God hates rituals

[derekohachey]

Hello,

I hope I caught your attention with the title

We often get hit with scriptures that says God hates the sacrifices offered by the sinful Isrealites in the old testament. I am aware that the context of these scriptures is always the Isrealites not living their lives according to the law and offering empty sacrifices.

I remember one apologist on CAL or OpenLine quoting a few passages that shows God loving the sacrifices when done by a faithful follower. If you are aware of these scriptures please share!

 

[Jim_Baur]

I do not know anything about the actual topic.

However, I wonder if it is not analogous to Psalm 5: 7, God hates sinners!

I think the literal in English could be said: God works against us when we miss the mark of doing loving actions.

JUST A THOUGHT!

 

[PietroPaolo]

Off the top of my head, Genesis 4

4 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.

2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

 

[meltzerboy]

Hello,

I hope I caught your attention with the title

We often get hit with scriptures that says God hates the sacrifices offered by the sinful Isrealites in the old testament. I am aware that the context of these scriptures is always the Isrealites not living their lives according to the law and offering empty sacrifices.

I remember one apologist on CAL or OpenLine quoting a few passages that shows God loving the sacrifices when done by a faithful follower. If you are aware of these scriptures please share!

G-d does not appreciate empty rituals that are done mechanically and without love and joy. However, even if we do not feel like participating in rituals, Judaism advises we should force ourselves and make the attempt since changing behavior can have the effect of changing mind and heart. Doing something because G-d commands us, even though we may not wish to, is something G-d does appreciate.

 

[losh14]

Shalom to a fellow son of Abraham!

G-d does not appreciate empty rituals that are done mechanically and without love and joy. However, even if we do not feel like participating in rituals, Judaism advises we should force ourselves and make the attempt since changing behavior can have the effect of changing mind and heart. Doing something because G-d commands us, even though we may not wish to, is something G-d does appreciate.

OP, let’s not dismiss too easily the power of ritual in human lives. Ritual marks occasions - whether having birthday cake and singing, or having coney islands and hot fudge sundaes on Grandma’s birthday (she would have been 92 this year). Ritual binds community. Ritual, for those who practice them as a matter of faith, marks the transition between the mundane and the sacred. One way to think of holiness is as separation. Hence the Levitical laws that are often decried by those antagonistic to the worship of the Lord as nonsense, are actually about making oneself for the sake of honoring our Creator. To not wear clothes of two kinds of cloth, or plant two kinds of seed in the same field, to separate milk and meat, these - as best I understand - were intended to demonstrate constantly the separation of the people Israel from all other tribes, that they were set apart by Him and for Him. For Catholics, ritual demarcates those things that are intended wholly for the Lord. While it is sufficient for a minister of law to say “You are married” and it is such, by ritual of Matrimony do we dedicate such a union to the Lord. Likewise, by the rite of Confession do we separate ourselves from the world and cleave once again to our Savior. And many of us in our own private devotions, enter into a ritual of our own understanding in order to increase ourselves in the Spirit.

We may say that He hates empty things, words that remain as wind without the heart and might to fulfill their promise. But we may not say that He hates true and earnest devotions merely because they contain words or follow form.

 

[FrDavid96]

Hello,

I hope I caught your attention with the title

We often get hit with scriptures that says God hates the sacrifices offered by the sinful Isrealites in the old testament. I am aware that the context of these scriptures is always the Isrealites not living their lives according to the law and offering empty sacrifices.

I remember one apologist on CAL or OpenLine quoting a few passages that shows God loving the sacrifices when done by a faithful follower. If you are aware of these scriptures please share!

Look at Psalm 51 usccb.org/bible/psalms/51

The Psalm starts off by saying that God does not want empty sacrifices,
For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it;
a burnt offering you would not accept.

but once the person realizes that God wants a humble heart (verse 19)
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn.
the whole tone changes. Now He does delight in ritual.
Then you will desire the sacrifices of the just,
burnt offering and whole offerings;
then they will offer up young bulls on your altar.

 

[robwar]

G-d does not appreciate empty rituals that are done mechanically and without love and joy. However, even if we do not feel like participating in rituals, Judaism advises we should force ourselves and make the attempt since changing behavior can have the effect of changing mind and heart. Doing something because G-d commands us, even though we may not wish to, is something G-d does appreciate.

 

[GLam8833]

James 4:8 " Draw near to God and He will draw near to you"

How do we approach the “everlasting burning”?
Heb 10:22 “Let us draw near with
sincere hearts,
with full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,
and our bodies washed with pure water”

This describes the “ritual” we follow to draw near to God.
It is a short summation of
the Sacrament of Confession and
the LITURGY of the Eucharist!

 

[MarcoPolo]

• The gesture of imposing hands confers the Spirit in appointing Church leaders (cf. Acts 6:6, Acts 8:18, Acts 19:6, 1 Tim. 4:14, 2 Tim. 1:6, etc…).
• Elders are to anoint the sick with oil, and sins are to be confessed (Jam. 5:14-15).
• In Paul’s time, one of the regulations was the length of a woman’s hair and her head covering, and men were not to cover their heads (1 Cor. 11:1-16).
• The very reading of Scripture in Church (Col. 4:16, 1 Thes. 5:27) is a continuation of Jewish practice (Acts 15:21)!
• The book of Revelation is fraught with ritualistic and liturgical imagery such as the use of incense and harps (Rev. 5:8), religious chants (Rev. 4:8), and lamps and robing (Rev. 1:13). These all parallel practices in ancient Judaism, which the modern critics in question claim are the example of “religion” Jesus despised.

See more at Christianity is a Religion.

 

[FrDavid96]

Hello,

I hope I caught your attention with the title

We often get hit with scriptures that says God hates the sacrifices offered by the sinful Isrealites in the old testament. I am aware that the context of these scriptures is always the Isrealites not living their lives according to the law and offering empty sacrifices.

I remember one apologist on CAL or OpenLine quoting a few passages that shows God loving the sacrifices when done by a faithful follower. If you are aware of these scriptures please share!

Luke 2
When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.

I’m sure that the Father loved that sacrifice.

 

[derekohachey]

Thanks folks, I think that psalm 51 was close to what I was looking for (Thanks FrDavid96). The scripture that I am looking for I believe is in one of the prophets or other Old Testament book.

God Bless,
Derek