Ahh, tradition. The Pharisees had a bit of a problem. Jesus and his disciples were walking around not washing their hands before they ate. They weren't following the rules. If Jesus and his disciples were supposedly such holy men, why this dismissal of the most basic of rules regarding clean and unclean hands?
Jesus responded by calling them, "hypocrites". You see, they followed the rules with their hands but not their heart.
If we put the Ten Commandments on the walls of our courtrooms we would have a better country (folks who say this appear to miss the irony that this is a Christian version of sharia law).
If prayer were allowed in school, bad things wouldn't happen there. (A friend posted something to this effect on her facebook page today)
"You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men." - Jesus N. Christ
Outword piety and appearance of holiness is, in fact, the lowest common denominator of a life in Christ. It is the transformed heart that Jesus came to get for the kingdom. So, yes, post the ten commandments in the courtroom, but also post the Sermon on the Mount... you know, the part where Jesus presses the ten commandments and makes them EVEN HARDER. You know, like, when you stab someone in the back you are murdering them? How are our Christian politicians doing in this regard?
Did you know that prayer is actually allowed in schools? Yes it is, ask any kid who didn't study the night before a big test what they are doing right before they pick up a pencil. It is the organized prayer that all too often ends up being, again, outward displays of piety with no corresponding change of heart or life towards helping the outsider, the least, the lost, the lowly. I'm quite ok with not making prayer another piece of bling that a "cool kid" wears to school.
What if that kids mom and dad taught them how to pray "without ceasing" so that the fires of faith fanned on the home hearth transferred through their child to their friends as they became, then, the "aroma of Christ" to all those to whom they came in contact each day?
Traditions do not save us like some kind of magical talismen or chant.
Jesus Christ saved us. Let's get back to that good news rather than doing our best to establish the coolest, hippest, savviest tradition and then banking on that to get us into the kingdom...
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