pharisees

/Tag: pharisees
25 September

How to whitewash your sepulchre

By |2019-09-26T08:15:11-06:00September 25th, 2019|Uncategorized|5 Comments

I'm trying hard not to be unfair or nitpicky with this headline and my comments on TC's talk at the 2019 March Week on unity. While he pushes hard for the suppression of negative information using the tried and true "fear and intimidation" tactic of the threat of withdrawal, which I find very problematic, he does seem to rightly understand the subject of gossip. On that, I completely agree with him. Believers should NOT be promulgating gossip, and I commend him on that instinct. However, the problem is that Stanton long ago lost the moral clarity to distinguish between destructive gossip and honest dissent.  When you suffer generations of oppressive teachings and practices, you become desensitized to this distinction, like generations of Chinese and North [...]

12 July

For Immediate Release: Stanton COC Source Says Teachers Are Actually Rabbis

By |2019-07-15T08:40:07-06:00July 12th, 2019|Satire, Uncategorized|8 Comments

Stanton, Calif. - In a surprising move, an anonymous source in the Stanton Church of Christ said the Teachers and Main Teachers of Stanton affiliated congregations nationwide are planning to start referring to themselves as "Rabbis," the Pharisaic teachers in Jesus's day. The source says this change took decades to come about. "We started off referring to members who taught classes as 'teachers,' she said. "But we gradually elevated them from a position of honor to a position of authority. We then decided that every last decision in a member's life be made with the counsel of teachers. Underwear choices, vacation plans, whom you can marry, whether you can relocate your family...everything." She says because every congregation has a teacher, it also became necessary to distinguish [...]

23 April

Matthew 5 – Rules and Regulations For The Church

By |2019-04-11T02:09:27-06:00April 23rd, 2014|Uncategorized|1 Comment

One passage of scripture in Matthew 5 has been substantially misinterpreted by the Stanton churches, in my opinion, and I think it will be useful to provide an alternative point of view here. Matthew 5:23-24 - Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. Stanton teaches that one must "take care of sin" (meaning confess it privately and/or publicly) prior to partaking in the Lord's supper based partly on this passage, and partly on their out-of-context teaching about taking the Lord's supper unworthily. The passage in question was [...]