Articles
You Are a Pharisee
Most of the time when this label gets thrown out it is done recklessly and thought- lessly, without any serious consideration of the nuances of the Pharisees of the first century. Often, it is done without any self-examination of one's own inconsistencies in an attempt to honestly consider what someone else is saying. This of course is meant to insult others without being rational and logical, with a feeling of spiritual superiority. It is used as a way to excuse ourselves from listening to those with whom we disagree. It is a lazy way of dismissing what others have said without studying the issue or question.
Certainly, interpreting Scripture more conservatively than you is no reason to call someone a Pharisee. Is it possible that those casting such an insulting label are doing the very things they are accusing others of doing? Are we saying it is wrong to ever critique while we are critiquing?
There was plenty wrong with many of the Phari- sees that Jesus dealt with such as making exceptions for one another which they did not make for those with whom they disagreed, formalism, or not practicing the things they told others to do. However, using such accusations to insulate ourselves from accountability is not what Christ has called us to as His people. Yes, Jesus dealt with the hypocrisy of many of the Pharisees of His day. However, there was a still a man named "Nicodemus."
