Mark 7:7

Plain English Version

They have ceremonies for me, but, really, they rubbish me. You see, they teach rules that men made up themselves, and they tell everybody that those rules come from God.’

Cross References

Matthew 6:7

And when you pray, don’t keep on talking on and on, with lots of words that don’t mean anything. People that don’t know God, they do that. They think that if they talk a lot, God will hear them. But they are wrong.

1 Corinthians 15:14

And if you reckon that God didn’t make Jesus Christ alive again, you are saying that our message is useless, and that you believed something that was wrong.

1 Corinthians 15:58

So always remember those things, my Christian friends. I love you, and I want you to stay strong for God. Don’t let anything take you away from him. Keep on working hard for our leader Jesus. Remember, he will help you, so that everything you do with him will be good. It will not be useless.

Colossians 2:22

Those laws just come from people, not from God, so you don’t have to take any notice of them. Those laws are just about things that wear out when people use them.

Titus 3:9

But make sure you don’t argue with people about silly things. You know, some people argue about family groups from a long time ago. They argue about all sorts of old rules. Don’t do that. It’s a waste of time. It doesn’t get you anywhere.

James 1:26

You might go to church and think you are really good, but if you can’t stop yourself from saying bad things, you are really just tricking yourself, and going to church for nothing.

James 2:20

If you don’t do the things that Jesus says, it is no good to say that you believe in him. If you don’t know much, and if you want to argue with me, just think about the story of Abraham, our grand-father that lived a long time ago. God told Abraham to give him his son Isaac. To do that, Abraham had to kill Isaac, and burn his body on a table made of stones. Abraham believed that somehow God would make it end up all right, so he started to do that hard thing that God said. He was going to kill Isaac. But just then, God told him to stop. You see, God says this in his book, “Abraham believed what God said, so God was really happy with him, and told him, ‘You believe me, so now I’m saying you are properly good, like you never did anything wrong.’ ” And that is how it happened. In another place it says that Abraham not only believed God, but he also did that hard thing God told him to do, so Abraham was a friend of God.