Again, I’m not picking on Corky, but pointing out that he actually does elevate the whole discussion to a level wothy of dialogue. And his points are excellent. Good, well reasoned responses to get folks to reach for that higher level of understanding.
Of course he and I don’t agree, but that’s what intelligent discussion is all about. It’s about growth, learning, dialogue and sharing.
The points Corky makes that really intrigues me is in regard to government and law. For example, he points out that the Sadducees urged the people to submit to Roman law, not to revolt, but to have patience, that the “zealots” were the ones that usually caused trouble.
In fact, the Sadducees were not well thought of by the general population of Israel. They were considered the Quislings of the Roman government, puppets who ruled simply by the permission of the Roman Empire.
Even worse were the publicans, or tax collectors, who were generally lumped together with “sinners” in the New testament. Jesus associated with “publicans and sinners”.
In fact, Jesus told his followers in Matthew 18 that, if a person didn’t want to settle matters within the peaceful and non-vengeful treatment of the church or community, that person was to be shunned as a “gentile or tax collector”. Not much of a statement in support of Sadducee government.
Pharisees, on the other hand, in spite of their general legislative popularity, were condemned as “Hypocrites!”. Jesus said to call no man rabbi, and rabbis were Pharisees. Even though they sat in Moses’ seat, they were not to be called “rabbi’ or “master”. In fact, Jesus accused them of “taking away the key of knowledge” from the people. Pharisees said that certain among them, with proper training and discipline, could understand and define the law of God. Jesus said they were pretentious, that the “key of knowledge” was as much the property of the people as of the Pharisees, and Paul completely insulted them by saying that the natural mind cannot be subject to God’s laws, period.
The Sadducees were eliminated finally by the Pharisees, who waged “jihad” against the Roman Empire, only to see themselves scattered to the winds yet again. As Corky pointed out, the zealots gained absolutely nothing.
Why? because they believed something that simply wasn’t true. They were NOT God’s appointed representatives to establish God’s kingdom on earth. It was impossible for any human to claim that right.
And, neither are the “Christians” of today given that right, when you get down to it. If no natural mind can be subject to God, then it logically follows that no “natural” kingdom of God on earth can be established by human will. Can’t be done!
There is no “true church of God’ organized by any human, nor can there be. To assume there is, one would have to assume that his/her natural mind is the exception to the rule of Romans 8:7.
“I know Paul says that the natural mind cannot be subject to God’s law, but my mind is the exception, and I can decide otherwise”. Yeah, right. That’s pretty much the same attitude attributed to “Lucifer” in the Old Testament. “I will ascend into heaven, I will establish my will…” It’s also pretty much what the Pharisees stated, with the very best of intentions. They believed that their minds, with proper training and discipline, actually could be subject to God’s law, and they would represent God faithfully to the people. Jesus called them hypocrites, and Paul said it couldn’t be done. And so did Kurt Godel about 1900 years later.
Corky’s conclusions are correct except for one important point: the bible already pointed these things out.