I Tried That ~ Hedgerows of Iron

Greetings Dear Reader, 

The Pharisees, religious leaders in Jerusalem at Jesus' time, enforced the Talmud as law.  The Talmud is a collection of writings that pondered the Torah, or the Law of Moses.  What the rabbis who wrote the Talmud did was construct a hedge around the Law. 

I truly believe that their purpose was a good one at first.  Their initial intent was to set up a system whereby the average Jew could avoid violating the Law.  Whilst the intent was laudable, as with all things designed by man it was easily corruptible.  Two things occurred:  The people were no longer learning the actual Torah as they were supposed to learn it.  The hedge then became an orthodoxy without life.   The second thing was that their hearts were not engaged in knowing the Law out of love for God. 

It was easy from there to become people who followed for the purpose of obeying the rules instead of out of love for the Father.  In the attempt to hedge the Law, the people become fenced out of the first commandment, to love the Father with all that they are.  The difficulty is that the failure to keep this commandment makes it impossible to keep any of the others. 

Before we allow pride to make us think we are better, it is clear that we are not.  The Church has done the same thing over the millennia.  It has turned the freedom we have in following Christ into systematized pockets of division that hinder our journey.  We too fail to love the Father as we should and still brag about our distinctives, doctrines, and programs.  We also create barriers to faith that are difficult to overcome. 

If we are going to seek the Father we must do so in truth.  This means that most of the “rules” you hear about are just hedges of iron built around the Gospel.  Mazes are created making it difficult to approach grace and mercy.  The power of Christ is to set us free so that we can love the Father as we should and find peace in the limitless grace that sustains our journey. 

What I must do is only seek the things that please the Father and never seek to impress or please those constructing the hedges.  I do not have to wander through their requirements to follow Christ.  There are practices and programs that are good.  I must get the first things right first.  Love, faith, and following must come before doctrines, catechisms, and programs, Dear Reader. 

Wishing you joy in the journey, 

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good. 

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“Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there’s still time to change the road you’re on.” – Jimmy Paige