Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
How easy it has become to fake the real thing and perform for a willing audience.
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Matthew 6:1,2
"Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be praised by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their reward."
The caution applies not only to giving, but to any act: if it gets social reinforcement (warm fuzzies all around) then one may do it for the group approval, assuming this is a one-to-one analog of "gaining Christ". So just go to the right meeting, shout the right phrases, and 'voila'! You're on your way. . .but if the phrases shouted get 'funny' - i.e. they depart more and more from the plain words of the gospel, what to do? All you have is your so-called enjoyment, trusting in your performance. And thus the anxiety and uncertainty.
And the builders of the system have nice income flow, for themselves and even their occasionally 'unspiritual' progeny. "Truly I tell you, they already have their reward." They've used their home-grown theology and transferred subjectivism to build an earthly kingdom.