A telling "Ngram": fight, future, tradition, God

[Gottservant]

Hi there,

So yes it is interesting to see how words clash, over the centuries - sometimes it is very interesting.

I couldn't wait to show you this one: "fight, future, tradition, God".

The fight is clearly with God and it is our tradition not our future, that holds us back.

Whereas God simply comes to be more dynamic - God is not dead!

It's just a bit of fun, but it does look like we've still got a fight on our hands, to get back to where God was.

 

[Pavel Mosko]

Just because the Pharisees did negative things because of Tradition does not make Tradition a completely negative word.

1) Tradition actually has a few positive uses in the New Testament epistles. Paul actually uses it on two different occasions positively to refer to the teaching and practices he is passing down.


2) "The Stone the Builder Rejected" psalm which is probably one of the most antitradition Bible passages actually is famous because of tradition! It was part of the "Songs of Ascents" in the Jewish Liturgy, and was sung at different important times and holidays. And that line itself refers to an event that happened during the Construction of the temple which was passed on by tradition.


Stone the Builder's rejected

(formally posted by Think Hebrew)


"When Solomon’s temple was being built, it was forbidden for the sound of hammers to be heard at the job site because it was a holy place of worship. You can’t have worship with construction going on in the background! So it had to be quiet. What this meant for the construction was that each and every 20 ton stone had to have a ‘shop drawing’ and was made several miles away in the quarry. Several miles away each stone was carefully cut for its exact spot in the temple. From the very start, there was a plan for each stone. The very first stone to be delivered was the capstone, but that’s the last stone needed in construction. So the builders said, “What is this? This doesn’t look like any of the first stones we need. Put it over there for now.” Well, years went by and the grass grew over the capstone and everyone generally forgot about it. Finally the construction was done and the builders said “send us the capstone” and the word came back from the quarry “we already did”. They were confused. Then someone remembered what they had done with the very first stone sent to them. It was taken from its lowly position among the overgrown weeds where it had been forgotten, and it was honored in the final ceremony to complete the temple. Thus the scripture says, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.” [1]"




3) Certain people like Korah who rebelled against God and Moses also could be said for "fighting tradition". The same goes for other people like Golden Calf people, people who wanted to embrace pagan gods etc.


4) Without Tradition you would not have the Bible! (Because it was the scribal tradition and oral tradition that persevered it for posterity)

 

[Gottservant]

I'm not talking about overruling 'tradition' - I'm talking about bringing "tradition" into agreement with the future (for the sake of God, in principle).

 

[Pavel Mosko]

Yeah sure, but that is usually just called "following the Spirit." (as in the HS...)

 

[Gottservant]

This next ngram makes following clear in the same context.

The point definitely appears to be "the future".

Holiness, on the other hand, seems to be taking the long way around?