Suffer the Little Children

Since reading my bible typically happens at night, and not in the morning, it is unlikely that each post will end with my having read the bible for the day. Instead, each post should look at whether I read the bible the previous day, or in this case, the previous two days. Fortunately, I did.

On Wednesday I read Matthew 12 and 13. And on Thursday I read Matthew 14 and 15. Forgive me for being so linear. I am currently carrying the New Jerusalem Bible translation, which is a bit different from the NIV or NASV, or what have you. But it leads me to questions about passages I thought I understood.

Probably the most striking thing I read was in Mt. 15 v. 1-9. in which Jesus accused the Pharisees of breaking the commandments for the sake of tradition. The example he gives is denying honor to your father and mother by using the excuse that "anything I might have used to help you is dedicated to God" (v. 5). It made me think about the ways that I can become indifferent to people's suffering because I am too busy trying to be righteous about other suffering. In reality, I am being self-righteous about suffering that I have foolishly deemed more worthy of God.

Especially with my parents, who I take for granted for the most part. I can blame them and their opinions for all the problems in the world, but I don't take the time to love them and appreciate them for who they are, or to realize that no problem is a one person affair.

Sorry if I got too far into it there. I don't want to start Chris's Bible Hour here. But I am trying to give account, I guess.

Is this self-righteous in itself? Is it encouraging? Is there a chance we can speak of what we learn and become something more than the rambling of strangers? Am I alienating you?

I would like to emphasize that I am focusing on me for this. I don't aim to hold you accountable to anything unless you ask me. But when I am here, in my own blog, I am speaking of my own highs and lows. If ever there is a time when I speak in "you"s and "your"s, I do not mean you specifically. I mean the general of how people tend to be. But I will try to refrain from that also. So, I am not giving you the right to criticize my beliefs here. I am giving you the right to read about my efforts to bring myself closer to my beliefs. If you would like to criticize or be offended or lose respect, you are free to do it to yourself, or in small circles of like-minded people. But I am not looking to be debated or to prove myself right. Just to show you where I succeed and where I fail.