7:9, 'Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.'
* I believe that Christians throughout the ages have failed to take warning from these words of our Lord. For I believe that in Luke 16:19-31, the Lord gave an illustration of the doctrine of the Pharisees in the words of the story of the rich man and Lazarus, to expose their hypocrisy: but man has taken it and used it as a proof text that man does not die, but lives on in an afterlife, where he can see and hear and communicate not only with other dead ones but also with the living. By so doing prolonging the oldest of all lies, that of Satan in the garden of Eden, when he said to Eve, 'Ye shall not surely die' (Genesis 3:4); in so doing denying the necessity of the resurrection. Not considering the fact that without the power of the resurrection there can be no quickening into life of the dead.
* It has also been used to give credence to the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and of hell (ie., the grave) as a place of eternal conscious punishment, instead of the place of the dead, which can refer to the grave, or the final destruction of the second death (Gehenna).
* Forgive me, for I know that this can be a controversial subject, but I ask that you please consider it.
Thank you
In Christ Jesus
our risen and glorified
Saviour, Lord and Head.
Chris
* The church which is the Body of Christ is warned in Colossians 2:8,
'Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit,
after the tradition of men,
after the rudiments of the world,
and not after Christ.'
The word 'Beware' is one which is intended to stop us in our tracks and take notice, and is used by our Lord Himself in His earthly ministry on several occasions. such as the following, which need to be looked at within their contexts:-
'Beware of false prophets' (Matthew 7:15)
'Beware of men' (Matthew 10:17)
'Beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees' (Matthew 16:6, 11,-12)
* It is this third one that I am concerned with in this thread. Though there are others which are worth looking up and considering.
* Luke 12:1 tells us that 'the leaven (ie., doctrine) of the Pharisees' is hypocrisy. The Pharisees 'transgressed the commandments of God by their tradition' (Matthew 15:3), making 'the commandment of God of none effect' by their tradition (Matthew 15:6). They by, 'laying aside the commandments of God' held the tradition of men (Mark 7:8). It is said more strongly again in Mark 7:9, 'Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.'
* I believe that Christians throughout the ages have failed to take warning from these words of our Lord. For I believe that in Luke 16:19-31, the Lord gave an illustration of the doctrine of the Pharisees in the words of the story of the rich man and Lazarus, to expose their hypocrisy: but man has taken it and used it as a proof text that man does not die, but lives on in an afterlife, where he can see and hear and communicate not only with other dead ones but also with the living. By so doing prolonging the oldest of all lies, that of Satan in the garden of Eden, when he said to Eve, 'Ye shall not surely die' (Genesis 3:4); in so doing denying the necessity of the resurrection. Not considering the fact that without the power of the resurrection there can be no quickening into life of the dead.
* It has also been used to give credence to the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and of hell (ie., the grave) as a place of eternal conscious punishment, instead of the place of the dead, which can refer to the grave, or the final destruction of the second death (Gehenna).
* Forgive me, for I know that this can be a controversial subject, but I ask that you please consider it.
Thank you
In Christ Jesus
our risen and glorified
Saviour, Lord and Head.
Chris
* The church which is the Body of Christ is warned in Colossians 2:8,
'Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit,
after the tradition of men,
after the rudiments of the world,
and not after Christ.'
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