[S I M T A N]

Surpass the Pharisees.
That's what Jesus said. He did not say "...like the Pharisee"

If a righteousness that's "like that of the Pharisee" could enable us to enter the Kingdom of God, then all we need to do is to adhere to the Law and we are good to go.

But Jesus said "surpass", not "like".

It also means that even the Pharisees weren't entering God's Kingdom even though they had "works" and adhered to the Laws.  The Pharisees needed to do better than themselves ie surpass themselves which was by definition not possible. And if the Pharisees could not enter God's Kingdom, the rest of the Jews wouldn't stand a chance lorh.

So what went wrong?  What happened?  Why adhering to the Laws like the Pharisees did was still not good enough?  God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, we followed it, obeyed it, and now God says "No man, not good enough, go away! go away" or as Abdul put it earlier, in that mocking and taunting tone of his, "unceremoniously" told to get lost.

Hey! was that meant to be a divine joke?

No, it was not a divine joke.  The Pharisees, the Jews who wanted Jesus killed did not understand why He came.  He wasn't their Messiah.  He had no business to be here on Earth!  So, they thought.

Now, with the revelation which Paul received from the Holy Spirt, we know that it was non-negotiable for Jesus to die so that the penalty of Adam's Sin is paid once and for all time, that through one man, Adam, Sin came into the world, and through one Man, Christ, the redemption...the penalty of Sin is paid once and for all time. Unless that is done, the righteousness of a man is like filthy rags.  Unless that is done, nobody can surpass the righteousness of a Pharisee.

The only Person who could surpass it was the One rebuking the Pharisees and teaching the people, but they knew Him not.  Jesus was not born of the seed of a sinful man, Adam.  Jesus was born Sinless, without Adam's Sin and till the hour of His Death, He did not sin.  The blood of goats and sheep was not worthy to pay in exchange for a man Adam.  Only that of a Sinless Man for a man could, and that Man was our Lord Jesus.  Abdul still sacrifices an animal annually wor.  

Jesus is our role model, and in His Life, we read of no sexual perversion or lust, of going into battle and slaughtering people, no 911, only riding a donkey around town, not a warhorse, of no greed for worldly possessions (Satan's temptation in the wilderness reminds...), looting the enemies' possessions, or selling their women and chewren for money....

God did not tempt us with promises of women and riches in His Kingdom.  All we are told is that eyes hath not seen, neither hath ears heard the things which God hath prepared for them that loveth Him.  If the righteousness of Christ surpassed that of the Pharisees, the things which God hath prepared for us would surely surpass that offered by the god of this world.  Hallelujah!

You put that more succinctly - we're to surpass the pharisees in righteousness and not to be like them with a holier-than-thou attitude. Two verses in the Bible succinctly state what must happen in order for believers to live righteously in Christ. "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remain in him." (1John 3:8,9)

For born-again Christian believers, these conditions have already been met. God has made them partakers in His divine nature. (2 Peter 1:4) and provided the means by which they can live in victory over sin and Satan. Before Christ, they were dead in their sins, but a change took place at salvation. We're no longer "in the flesh" but in Christ. Paul wrote, "Those in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom 8:8) (2 Cor 5:17)

I feel that our goal in religion discussion is not to win arguments but to fight to uphold our crucial doctrine of the gospel truth and also to point others toward Christ as the only means of eternal salvation. If we surrender or remain silence, people may be deceived by Satan who's determined to lead as many people as possible off the spiritual cliff to eternal death.

The apostle Peter challenged every believer to be at the ready to give an answer to anyone who asks them to give an account for the hope that's in them. (1 Pet 3:15) Both of you are clearly equipped to fight like "foot soldiers" with unwavering resolve, by painstakingly gleaning the data from various sources and armed with the truth of God's inspired Word as you use argumentation to convince your interlocutors without sounding hateful. Keep up the good work!