Doing good for bad reasons.

MoreCoffee

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Some acts are good, such as feeding the starving, housing the homeless, and showing kindness to the oppressed yet even good deeds can be done for corrupt reasons:
The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. For the Pharisees, and the Jews in general, follow the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow; and on returning from the market place they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are also many other observances which have been handed down to them concerning the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes. So these Pharisees and scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?’ He answered, ‘It was of you hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this passage of scripture:
This people honours me only with lip-service,
while their hearts are far from me.
The worship they offer me is worthless,
the doctrines they teach are only human regulations.
You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.’ He called the people to him again and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean. For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.’
 

TurtleHare

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I heard a sermon on this about traditions of man and they can take precedence instead of doing the right thing.
 

MoreCoffee

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I heard a sermon on this about traditions of man and they can take precedence instead of doing the right thing.

If the sermon blamed 'traditions' for people not doing the right thing then it missed the mark. The only traditions that the Lord Jesus Christ condemned were the traditions that nullified God's commandments. Things like "corban" by which some religious Jews of Jesus' day would reserve their personal wealth for themselves by claiming that it was dedicated to God and could not be used for the relief of one's parent's needs. Today some Christians may use God as an excuse for selfishness and hardheartedness too.
 

TurtleHare

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If the sermon blamed 'traditions' for people not doing the right thing then it missed the mark. The only traditions that the Lord Jesus Christ condemned were the traditions that nullified God's commandments. Things like "corban" by which some religious Jews of Jesus' day would reserve their personal wealth for themselves by claiming that it was dedicated to God and could not be used for the relief of one's parent's needs. Today some Christians may use God as an excuse for selfishness and hardheartedness too.

The sermon was enforcing what Jesus was against in that man forms traditions and calls it God's law but it is only men coming up with their own laws because they don't fully understand.
 

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The sermon was enforcing what Jesus was against in that man forms traditions and calls it God's law but it is only men coming up with their own laws because they don't fully understand.

I think of traditions as coming in more than one kind; there is the kind handed down from the apostles, there is the kind that arise as prudent measures for the safety of the church and Christians, and there is the kind that arise as ad hoc measures and later become laws which can hinder the good works that God calls his people to live by.
 
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