Blind Guides

[16] "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' [17] You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? [18] And you say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.' [19] You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? [20] So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. [21] And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. [22] And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. Matthew 23:16-22 (ESV)


Blind guides, the world is quite full of them. Today people treat it as quite a light thing, I’m often amazed at what people don’t think matters. God’s word is not clear on this is considered an argument, despite the fact that God’s word is very clear, but merely challenges popular opinion. Sometimes I debate with fundamentalists who keep talking about innerrancy and inspiration, and I get the impression they have never read the Bible, and could care less what it actually says. They are often stunned when I pull out verses that speak of Baptism as saving. They tell me, they believe the Bible, and then talk about things that are not in it at all, like an age of accountability, or dedicating children rather than baptizing them. They talk of how unchristian it is to smoke or drink, when the Bible says either nothing, or quite the opposite. They rail on about cussing, and are oblivious to the course language that the scriptures themselves employ. They argue against philosophies of men, and are so naïve concerning philosophy as to not realize that they have been suckered into the philosophies of men hook, line and sinker. Most of what passes for Christian ethics today, is really not much more than Stoicism, and tell you the truth Epicureanism. Rather than an embrace of life in joy and sorrow, of which scripture talks, Christianity is sold as all but an abstinence from joy in life at all!
The problem has not changed. Man makes law, where God has made none. And where that may be forgivable where traffic is concerned, it is not where the word of God is concerned. If scripture doesn’t say anything against it, you have an obligation to keep you mouth shut, aside from perhaps friendly or fatherly advice. But the root of this problem is in reality a failure to see that scripture is not about do’s and don’ts, but about Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection and the forgiveness of sins that that accomplishes for us. Because if you concentrate on the law, you become a lawyer, and the lawyer’s job is to find loopholes and technicalities, and make them up where their aren’t any. And it is all the more ludicrous because it isn’t needed, we have Christ and forgiveness.