Ah Tevya, tradition is a beautiful thing. It is the glue that helps a society or group stay together and not loose sight of its goals.
As a volunteer at a Christian nightclub, I am respected and loved by the young poeple there. And the feeling is mutual. There is a core of wonderful young men and women there who love Jesus with all their hearts and will do anything for Him.
Occasionally, however, I hear an enthusiastic, if misguided, song about how we are "freed from tradition". It seems as if Paul's admonition to not be like the scribes and Pharisees who added to God's law has been warped into an unrecognizable rebellion against the very legacy that God has sustained in the Church for 2000 years.
I am saddened by this. Not only that, i see what a deception it is. This attitude by some Christians cuts them off from others and justifies divisions, when the proponents of it are using just as much "tradition" as those they accuse.
Does your church perform weddings? Where is that found in the Bible? Does your church sing the same songs from time to time, even if they were written as recently as 1960 through today? OH NO you might be guilty of a Tradition!!
Has your church studied and made decisions about doctrine? Isn't that YOUR tradition? Do you have a cross on the wall or a dove? Do you celebrate Christmas? Easter? Traditions all, and good ones to. Let us "hold fast to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter" (2 Thess. 2:15).
The Big Mac
1 comment:
This is a good point. I think you are completely right. There are some traditions that are worth preserving because they work well. Time doesn't change them. From the first human beings down to today, certain things hurt and certain things built people up,comforted them and helped them. Being "free" is not the same as ignoring advice and useful lessons
from the past. Also, your comment on my blog tells the reader something well worth remembering. Intimate relations are the means of conceiving children, and should not be regarded as purely recreational. The age of puberty was measured as, on average, 17 in the year 1850; 14 in 1950; and now more like 12. People become fertile long before they can or should cope with actually having childen. We've sometimes used our knowledge for self-gratification rather than glorifying God.
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