Something to take a peek at

Greetings!
I recently started a new post called 'What I Learned Today'. Take a peek - I just posted some thoughts on what stands in our way as we consider salvation.


In the name of teaching you more about Jesus and His day here is a little info on the religious leaders of the day. They're mentioned in the post I am directing you to.

Sadducees A minority group in 1st-cent. CE Judaism. They were traditionalists in faith and practice. It was important in their eyes to be faithful to the terms of membership of the Jewish nation by observances of the written Law and participation in the Temple cult, but they held that this was compatible with submission to the Roman occupying power. They opposed armed conflict and preparations for it.

This info was copied from: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Sadducees.aspx

Pharisees One of the two great Jewish religious and political parties of the second commonwealth. Their opponents were the Sadducees, and it appears that the Sadducees gave them their name, perushim, (Hebrew for "separatists" or "deviants.")… The Pharisees upheld an interpretation of Judaism that was in opposition to the priestly Temple cult. They stressed faith in the one God; the divine revelation of the law both written and oral handed down by Moses through Joshua, the elders, and the prophets to the Pharisees; and eternal life and resurrection for those who keep the law. Pharisees insisted on the strict observance of Jewish law, which they began to codify. While in agreement on the broad outlines of Jewish law, the Pharisees encouraged debate on its fine points, and according to one view... They developed the synagogue as an alternative place of worship to the Temple, with a liturgy consisting of biblical and prophetic readings, and the repetition of the shma, the basic creed of Judaism. In addition, they supported the separation of the worldly and the spiritual spheres, ceding the former to the secular rulers.

This info was copied from: http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Pharisees

At first the values of the Pharisees developed through their sectarian debates with the Sadducees; then they developed through internal, non-sectarian debates over the law as an adaptation to life without the Temple, and life in exile, and eventually, to a more limited degree, life in conflict with Christianity. These shifts mark the transformation of Pharasaic to Rabbinic Judaism.

This info was copied from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharisees

Peace!

- shelley