The OT and NT are TWO SEPARATE books, combined into one binder.
One T tells of the coming of the 2nd T, the 2nd T talks about what it takes to be a true believer.
No magical spells required...
No batteries needed...
No sacrifices...
No being buddy-buddy with the right people...
No killing the rest of the world so you're the only one on top of the mountain...
No secret handshakes...just being civil towards others
No marrying this to begat that (or alot of "thats")...
One simple thing...
Believe.
No cash required...
No need to "collect them all" or go on some mystic trip to some building in the middle of some area that GOD had forsaken...
No nothing...
The interesting part?
Something that's so free and doesn't have conditions attached to it (other than the "believing" part) is so hard for people to wrap their minds around...
Every other religion wants something FROM you...like your cash, belongings, time, energy, more of your time and all of your energy and the like.
GOD, in the NT, GAVE you HIS SON, in place of the sheep, doves, cattle and whatnot, so that you didn't need the moneychangers, the priests and assorted other characters that hung about, just so you could make it to the after-life.
Simple.
One belief, nothing else.
All wrapped up in one, simple package...and in your heart.
Yet...
We have discourses on "What if..." and "What about..." and other innane discussions about things that didn't happen ("Jesus must have been a socialist...").
First off, when Jesus threw the moneychangers out of "His Father's House" - it was because the moneychangers had moved into the "House" because they reasoned it was easier to sell at the point of sacrifice than to have their "customers" buy outside and take a chance on losing their "purchase" while carrying it to another area...and the fact that the Temple Priests were getting their cut of the sales while being able to keep an eye on the transactions "in case someone was cheating them." No honor among thieves, eh? Who got pissed off more when Jesus kicked the MCs out? The moneychangers or the Priests? Turned out the Priests raised a "holy stink" as loud as, if not more so, than the moneychangers themselves. Jesus was God in the flesh. So, it would be deemed appropriate to say "He got all uppitty like everyone else."
So?
When a wrong is being committed and you want to stop it, you go only so far as is required to stop the wrong and to be sure it's not started up again.
If "Rome" had cleared out the MCs, there probably would have been heads on pikes (for starters) and who knows when the carnage would have stopped.
Jesus addressed the problem and when he did, he didn't get any direct confrontation because those committing the wrongs KNEW they were wrong. They didn't like the fact that they were called out in front of everyone else. And when Jesus confronted the Priests about the situation...well, that probably went over like Luther and his 95 Theses. (Don't get me wrong here...Martin had his own set of issues later-on in life that weren't, exactly, too Christ-like...)
But in the end, Jesus met the fate that He knew His life was leading up to...to be the "sacrifice" for all of Mankind...the "lamb" of the sacrifice to His Father, God Himself.
And, because of the fact that all it takes is to believe that Jesus is the "lamb" or "Son" of God, and nothing more...
What's so hard about accepting that?
Where does it say that you must broadcast to everyone that you've been born-again?
You tell folks because you want them, too, to experience the overwhelming warmth and joy you've felt when you made your own, PRIVATE, committment to Jesus and God.
Try it.
It never cost anyone, anything.
It's free.
Then, TRY NOT to tell anyone.
