Pharisee Assaults Cheerleaders
I wrote the following "letter to the editor" in response to a letter from a local Pharisee verbally assaulting the Springs Valley cheerleaders. I don’t want to publish his name on the internet, so I will call him "preacher bull" because his attitude was like a bull in a china shop. The Bible tells us to correct some in the Spirit of gentleness, but of course Pharisees always have to make a show.
In order to raise money for uniforms, travel expenses, etc., the Springs Valley cheerleaders wash cars. "Preacher bull" complained because they were wearing swim suits when they were washing the cars. He said the sponsors and parents that permitted that were acting like Lot when he offered his daughters to the homosexuals in Sodom to protect the angels. "Preacher bull" never talked to any of the girls, their sponsors, or their parents. He chose to attack them all publicly through his letter.
My letter was written to defend the church and show the girls that "preacher bull" was not representing the church. It was not written to argue with "preacher bull." If you argue with a Pharisee, you become one too.
Dear Editor,
This is in response to a letter by "preacher bull" of July 30, 1997.
This is to correct several misconceptions some might have from reading the "preacher bull" letter. First of all, this is not written in order to "straighten out" "preacher bull" - that is between him and God. And it is not written to Christians. Most them are all too familiar to the ravings of Pharisees. They have heard many and all too often have realized they too were acting as Pharisees instead of as Christians should act.
It is written to those who are not too familiar with the Scriptures and who might get the wrong idea of God's Word, the church, or Christians from the way "preacher bull" wrote and the attitude he displayed in his writings. To put it bluntly, he misrepresents the Scripture and acted as a Pharisee instead of a Christian. Pharisees were the chief enemies of Christ. Where Jesus taught people to work together to help one another; the Pharisees refused to work with anyone and stood back and hurled verbal stones.
As to the Scriptures, "preacher bull" said he was "appalled" by Lot's offer to sacrifice his daughters to save the angels. (see "Did Lot Sin in Sodom?") I guess then, he must have been "appalled" by Abraham's offering of Isaac, and by God's offer of His Son for the sins of the world. I think a willingness to sacrifice should be applauded - not "appalled."
What the Scriptures do tell us is to not judge one another and when we do it is a sign we are guilty of the same things.
Rom 2:1, You may be saying, "What terrible people you have been talking about!" But you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you do these very same things.
When Jesus said:
Mat 5:28-29, But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart. {29} So if your eye—even if it is your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
This Scripture teaches that if we have a problem lusting after someone, we need to start fixing our own life. The main problem is within us. We can not just blame our problems on how someone else dresses. The Scriptures do not give eternal commands about how to dress. They talk in terms of how to deal with lust and temptation. Maybe the main thing the fathers should do is watch their daughters when they are around those (preachers or otherwise) who lust after them.
Instead of throwing verbal stones at one another, Christians in the Valley should work together to make this a better place for all. They should work together like they did with the community Vacation Bible School and like they did to lobby against gambling. They should work together to eliminate illegal drugs.
Don't be too harsh on "preacher bull." He is not the only one that shouts criticism from the sidelines. Several other area preachers and Pharisees view their groups as righteous and everyone else as the enemy. And the attitude is not limited to religious people. We have become a nation of people, from the president on down, who excuse our sin by exposing the sin of others. We use the excuse that "everyone's doing it." Well everyone is not doing it (whatever "it" is) and even if they were it wouldn't relieve us of our primary responsibility of controlling our own actions. But then personal 'responsibility' is another concept that has fallen out of fashion today.
As a matter of fact our country has become a country of Pharisees. We avoid getting too involved with anything. We think we know all the answers when we have not got close enough to even know what the problems are yet.
So when you act to get involved and help others. Don't be surprised at the criticism from those on the sidelines. That is what Jesus was talking about when He said those who do the right things will suffer persecution. It goes with the territory. The spectators are always experts. Their ideas have never been tested by being put into action - so they have never failed. If you are helping others in order to receive praise, I guess it would hurt when you get criticism instead of praise. But when you are simply helping people because they need help, don't worry about it. They are simply treating you the same way they treated Jesus.
When you judge the actions of Christians, don't look at the talk of the Pharisees, but at the action of the Christians who are acting like Jesus did. They stand against the Pharisees. They feed the hungry. They go about helping the ones who need help. They are the ones who make a real difference in this world.
Keith Howard
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