The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. (Isaiah 29:13 NIV) This scripture from the "ancient" book of Isaiah was written at that time about "God's people" - the Jews. Though they professed love and obedience to God, this scripture clearly says otherwise! Oh they obviously went through with the outward appearance of religion. "…honor me with their lips", but the Lord knows who are his (2 Timothy 2:19 NIV). Before us religious people of today read this and shake our heads at those hypocritical Jews of yesteryear, we should pause and examine our own behavior. It is not uncommon for Protestants (a label that likely would be applied to me) to turn up our noses at say the Catholics or other religions whose expression of worship appear to be built largely on "merely human rules they have be
Modern life from a Biblical Viewpoint