Are Roman Catholics Aware of the REAL REASON Why Jesus Attacked the Pharisees?
In fact one question I'd like to raise to them is, "Are you even aware why Jesus attacked the Pharisees?" Now we have to get these facts and these are stated by Baptist preacher, David W. Cloud:
(1) Phariseeism is supplanting the Word of God with man-made tradition and thereby making the Word of God of none effect. “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mat. 15:7-9).
(2) Phariseeism is rejecting Jesus Christ. “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils” (Mat. 12:22-24).
(3) Phariseeism is perverting the Gospel of the free grace of Christ into a works salvation. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Mat. 23:15).
(4) Phariseeism is self-righteousness. “And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess” (Lk. 18:9-12).
(5) Phariseeism is the practice of religious hypocrisy. “In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Lk. 12:1).
Source: Those Fundamentalist Pharisees
Amen to that Pastor Cloud. It's really funny how these Roman Catholic apologists try to blur out any comparisons between the Pharisees and their Roman Catholic priests when in fact, it's not a blur picture to me anymore especially that I am a former Roman Catholic. In fact, while the Roman Catholic institution claims to be Christian, they actually do reject the real Jesus for a fake Jesus, that is their Jesus who is still a mama's boy. In fact, you might want to consider the doctrines of the Council of Trent have invented throughout centuries even when they struck down the second commandment and split the tenth to get their "new commandments' which is plain crookery.
The great Baptist preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon also write these about the Pharisees:
THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES were great readers of the law. They studied the sacred books continually, poring over each word and letter.They made notes of very little importance, but still very curious notes—as to which was the middle verse of the entire Old Testament, which verse was halfway to the middle, and how many times such a word occurred, and even how many times a letter occurred, and the size of the letter, and its peculiar position. They have left us a mass of wonderful notes upon the mere words of Holy Scripture. They might have done the same thing upon another book for that matter, and the information would have been about as important as the facts which they have so industriously collected concerning the letter of the old Testament. They were, however, intense readers of the law. They picked a quarrel with the Saviour upon a matter touching this law, for they carried it at their fingers' ends, and were ready to use it as a bird of prey does its talons to tear and rend.Our Lord's disciples had plucked some ears of corn, and rubbed them between their hands. According to Pharisaic interpretation, to rub an ear of corn is a kind of threshing, and, as it is very wrong to thresh on the Sabbath day, therefore it must be very wrong to rub out an ear or two of wheat when you are hungry on the Sabbath morning. That was their argument, and they came to the Saviour with it, and with their version of the Sabbath law. The Saviour generally carried the war into the enemy's camp, and he did so on this occasion. He met them on their own ground, and he said to them, "Have ye not read?"—a cutting question to the scribes and Pharisees, though there is nothing apparently sharp about it. It was very a fair and proper question to put to them; but only think of putting it to them. "Have ye not read?" "Read!" they could have said, "Why, we have read the book through very many times. We are always reading it. No passage escapes our critical eyes." Yet our Lord proceeds to put the question a second time—"Have ye not read?" as if they had not read after all, though they were the greatest readers of the law then living. He insinuates that they have not read at all; and then he gives them, incidentally, the reason why he had asked them whether they had read. He says, "If ye had known what this meaneth," as much as to say, "Ye have not read, because ye have not understood." Your eyes have gone over the words, and you have counted the letters, and you have marked the position of each verse and word, and you have said learned things about all the books, and yet you are not even readers of the sacred volume, for you have not acquired the true art of reading; you do not understand, and therefore you do not truly read it. You are mere skimmers and glancers at the Word: you have not read it, for you do not understand it.
In Matthew 23 we read the condemnation of the Pharisees. The Protestant pastor Dr. Vernon McGee wrote some of these in his "Through the Bible Commentary" with these statements which I will not quote all of them about the Pharisees:
- These religious rulers were in the place of authority and they controlled the Old Testament Scriptures. They usurped that they had NO RIGHT to usurp. They occupied very much the same position that church leaders occupy today. People looked to them for the interpretation of the truth(Commentary on Matthew 23:1-2).
- That is do as the Scriptures teach but don't follow the works of scribes and Pharisees because they are not following the Word of God (Commentary on Matthew 23:3).
- These men liked to have titles. These men liked to be recognized. They liked to wear certain religious garments and habits which set them apart from other people and drew attention to their high positions. Our Lord is condemning all of this (commentary on Matthew 23:4-7).
- A "father" is a life giver. To call man a "father" in SPIRITUAL MATTERS is to put him in the place of God as one who gives spiritual life. This is blasphemous. Only God the Father gives life. A "master" is one in position of authority, Christ is the One in the position of authority as the Head of the Church today (commentary on Matthew 23:9-10).
Obviously the Scriptures do condemn calling the priests as "father" in the spiritual sense. In fact, it amazes me how many Roman Catholic priests and their blind followers still insist it's Scriptural because of "Father Abraham" and Paul calling Timothy "my son in the faith". Yet let's be careful. A pastor has the right to call a much younger parishioner as a "son" but not every time you call a person "son" that the person is your son or adopted son. Son or daughter can be used as a friendly term for people who are much younger. Yet never did Timothy call Paul as father in the spiritual sense. Roman Catholic apologetics is just full of errors and that's why I don't spend time debating them. I'd rather preach to them to the truth and if they don't listen the blood is not in my hands anymore.
In fact we read all their charges as presented which are the following:
1.) First woe (Matthew 23:13)- They shut the door of Heaven against men neither do they go in themselves. Today the sinister system is of how works salvation prohibits both the teachers and the followers from ever entering Heaven. The Pharisees taught the impossible system of works salvation that man must do works to earn God's favor. The priests of Babylon from her Pope to her priests teach the same heresy, that they have denied true salvation to their followers yet they themselves enter in. The sin of presumption doctrine has kept people in captivity even its teachers.
2.) Second woe (Matthew 23:14)- How true indeed upon they that would be devouring the houses of widows and make such long prayers. While the Roman Catholics have accused the Christian brethren of ripping out money through the tenth of one's income, how about them? They have done more than tithe, in fact every ritual requires money. Widows are sadly women left weakened because of the departure of their husbands and the responsibility of the home falls upon them- without the father, the mother must take the job of provisions, even find a job and the children will have to learn to take over her position. And in that state, she is so weak she is so easily duped except by the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 10:1-2 denounces the crime of doing so against widows. As said by Matthew Henry, "Popish priests under pretence of long prayers for the dead, masses and dirges that I know not what, enrich themselves by devouring the house of the widows and fatherless. Note, it is no new thing for the show and form of godliness to be made a cloak to the greatest enormities. But dissembled piety however it passeth now, will be reckoned as double iniquity in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men."
3.) Third woe (Matthew 23:15)- Upon to which, their converts are in fact greater than a child of Hell than themselves. I would say that while many Roman Catholics may appear as good citizens in the case hence some of my own relatives as such, but inwardly they have their dirty secrets that cannot hide itself. Take for instance I know of a Roman Catholic woman who is so religious and yet her dirt comes out that she backbites during her confessions, she is a mean mother-in-law, an unforgiving wife and caused her own children to have no backbone because of her dominating personality. Such do sing in the choir and yet commit adultery habitually and think nothing is wrong. And what is worse is that, the Roman Catholic institution after "granting forgiveness" to the confessionals and seeing such people continue in their sins getting worse, still administer Communion. Have they not read in 1 Corinthians 11:28-30 that whosoever shall eat the body and the bread of the Lord unworthily or disrespectfully is guilty of mishandling the body of Christ? Worse, by their doctrine of transubstantiation have they disrespected the sacrament of the Lord's supper which is but a symbol, not the literal body and blood and is a seal and signifying of salvation but not necessary for salvation but a result of salvation? I doubt it then. For such, even great corrupt politicians have not been excommunicated and continue to receive Communion and church favors, have I then much to say? Then they say, "Aren't there any adulterers in thine flock o preacher?" Then so shall I reply, "There are who stumble but not habitual. Those who are habitual are but wolves in sheep's clothing on my flock who are actually but entrusted to me." is my reply.
4.) Fourth woe (Matthew 23:16-19)- The sins have gone as far as to even swear by the altar and to swear by the Temple of God, worse to swear by Heaven. For it is the altar and not the gift that sanctifies and to swear by the altar is to swear much more than the gift. Oh how such sin it is that they swear by Heaven that such lies like Sola Scriptura is not Scriptural, that the Council of Trent and not God's Word is the final authority for they full ye reject the Word of God to keep their own traditions (Mark 7:8-9). Indeed, they have sworn by Heaven which they also swear by God's throne and Him that sits thereon. And indeed this Pope swearing by heaven that he himself is the God of the Earth, Jesus under the veil of flesh has condemned himself unto blasphemy! The Man of Sin swears by the Temple of God as well!
5.) Fifth woe (Matthew 23:23-24)- Indeed they are very religious, they leave no ritual undone. Observe thereof of the Roman Catholic priests who are seen so faithful in their duties, seen kneeling on the floor and praying long prayers and praying like the Pharisees for display. Yet the history of Roman Catholicism has shown this much evil in their doings. They have been guilty of oppression, remember therefore the Inquisition or how they tie the burdens such as 1 Timothy 4:1-3 says of their manmade traditions. Think of how many Baptists and Protestant Christians were burned to death simply for eating meat during the Lenten season!
6.) Sixth woe (Matthew 23:25-27)- Jesus had used an abhorrent language against the Pharisees thereof that speaks of apostasy. Notice therefore the golden cup of Babylon the Great that though it'd be a cup of gold but inside it are the very dirty stuff- the blood of the saints and all filthiness. Think of therefore how the cup of gold and precious stones are actually but the chalice of evil. Many who had refused to believe in the heresy of transubstantiation were bloodily murdered in so many ways, as written in the Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Such saints however refused to accept deliverance so they may obtain a better resurrection, proof such people remain saved despite circumstances and their actions showed it.
7.) Seventh woe (Matthew 23:38)- The Pharisees were compared to tombs that are but filled with dead bones. No matter how beautiful a tomb would be, it would have dead bones. The dead die, they become unsightly because of rotting flesh then dead bones remain. Such a prophecy was later verified upon the very catacombs of the Vatican are filled with dead men's bones and the worship of the bones of dead "saints" like Francis Xavier of the dreaded not blessed Jesuit Order.
8.) Eighth woe (Matthew 23:29)- Jesus has condemned the building of the tombs for the prophets and saints whom corrupt religion itself has killed. Think of the death of Zechariah at the hands of the Baal worshipers whom Joash later supported out of peer pressure. Think thereof of the prophets of God whom the wicked King Ahab and his wife Jezebel murdered so the prophets of Baal may prevail. Think of the wickedness of Athaliah who was no doubt the most evil queen of her time who also dared to murder even her own grandchildren just so she could stay on the throne and stop the lineage of the Messiah! And in a Presbyterian point of view as commentator Matthew Henry says, "The extravagant respect which the church of Rome pays to all the memory of saints, departed, especially the martyrs, dedicating days and places to their names, enshrining their relics, praying to them and offering to their images while they make themselves drunk with the blood of the saints of their own day is a manifest proof that they had not only succeeded but exceed the scribes and Pharisees in counterfeit hypocritical religion which builds the prophets' tombs but hates the prophets' doctrine." Though Matthew Henry is but human and is prone to mistakes, I myself have observed that to how Babylon the Great has been in Revelation 17-18 condemned for killing the Christians while claiming herself to be a Christian. Worse, they have killed in God's name (John 16:23).
Do these sound anything unlike Roman Catholic priests? Not at all if one takes a close observant look which sadly man refuse to do so. It's no surprise I've seen priests having their big heads and loving public salutations, making long prayers in public, trying to appear righteous while hiding all the sexual crimes that they have hidden for centuries. In fact, how can a fundamentalist Christian like me be a Pharisee when I only rely upon the Word of God? The Pharisees were not zealous about the Word of God, they only pretended to be and yet they show their signs of utter hypocrisy because they rejected the Word of God to keep their manmade traditions. One might want to take a look at these facts as well- which religion in the world has for centuries debated over dogma, even declared one century that babies go to Heaven and another century except they be baptized by Rome, they cannot enter Heaven? Which religion even argued for centuries about Mary in their place of worship? Which religion in the world has the Pope not the Bible as the final authority? Which religion teaches salvation by works? Roman Catholicism! In fact, I'm even finding almost every last articles presented by the Council of Trent (which many Roman Catholics admit is their final authority over God's Word as the only source of authority) which for centuries has contradicted itself. In fact, anybody who speaks against their doctrine has been declared anathema or accursed. Ironically, they are accursed by adding to the Word of God. No true Christian will ever add to the Word of God!