Tradition or Conviction?

I believe each person needs to answer this question for themselves. Do we attend church because we truly believe in the saving power of Christ, or do we go to make someone among our family and friends happy? Do we put a religious front for social reasons? Are we just “church goers” or are we truly convicted of what is being preached from the pulpit or what we preach to others.

I always considered myself fortunate, because I had the opportunity to fellowship with different congregations, which is a true blessing. Unfortunately not everyone is exposed to such a diverse experience. Most people are comfortable keeping it the way their parents and grandparents taught them. I’m not saying this is wrong, the problem is, we don’t study on our own and we blindly trust what is passed on to us for generations.

I agree that traditions preserve the identity of a nation, institution or group of people. We all need to identify ourselves with something or someone; in fact we are created that way from the beginning. As Christians our goal should be to identify ourselves with Christ, by bearing His name we confess to the world that we belong to Him. In such case we should carefully examine traditions and make sure before we participate, that these are in accordance to God Himself. How do we do this? Test everything to the bible, research history, try to find out as much as you can on the topic you’re studying, while using reliable sources, and again test it to the bible. In the gospel of Mark, we find Jesus speaking harshly to the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law, who were constantly trying to confront Him and His disciples for not following some usual Jewish rituals. Here’s what He says to them "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." (Mark 7:6-8). Now Jesus is speaking to the Jewish religious leaders, one would say, but don’t we have Pharisees of our own in the Christian churches these days…? I believe so, and these leaders are just as zealous protecting their own teachings and interests as the Jewish church officials were.

We are called to be Disciples of Christ. Our only rule of faith should be the bible. May be your family has been going to the same church for generations, or may be you’re new in the faith, it doesn’t really matter, we’re all under the same obligation and that is to study the Word of God for ourselves. We need to be truly convicted of what we preach or participate in, because after all we are personally responsible before God for our actions. Our relationship with the Creator is not inherited by tradition. Everyone has to make a choice first of all to accept Christ as their Saviour and secondly to follow His will. I’m not suggesting that all churches are preaching the wrong doctrines, what I’m saying is, study for yourself, pray and rely only on the bible and the Holy Spirit for revelation.

George