Ritual

The Teaching of Ancestors

The Scribes and Pharisees joined forces and sent a delegation from Jerusalem to Galilee to investigate the ministry and teachings of Jesus and His disciples (v. 1). These religious leaders accused them of failing to observe the ceremonial washing of hands before eating (v. 2). This had …

Religious Ritual Doesn’t Change a Sinful Life Style

Any theology which said Jerusalem was safe because of the Temple failed to take note of the hypocrisy practiced there. Those who came to the Temple had been guilty of stealing, murder, adultery, and false swearing. They had sacrificed to Baal and walked after other gods. Yet because …

Religious Directions

The writer warns in this passage against diverse and strange teachings which are linked with food restrictions and external religious demands. Apparently some were teaching that keeping the Old Testament ceremonial laws and rituals (such as eating certain foods) was important to …

A Call to Repentance

Amos shocked his listeners by singing a funeral song for the northern kingdom of Israel (vv. 1-3). The Israelites believed that their wealth and religious ritual made them secure but they were doomed for an untimely destruction. Furthermore, those who attempted to pro …

Mere Rituals Will Gain You No Favor in God’s Sight

A religious person usually feels that he has a special standing before God, not only because of his intellectual assent to certain beliefs, but also because he keeps the ordinances, the rites, and the rituals of that religion. Paul shows in this passage that mere rituals will gain no favor in God’s …

IllustrationThe “Mush God"

The “Mush God” has been known to appear to millionaires on golf courses. He appears to politicians at ribbon-cutting ceremonies and to clergymen speaking the invocation on national TV. The “Mush God” has no tenets of faith, nothing that would make it difficult …

IllustrationBanning of Dangerous Rituals

In a news item, snake-handling and the drinking of poison in connection with religious services were reportedly banned by the Tennessee Supreme Court. Liston Pack, a lay pastor of the Holiness Church of God in Jesus Name near Newport in eastern Tennessee, had been barred by a cou …

IllustrationA Young Pastor Witnessed to An Islamic Man

Each day the young pastor stopped at a deli-market for fruit juice on the way to Church. On many occasions he shared his faith in Jesus Christ with the Islamic man behind the counter. The Islamic man could not understand why the young pastor’s God would be willing to suffer. Ther …

IllustrationGoing Through Unnecessary Ritual

The average business executive spends about 60 hours a year on hold on the telephone, according to a survey. He/she also spends 32 minutes a day reading and writing unnecessary memos, or 128 hours a year; and an hour and 12 minutes a day at unnecessary meetings, or 288 hours a …

IllustrationYardmaster Checks The Telephone Operator For The Time

A railroad yardmaster called the telephone daily at exactly 11:45 to verify the time. After years of this ritual, the operator asked the yardmaster, “Why do you call each day at exactly the same time?"