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The Religious Trap
snares created by religion and religious rulers
Lesson Eight
John 8:1-38
Background:
The lost opportunity to take Jesus-Messiah into custody when He was in the temple leads to a
plot crafted to force in Him to stand with His fellow Pharisees as a Rabbi and judge someone
that charged with violating Torah law. The Pharisees take a woman caught in the act of adultery
into custody. If Jesus, the Rabbi, affirms their collective judgement it will prove to the people
that He is not distinctive from the religious system that has stood in judgment of the Messiah
followers and all others in Judea and Galilee. The same system would have an authentic right
to later judge the Rabbi with heresy relative to His claims to be the son of God.
The snare was complicated with the option of the Rabbi opposing His fellow Pharisees and
therefore making null the laws of Torah. Failure to support Torah law would cause followers to
question His authority as a Rabbi and certainly lose confidence in His claims to be God.
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