Taken away the key of knowledge

Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. – Luke 11.52

Religious people have always added to religion to make it harder and to add more rules and regulation. Religion is merely man’s attempt to build a path to God. Religions don’t like their ways threatened. Leaders don’t like their authority threatened.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were no different. In their effort to promote their ways and traditions they took away the core of what was supposed to be their faith – they took away the key of knowledge. They had never used the key of knowledge. They hindered others who wanted to pursue it.

The key of knowledge, of course, is the word of God and the understanding of Him. The fear of the Lord is, after all, the beginning of knowledge. If we lose that than we lose our ability to know and our professed knowing is always going to be confounded and confused.

Men try to put their ideas and notions and preferences in the place of the ‘key of knowledge’ and trap people in a system of religion. When we take away the key of knowledge we doom men to fearing men instead of fearing God.

I spent part of my Christian life who set standards by the preference of men instead of the word of God. Sadly today a lot of people were hindered by that kind of thinking, some of which I spread myself. May God forgive us for not making the key of knowledge our standard.