grant a right standing before God ex opere operato (merely by doing them), that is, going through the motions of attending church but without faith in Jesus Christ. God condemns those who only attend to external actions. “Although they fast, I am not listening to their cry; though they offer up burnt offering and grain offering, I am not favoring them. For with the sword, with famine, and with disease I am finishing them off” (Jer 14:12). It is easy for meaningful rituals to erode into empty acts.