@TragicPizza Aug 30th Sermon is pretty cool. He talks about a chasm of differences that far too often get in the way of loving God and loving one’s neighbor. It could be rigious adherence to laws, or rigorous adherence to social practices. Either way, we need to challenge ourselves to see how our actions, or lack of actions line up with loving God and one’s neighbor.
One of the things he stated was the following in reference to the Pharisees during Jesus time.
The Pharisees had taken the Law of Moses and, over the years, had reduced its overarching tenets to minutiae: how far it was permissible to walk on the Sabbath, how much you could carry, what things and people and activities were to be considered ceremonially clean and unclean. In theory, it was a good idea, because if one could not work on the Sabbath, then it was important to know how, exactly, to define “work,” wasn’t it?
Many of todays very orthodox Jewish people have very detailed criteria of what is ok, and what is not. Unlike the Pharisee’s of Jesus time, the orthodox Jewish folks I know are very humble. Rather than looking down on less orthdox folks as not being truly Jewish, they more so adhere to their orthdoxy in an exceedingly cool way of showing reverence to God, and their love for Him. The thought of looking down on ones neighbor is beyond uncool for them. Granted, just as in Christianity, I am sure there are a few jerks here or there who do look down on others.
That being said, I look at some of their lists, and go wow, its not for me, but I still think its pretty cool. One of the more interesting criteria is Sabbath mode. Here are a few examples.
Elevators can be programmed to automatically enter and leave Sabbath mode. In a nutshell, pushing elevator buttons is considered a form of work, and is prohibited. As a result Sabbath mode runs the elevator continuously circulating top to bottom and stopping at every floor. It may take a while to go up and down of course, but I think its pretty cool to have such a feature available.
Another option available in ovens provides for a bypass of the automatic 12 hour shut down interval. As a result, orthodox Jewish folks can cook their food the day before the Sabbath, and the oven will enter into a keep warm cycle, and thus prevent the need for any type of manual intervention.
By the same token, there are some fairly extreme situations that seem more a workaround than perhaps showing reverence. I guess it depends on the person, some might show their love this way, albeit I would find it sort of like a person who tithes but doesn’t really want to.
The halachic authorities have determined that electricity used as heat or light is considered fire. Therefore by turning on the burner one is creating a new fire. This action could just as well have been done before Yom Tov and is prohibited because of molid. Turning the dial on your electric stovetop may also initiate a light or icon on a control panel which would otherwise be off. This may be a transgression of kosev, writing, as well as molid. Even when the electric burner was left on from before Yom Tov, if one wishes to adjust the temperature of the burner there is also reason for concern. This is because, as a rule, one does not know if there is electric current running to the element at the time they wish to make the adjustment. Even when there is an indicator light showing that a burner is on, this may not be an indication that electricity is flowing to the burner at that moment.
I dont know that the above shows love to God, shows loving my neighbor, or is mans way to try and rationalize around a given situations. Either way, its probably the sort of thing that becomes near impossible to keep over a period of time, albeit I can think of cooktop design changes which could do so automatically.
Ultimately, I think Christians have to search their heart and pray for wisdom for such issues after consulting the scriptures. Even more so, for actions called out by the law and/or its extensions. Does one revere God with joy and love, or does it become a matter of drudgerous duty? Does such an action show loves for ones neighbor, or aggravate them?
We dont want to make the Pharisee’s mistake which tragic_pizza stated so well What Jesus is confronting is theological purity turned putrid: where the details of doctrine overwhelm and become the focus of faith. Where justice and mercy apply only to those who think, act, and look like us. Where being right is more important than righteousness. Where law smothers love.
Nor do we want to throw works as relative to our neighbor totally aside. We must not spend so much time messing with the stove to remain pure, such that we never cook the food, and the hungry homeless man remains unfed.
