TRADITIONS GOOD AND BAD!

TRADITIONS GOOD AND BAD!

2 Thess 3:6

6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.

Matt 15:3-6

3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.

5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;

6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

According to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, a tradition is “any kind of teaching, written or spoken, handed down from generation to generation.” These traditions can be either good or bad depending upon the situation. If the tradition is based upon truth then a tradition becomes more of a dogma or creed than just a habitual practice. But if a tradition is “outside of truth” time will eventually reveal it to be what it is.

Traditions become part of our emotional memory. For instance, the smell of cinnamon reminds me of Christmas! When our emotions become entwined in a tradition we can be in danger of choosing the tradition over truth. Eventually we can’t remember why we do certain things in certain ways but we are so emotionally attached to the practice we refuse to change.

It was Karl Marx, of all people, who said this about Christianity: “When all the political foundations of religion are wiped out, when the organization and the institutional structure of the church are destroyed, then normally religious faith, the Christian faith, would have to disappear.  But it is not out of the question that the Christian faith will survive anyhow.  This would mean that there is a religious reality that does not depend solely on the sociological and the institutional; and under these conditions, we would have to heed this reality, which is not in the category of traditional religion. -- Karl Marx, in a letter to his friend Max Rugge.

2 Thess 2:15-17

15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,

17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.

Dear Lord, let the traditions which I hold be based on truth. Let me challenge those traditions that are simply based upon emotions. Give me wisdom to know the difference. AMEN