Contradictions - Show or Not Show
Matthew 5:16 in the New Living Translation Version
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“Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven."Matthew 6:1 in the New Living Translation Version
[This is the 4th lesson of this series]
This dig into the bible is about the same way as in the previous message, and almost every other criticism about the bible.
If you are observant, we are not going into those digs that contrast Old Testament verses with New Testament. We have already discussed about this in other lessons. But to give a quick reason. It is because the OT is the Jewish bible, the Christian Scriptures is the NT. The OT contains the Old Covenants and the NT, the present covenant. Here is a rundown on these.
Backstory
Jesus was born in Judea, in a Jewish society and into the Jewish faith. In His teachings, He was against the religious leaders of His day and time, and their teachings. What differentiates religion with the Christian faith is that in general, people are born into a religion, or marries into it. In Christianity, one is reborn into it. It is a conscious and deliberate decision. It is not by default.
Jesus was born in Judea, in a Jewish society and into the Jewish faith. In His teachings, He was against the religious leaders of His day and time, and their teachings. What differentiates religion with the Christian faith is that in general, people are born into a religion, or marries into it. In Christianity, one is reborn into it. It is a conscious and deliberate decision. It is not by default.
This is why we see many who were Christians simply because they were born in a Christian family fall away from it, because they have that freedom to. It's their choice. The sad reality is many Christians are Christians by name only. They don't even know why they are Christians.
Free Will
Christ did not force anyone to believe in Him or follow Him.
Christ did not force anyone to believe in Him or follow Him.
With His teachings, the things He did, the prophesies that came true and the promises He made that were fulfilled, His followers went all in on their own accord. And they spread the Christian faith all over the world, giving up everything else, even their lives for it.
Apples and Oranges
The two seemingly contradictory teachings of Jesus from the excerpts we read above, can be easily explained. It is because there are good deeds that need to be shown and there are those we ought not to.
It is often hard for people looking in to understand this, but it can simply be described as this, Jesus is talking about two types of deeds.
The backdrop is that many of the things Jesus taught against was the "good" deeds that the religious leaders of His day were doing. These people lord it over others and they perform their good deeds so people can see, to feed their egos and so that they can be placed in a pedestal to be talked about, admired, to maintain status or get a good reputation, high standing or other personal interests.
Jesus came to put a stop to this religious nonsense. He is saying that certain good deeds should be done in public, and only in a way which gives glory to Our Heavenly Father. Anything else that is done otherwise, or with ulterior motives or personal agenda is not of God
There is so much we can say about this and we can go on and on, but if I must say, people with a closed mind will not be persuaded, so even if we add a few more hundred words to explain, it will only fall on deaf ears. As Jesus said, He who has ears to hear, let them hear. Most just cannot hear or will not listen.
The two seemingly contradictory teachings of Jesus from the excerpts we read above, can be easily explained. It is because there are good deeds that need to be shown and there are those we ought not to.
It is often hard for people looking in to understand this, but it can simply be described as this, Jesus is talking about two types of deeds.
The backdrop is that many of the things Jesus taught against was the "good" deeds that the religious leaders of His day were doing. These people lord it over others and they perform their good deeds so people can see, to feed their egos and so that they can be placed in a pedestal to be talked about, admired, to maintain status or get a good reputation, high standing or other personal interests.
Jesus came to put a stop to this religious nonsense. He is saying that certain good deeds should be done in public, and only in a way which gives glory to Our Heavenly Father. Anything else that is done otherwise, or with ulterior motives or personal agenda is not of God
There is so much we can say about this and we can go on and on, but if I must say, people with a closed mind will not be persuaded, so even if we add a few more hundred words to explain, it will only fall on deaf ears. As Jesus said, He who has ears to hear, let them hear. Most just cannot hear or will not listen.
So many other alleged contradictions can be explained in this way. People call this the fallacy of false equivalence. Or simply put, comparing apples with oranges. They are both fruits but they aren't the same kind of fruit.
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