when you hear about the Pharasees stories do you think of fundamentalist christians?

Question

according to John Killinger and John SHelby spong fundamentalist christians or born agian christians are unspiritual and extremly cruel.

Answer 1

I absolutely do. The Pharisees thought it was more important to put on a public show of holiness and follow lots of rules, rules, rules than to treat other people nicely. So do many Christian fundamentalists.

Answer 2

A little background on the Pharisees I learned a few months ago:

The Pharisees were actually a well-intentioned group meant to "reclaim holiness" for the Jewish people under Roman rule.

The Zealots advocated open rebellion and war to throw off the Roman government, while the Pharisees chose a spiritual path of perfecting themselves, adhering perfectly to the Law, and so forth.

Unfortunately, their focus on personal holiness eventually became extreme and thus twisted -- they became legalists, developing lists of rules to inflict on the populace, and taking pride in their own ability to learn and follow the rules. They developed special scorn for those who were considered "bad" in the culture (the poor, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, etc.)

Thus they focused more on how to "make life work for them" and earn God's good grace.

So the comparison today is not just to the "fundamentalist" church.

I think the Evangelical church in general has been very susceptible to judging and excluding those with whom they disagree, judging believers instead of taking people where they are and encouraging growth, and breeding "happy face Christianity" where people must pretend to be better than they are in order to be acceptable to the group.

The temptation of the Pharisees is a temptation all of us can face... and it's sadder because the intentions begin as good.

Answer 3

All legalistic groups would fall under that heading, the catholic church is extremely legalistic, as are the baptists fundamentalists, and basically all christian fundamentalists. I don't listen to the people you mentioned because it sounds to me like they're trying to make everyone else the bad guys. I'm guessing they're evangelists, which are the worst of all, basically sprouting a bunch of nonsense while begging for more money to put that giant pool in their mansions. If you want truth, read the bible, because you won't get much truth from any organized religion, but you'll gets lots of rules and regulations.

Answer 4

In some ways, yes, I can see parallels between the Pharisees and their legalism and that of certain fundamentalist groups today. While a comparison is appropriate, I am not at all inclined to label the two groups as the same thing.

Answer 5

The truth is sometimes very hard to take. I only think of Pharisees when I encounter people who are the caricature of what Liberals and Atheists claim all Fundamentalists are like. Most of the Evangelical Christians I have met are truly striving to be like Christ and are loving and kind toward us Catholics and others even non-believers.

Answer 6

I wholeheartedly agree. It's the arrogant, self-rightous Christians that give Christianity a bad name. If they only knew the importance of Grace, they'd shut up and let people live!!

Answer 7

Some people don't know what they are talkiing about or judge a small handful of people and say its all of them.

Sometimes when we point one finger at one group there are 4 fingers pointing back at ourselves.

Answer 8

No. I think of fun athies.
http://tektonics.org/parody/fundyath.html

Peace and Love

Answer 9

i partly agree with you, but i know some born agains that are very spiritual. not all of them believe everything they hear.

Answer 10

Praying in public, eh?