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An analysis of the arrogance and self-righteousness found in secularism and the modern churches, showing the importance of the basic message of Christianity.
God is in the dock. Shall we convict him or forgive him? Shall we replace the God of Scripture with another of our choosing, mock and deride him, or ignore him? Shall we replace revelation with the chaos of speculation? We perceive ourselves, rather than God, as the center of the world and this universal condition leads to conflict with others and with God. Maintaining our center causes cheating, lying, litigation, divorce, wars, genocide, and human misery. Western civilization is giving up trust in the promise of God's mercy, justice, and forgiveness and replacing it with trust in the goodness of man. Jesus warned us to beware the teaching of the Sadducees and Pharisees. The Sadducees, who denied hope of eternal life, are a rough equivalent of our modern day secularists with their religious trust that this world is all there is. Replacing God with trust in flawed human nature is a mark of arrogance that even pagans would have characterized as hubris evoking divine wrath. The Pharisee's yeast of self-righteousness is a natural condition of us all. Even when cleansed it reappears in every tradition rendering forgiveness and transformation a promise only for those who think they have earned and deserve it. Such a distortion of God's word is congenial to our self-as-center, but it robs us sinners of the justice and mercy of a loving God. Following Jesus's warning we have the opportunity to wipe away the Sadducee arrogance and the Pharisee self-righteousness and discover anew the supreme power and joy of the Christian faith.
God is in the dock. Shall we convict him or forgive him? Shall we replace the God of Scripture with another of our choosing, mock and deride him, or ignore him? Shall we replace revelation with the chaos of speculation? We perceive ourselves, rather than God, as the center of the world and this universal condition leads to conflict with others and with God. Maintaining our center causes cheating, lying, litigation, divorce, wars, genocide, and human misery. Western civilization is giving up trust in the promise of God's mercy, justice, and forgiveness and replacing it with trust in the goodness of man. Jesus warned us to beware the teaching of the Sadducees and Pharisees. The Sadducees, who denied hope of eternal life, are a rough equivalent of our modern day secularists with their religious trust that this world is all there is. Replacing God with trust in flawed human nature is a mark of arrogance that even pagans would have characterized as hubris evoking divine wrath. The Pharisee's yeast of self-righteousness is a natural condition of us all. Even when cleansed it reappears in every tradition rendering forgiveness and transformation a promise only for those who think they have earned and deserve it. Such a distortion of God's word is congenial to our self-as-center, but it robs us sinners of the justice and mercy of a loving God. Following Jesus's warning we have the opportunity to wipe away the Sadducee arrogance and the Pharisee self-righteousness and discover anew the supreme power and joy of the Christian faith.
Price: $29.99
Pages: 200
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Inc.
Imprint: Lutterworth Press
Publication Date:
26 May 2011
Trim Size: 9.02 X 6.02 in
ISBN: 9780718892364
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
RELIGION / Christian Theology / General, Christianity, Theology
[The] arguments are presented with fervour and urgency, but this book is not a rant. It is the work of a scholar as well as a pastor ... This is in many ways an admirable and timely book, rooted in biblical teaching, and it should not be neglected ... Christian readers should heed its positive message.
This is a book which promises much. It is imaginative, scholarly and written with a lightness of touch which makes it accessible to the thinking Christian as well as to the academic. Its central theme is compelling and even prophetic. It turns on the idea of yeast and what happens when its limitless powers for life-giving fermentation are corrupted, when they are not channelled within the constraints of God's good purposes.
— Lorraine Cavanagh
This is a book which promises much. It is imaginative, scholarly and written with a lightness of touch which makes it accessible to the thinking Christian as well as to the academic. Its central theme is compelling and even prophetic. It turns on the idea of yeast and what happens when its limitless powers for life-giving fermentation are corrupted, when they are not channelled within the constraints of God's good purposes.
— Lorraine Cavanagh
Acknowledgments
Preface by The Rev. Ashley Null
Introduction: The Center - I am Not and God Is
1 Trust in an Age of Arrogance
2 The Yeast of the Sadducees
3 Idolatry
4 Corruption of Morals and Art
5 The Pharisee Yeast
6 Anglican Pharisees
7 Roman Catholicism and the Council of Trent
8 Protestant Pharisaism
9 Why Did They Lie?
10 Blood of Christ
Bibliography
Index
Preface by The Rev. Ashley Null
Introduction: The Center - I am Not and God Is
1 Trust in an Age of Arrogance
2 The Yeast of the Sadducees
3 Idolatry
4 Corruption of Morals and Art
5 The Pharisee Yeast
6 Anglican Pharisees
7 Roman Catholicism and the Council of Trent
8 Protestant Pharisaism
9 Why Did They Lie?
10 Blood of Christ
Bibliography
Index