Friday, August 31, 2007
Daily QT: 08/31/2007 Mark 7:9-13
9And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' 11But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."
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hmm.. i don't quite understand
The NIV Bible Commentary says about these verses, "But by means of the traditions of the Pharisees, the responsibility of children to their parents could be easily circumvented. A son need only declare that what he had intended to give his father and mother be considered "Corban," i.e., a gift devoted to God, and it could no longer be designated for his parents. By devoting the gift to God, a son did not necessarily promise it to the temple nor did he prevent its use for himself. What he did was to exclude legally his parents from benefiting from it. So the very purpose for which the fifth commandment had been given was being set aside ("nullified") by the tradition."
To me, these verses speak of religious hypocrisy and religious opportunism. They bring to mind smarmy tele-evangelists - like when that one pastor said that God would kill him if people didn't donate at least 1 million dollars by a certain date - and then said that God gave him an extension when the goal wasn't met by the deadline.
I know that all sins are despicable in God eyes, even the "small ones;" yet I can't help but think that the sins that are done in the name of God must be especially evil in his eyes. They are in mine. I hate religious hypocrisy and self serving sanctimony the most - because we all sin, but these people knowing drag God's name in the mud with them while doing it. How many people have been turned off by Christianity because of such things?
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