WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1
Acts 23:6-10
Job 42:2

"I know that thou canst do every thing,
…no thought can be withholden from thee."

THE DOCTRINE OF THE SADDUCEES: FREE-THINKERS

The Sadducees were the wealthy aristocracy and high-ranking people in the Jewish community during the time of Jesus. Many high priests were chosen from among them. As men of high social and religious status, they were content with the existing order of things. They denied the validity of any of the written laws of the Pentateuch. They even rejected the doctrines such as afterlife and resurrection.

A free-thinker is someone who forms his own opinions and beliefs, especially about religion or politics, rather than just accepting what is taught in the Bible. The Sadducees did not want to conform to the Word of God. They did not believe in orthodoxy; for them, revelation and faith were invalid. Their most important tool in determining truth was reason. Whatever they could not perceive was rendered null.

Do you only accept the things that science can prove? Do you only affirm what your mind can imagine? Do you only believe what you think is reasonable? Do not trust your feeble mind. Do not rely on your finite wisdom. Do not lean on your own understanding. Job’s honest response to God is worthy of consideration for those who think they know more than God. "I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:2-6).

THOUGHT: Do I think like a free-thinker?
PRAYER: "Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered" (Ps 40:4-5).