When People Feel They Have the Right to Control Others

I'm dealing a lot with this right now in my personal life.  So I looked up what Jesus had to say on the subject.  So far, what I found was when He addressed the Pharisees in Mark 7 about how they manipulate people with their man-made laws by making it sound like those laws are God's.

(They are talking about what is explained in Mark 7:3) "For the Pharisees, as well as the rest of the Jews, follow the teaching they received from their ancestors: they do not eat unless they wash their hands in the proper way;"

Mark 7:5 (GNT) So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked Jesus, "Why is it that Your disciples do not follow the teaching handed down by our ancestors, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?"

Mark 7:6-7 (GNT) Jesus answered them, "How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you! You are hypocrites, just as he wrote: 'These people, says God, honor Me with their words, but their heart is really far away from Me. It is no use for them to worship Me, because they teach man-made rules as though they were My laws!'

Mark 7:8-9 (GNT) "You put aside God's command and obey the teachings of men." And Jesus continued, "You have a clever way of rejecting God's law in order to uphold your own teaching."


So there, you control freaks! Take that!