Originally posted by brightfame52
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The remnant read the Bible and believed God's word, which said they had to fast and tithe, without neglecting the weightier requirements of the law, justice, mercy and faithfulness.
The rest said God must compulsorily bless us, because we are Abraham's children, because only Abraham's children fast and tithe, which we do.
God was patient, but when the people neglected His laws too much, did not believe that all of the law was needed to be obeyed, He placed His wrath on them. They were defeated and taken into exile. In fact, if there had been no faithful people, those who believed God's words, that all the law was to be obeyed, Israel would have disappeared, like Sodom and Gomorrah.
This happened many times, and it was happening in the time of John. People got scared, because they knew God was unhappy. There were signs that a big disaster was about to take place. A tower fell in Siloam, and many people were killed. Pilate desecrated the Temple by killing Jews inside it. It was like the small temblors you feel before an earthquake. But the people did not know what they were doing wrong. John told them that they had disbelieved God's word, that He wanted them to obey ALL His commands. They were wrong to twist Scripture to say that being children of Abraham forced God to protect them, because Abraham's children were recognised as such, not because of fasting and tithing, like the self righteous Pharisee in the Temple, but because they were loyal, believed ALL of God's words, like the Publican in the same Temple. They were not like Adam, who sinned, disbelieving God's words, twisting them, saying, 'Did God really say we should not sin?' :
Luke 3.7So he was saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You [d]offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Therefore produce fruits that are consistent with repentance, and do not start saying [e]to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children for Abraham. 9But indeed the axe is already being laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
After John, Jesus kept teaching the SAME things:
Luke 11.42“But woe to you Pharisees! For you pay tithes of mint, rue, and every kind of garden herb, and yet you ignore justice and the love of God; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
So what do you think? Was Paul like the faithful Jews or the unfaithful ones? Like those who believed God's words or those who neglected it?
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