=mailmandan;3440085]
YES Dan, they created their own "religion" with their own Laws and traditions. This is what I have been showing you all along. The Mainstream Preachers of His time were NOT trying to earn Salvation by following God's instructions as you all preach. They were trying to earn Salvation by following their own "religion" they created. These people were the only game in town because everything anyone knew about God and His Word was filtered through them and their "Commandments of Men".
YES Dan, they created their own "religion" with their own Laws and traditions. This is what I have been showing you all along. The Mainstream Preachers of His time were NOT trying to earn Salvation by following God's instructions as you all preach. They were trying to earn Salvation by following their own "religion" they created. These people were the only game in town because everything anyone knew about God and His Word was filtered through them and their "Commandments of Men".
Matthew 12:2 - But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath." So the Sabbath is their own religion?
Acts 23:8 - The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things. Is the resurrection, angels and spirits traditions of men?
The Judaizers taught that in order to truly be right with God, one must conform to the Mosaic Law. Circumcision, especially, was promoted as necessary for salvation. Gentiles had to become Jewish proselytes first, and then they could come to Christ.
At the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, a group of Judaizers opposed Paul and Barnabas. Some men who belonged to the party of the Pharisees insisted that Gentiles could not be saved unless they were first circumcised and obeyed the Law of Moses.
The doctrine of the Judaizers was a mixture of grace (through Christ) and works (through the keeping of the Law). *Hmm.. that sounds familiar?* This false doctrine was dealt with in Acts 15 and strongly condemned in the book of Galatians. You are not telling the whole truth. Although they ADDED their own laws and traditions to the law of Moses, they were not completely disconnected from the law of Moses, just as Roman Catholicism mixes traditions of men with Christian beliefs.
This is one reason Jesus came to them in the first place.
Not all Jews were deceived though as it is written. Zechariahs and Elisabeth didn't follow their religion, but followed the True Gospel that the Bible teaches.
So much for that. Zacharias and Elisabeth were not righteous (in right standing with God) through their own goodness (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:10), but their faith was accounted to them as righteousness, just as with Noah (Hebrews 11:7) and Abraham (Romans 4:3). Even under the Old Testament, the only way to be in right standing with God was by faith (Habakkuk 2:4; Galatians 3:11). No one has perfectly obeyed the law (Romans 3:23), so faith had to be put in the mercy and forgiveness of God which was illustrated by the Old Testament blood sacrifices. The Jewish nation for the most part lacked the understanding of justification by faith (Romans 10:1-4) and had fallen into the deception of seeking to establish their own righteousness.
You will notice in Luke 1:6 that the Bible doesn't say that Zechariah and Elisabeth were sinless but rather blameless. Through their faith in the blood sacrifices (which were symbolic of Christ), God put the blame for their sins on the Lamb (John 1:29). They accepted God's way and sought to live by it, but without FAITH, they could not be considered blameless by committing theirselves to walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. In Philippians 3:6, before Paul was saved, we see him describing himself; "Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless." The NIV says, "as for legalistic righteousness, faultless."
Notice the difference in how scriptures refer to them as opposed to the Pharisees. Nah, you can't see it. this is one of the volumes of scriptures you must ignore to further your religious traditions.
So if you can't accept these Biblical truths then you can't understand His Gospel.
Like the Pharisees who did the same thing, you are left to create your own Salvation centered around your false belief that the Pharisees were trying to earn Salvation by following God's Laws. This leads you to preach that God's Laws are against us and tell more falsehood regarding Col. 2, and Galatians and Romans.
Believers are not under law, but are under grace (Romans 6:14). The Law is our school master and not our Savior. Galatians 3:24 - Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
And when God's Word corrects you, as it has done many times, you work to discredit the messenger, another tactic used by the Mainstream Preachers of Christ's time.
A man that preaches things about God's Word that isn't true is not doing God's Will.
They claim they are, they believe they are, but the Word teaches differently. And regardless whether you follow God's Instruction of your own mind and ability that Jesus gave us, or if Jesus empowers us to obey, the bottom line is those children of God follow His Instructions. You preach against such life changes, calling anyone who believes EVERY WORD of God a legalist or whatever the insult of the day is.
You keep saying I believe I can forgive myself. Or do so some "Work" to forgive myself. I'm really tired of this same old lie. Following God's Instructions is essential to Salvation. If you don't believe this to be true then you don't believe the Jesus of the Bible.
When the Philippian jailor asked Paul and Silas, "what must I do to be saved in Acts 16:30, what long list of instructions did they give him in Acts 16:31? BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND YOU WILL BE SAVED. Simple!
*1 Corinthians 1:21 - For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who BELIEVE. When will you BELIEVE?
Christmas, your long haired Jesus, Halloween, Easter egg hunts, your Sabbath, etc. These are not the righteousness of God, these are man made righteousness.
Passover, Feast of Unleavened bread, His Sabbath that He created for man, etc.. These are God's Righteousness. You are the ones who are ignorant of this truth. So you create your own righteousness and refuse to "SUBMIT" unto God's Righteousness, just like the Pharisees did.
And anyone who humbles themselves unto God's Righteousness you insult and work to discredit, just like the Pharisees.
If Jesus came back today and got on this forum and said only those things He said in the Bible, you and your buddies would have Him labeled a "legalist" and you would be calling Him a Pharisee. Like He said, they hated Him first.