1 Corinthians 11:2-12: In the Culture or In the Lord?
According to the dictionary, a sophistry is a kind of reasoning that is misleading or unsound, but it sounds clever and plausible. Paul talks about such reasoning in Colossians 2:23, "Such regulations (Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!) indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence." Note, "appearance of wisdom" and "false humility" do not a perfect Christian make. Paul was addressing the problem of Christian leaders, one of which was James the brother of Jesus, who wanted to "Judaize" the emerging Christian church. Circumcize your male children, avoid pork, keep the Sabbath, do not marry, do not drink wine, wear this, don't wear that...The Jews had hundreds of laws beside the Law of Moses to keep. The veil in such religions between earthly ritual and objects and the unseen interdimensional ...