Are Traditions Needed?

Natsumi Lam said:

Hi Family,

As I look to the different denominations I see some riddled with traditions that some individuals find necessary to bless or to appease God.

Do we need these traditions?

Are we naive or small minded to place value on traditions?

Do traditions save you?

Are they necessary?

Why do traditions that are contradictory to the Word even allowed to continue?

~Natsumi Lam~

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In a word, No. Traditions may even distract us from the truth.

SkyWriting said:

The home churches I've been to do have silent prayer, which I don't pray during.
The Lords prayer specifically says pray "like" this, specifically speaking out against prayers repeated in public in the paragraph before.
The Lords Prayer is a format to follow and not to repeat.

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so you go to a house church and don't join in on corporate worship? I know it is in silence but why is your view greater than the body of believers you participate with? this is sort of the point of tradition that the views of the individual don't trump the views of the greater body. The Lord's prayer indeed is a format to follow but are you saying Jesus' corporate choice of pronoun actually is to counter to his teaching?

Natsumi Lam said:

Where do you stand when it comes to Hail Mary and Our Fathers?

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Natsumi Lam said:

I am refering to when someone saying to say 5 our fathers and 10 hail marys to absolve you of sin.

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I don't subscribe to that particular theology.

W2L said:

Yes but those traditions are Paul's, not the RCC's. Notice it doesn't say RCC.

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Your tradition is telling you that. Notice it doesn't say 'Paul' but it says 'us'. You see 'us' and your tradition tells you to see 'Paul' and 'Paul alone'. But that's not the text, it's your tradition.

Michael Collum said:

Paul wrote it, but generations later, there is no guarantee of reliable transmission of oral traditions.

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That's why the Fathers matter. That's where the oral tradition meets paper and where the oral tradition is tested and worked out.

People like me need to take every scrap of information and test it for fruit, then make a conclusion.

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As well you should. Test EVERYTHING and retain what is good. The problem is not you doing that but those who will not test their traditions because they have convinced themselves they have no traditions. They test only a few things and end up retaining some traditions of men they are totally blind to.

Calvin_1985 said:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He has broken me free from every side of myself.

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IF you can do all things in Christ then you can recognize and scrutinize the traditions of men that you have up to now been believing uncritically. That would be a good thing. Better than saying you have no traditions.

DamianWarS said:

so you go to a house church and don't join in on corporate worship? I know it is in silence but why is your view greater than the body of believers you participate with? this is sort of the point of tradition that the views of the individual don't trump the views of the greater body. The Lord's prayer indeed is a format to follow but are you saying Jesus' corporate choice of pronoun actually is to counter to his teaching?

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Becasue the Holy Spirit has instead,
- written God's laws in our hearts, the
- old written laws are obsolete. We are judged by our
- intent, not the letter of God's Law.





Jeremiah 31:31-34
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

Hebrews 8:13
In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

2 Corinthians 3:6
Who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2 Corinthians 3:3
And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Under the new covenant, we are free of "law for salvation"
and enjoy the freedom of forgiveness in the new promise.

chevyontheriver said:

IF you can do all things in Christ then you can recognize and scrutinize the traditions of men that you have up to now been believing uncritically. That would be a good thing. Better than saying you have no traditions.

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I don't follow any traditions, I follow Jesus.

W2L said:

Im all ears bro

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It's freedom. It's like being a child again.

Natsumi Lam said:

Hi Family,

As I look to the different denominations I see some riddled with traditions that some individuals find necessary to bless or to appease God.

Do we need these traditions?

Are we naive or small minded to place value on traditions?

Do traditions save you?

Are they necessary?

Why do traditions that are contradictory to the Word even allowed to continue?

~Natsumi Lam~

Click to expand...

Sacred Tradition is the continuity of belief with those who came before. If we are orthodox, what we believe today should generally align with what Christians have believed through history.

Protestants tend to have simplistic view of everything. If something isn't explicitly mentioned in Sacred Scripture then it must be "unbiblical" (whatever that means). Any type of authority beyond that of scripture is to Protestants invalid.

This belief is so contrary to historical practice (eg, tradition) that it's fair to suggest that Protestants are flawed in their beliefs on the most fundamental levels. On that basis, it's a minor miracle that they're as doctrinally correct as they are (although the bar has been set pretty low on that in recent decades).

SkyWriting said:

Becasue the Holy Spirit has instead,
- written God's laws in our hearts, the
- old written laws are obsolete. We are judged by our
- intent, not the letter of God's Law.

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So without quoting something that could be interpreted as a written law what is your intent for not participating in corporate prayer?

Natsumi Lam said:

True true it should never contradict the Word.

What do we do with long standing traditions that contradict?

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You are free to challenge it. But if you’re doing that,pick your battles wisely.

thecolorsblend said:

Sacred Tradition is the continuity of belief with those who came before. If we are orthodox, what we believe today should generally align with what Christians have believed through history.

Protestants tend to have simplistic view of everything. If something isn't explicitly mentioned in Sacred Scripture then it must be "unbiblical" (whatever that means). Any type of authority beyond that of scripture is to Protestants invalid.

This belief is so contrary to historical practice (eg, tradition) that it's fair to suggest that Protestants are flawed in their beliefs on the most fundamental levels. On that basis, it's a minor miracle that they're as doctrinally correct as they are (although the bar has been set pretty low on that in recent decades).

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Probably Jews and Messianics would look on you the same way.

Tree of Life said:

I'm trying to imagine what life must be like without traditions. How long are the sermons at your church on Sundays?

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You can’t.

We are creatures of order, establish from the start. Even the idea of consistent sacrifice have been around since Adam and Eve. All from Cain challenged “tradition” when he gave first fruits instead of first blood sacrifice. Do we practically need to sacrifice animals? No. But God instill a particular purpose symbolically to have it done. Same with Israel. So your imagination isn’t something new, every generation questioned need of traditions.

Traditions are (suppose to be) made to give structure in giving testament to scripture, that’s expressed in different ways and has always evolved.

Whether or not people like church structure in general is a different conversation, and that would fall under theology. But the existence of the idea of tradition is not going to change.

salt-n-light said:

Probably Jews and Messianics would look on you the same way.

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That's fine. Historical practice and orthodoxy support my position over the jews, the MJ's and the Protestants.

chevyontheriver said:

Your tradition is telling you that. Notice it doesn't say 'Paul' but it says 'us'. You see 'us' and your tradition tells you to see 'Paul' and 'Paul alone'. But that's not the text, it's your tradition.

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I also see John, Peter and James.

thecolorsblend said:

Sacred Tradition is the continuity of belief with those who came before. If we are orthodox, what we believe today should generally align with what Christians have believed through history.

Protestants tend to have simplistic view of everything. If something isn't explicitly mentioned in Sacred Scripture then it must be "unbiblical" (whatever that means). Any type of authority beyond that of scripture is to Protestants invalid.

This belief is so contrary to historical practice (eg, tradition) that it's fair to suggest that Protestants are flawed in their beliefs on the most fundamental levels. On that basis, it's a minor miracle that they're as doctrinally correct as they are (although the bar has been set pretty low on that in recent decades).

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Lol, typical.