What Does Scripture SAY About Tradition?

This is intended to be nothing more than an objective look at scripture in order to extract from inspired scripture, what scripture actually says or strongly and justifiably infers concerning religious traditions. How does scripture treat the religious traditions of men, in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament?

This is not intended to be an argument for or against tradition, but only to find out what scripture says about it. Does scripture speak favorably and/or unfavorably about tradition, and what does it say of either/both?

Is tradition subservient to, on par with, or elevated above scripture? When we find out what scripture actually says about it, we should be able to assign tradition in it’s proper place in our lives as professors of Christ as Lord and Savior.

Once scripture has defined the proper place of tradition in our Christian walk and experience, we need only to obey.

By scripture I mean the contents of the NT and OT Canon, minus the apocryphal writings. I mean no disrespect. I merely want to narrow our objective analysis.

An Irish Definition of the Clarity of Scripture

“God meant to say what He said, He said what He meant to say, and we can understand what He meant to say by reading what He did say.”

If you want to know what God has said, just READ THE BOOK!

Truth, Lies and Horseback Riding

You are probably thinking that’s a rather silly title for a blog post. Maybe, maybe not. If it stimulated your curiosity to the point you are actually reading this, it accomplished the desired goal of the author. Therefore, it makes at least a little bit of sense. Agreed? No on to the point. . .

Months ago, maybe even years ago in some cases, while studying various aspects of Christianity in light of scripture (a favorite pastime of mine), I began to see beliefs in Christendom that had little or no scriptural support, and that some of those questionable beliefs had achieved the status of ‘doctrine’, and to disagree with them was labeled minimally as growth hindering misunderstanding of scripture, and blasphemy deserving of Hell at the other end of the ‘error spectrum’.  I had then, and then still have now, a soul deep conviction that God wrote the Book and therefore what was taught as truth, but didn’t agree with the context of scripture, was wrong or false in some measure and in some cases, was an outright lie.

The unavoidable question brought to this inquiring mind was, “How did these falsehoods and lies end up so widely believed by professing Christians? The answer arrived at after a considerable amount of studying scripture, researching a range of historical resources, and comparing them both to widely held beliefs of professing believers was. and IS, precisely this:

The ‘accepted’ lie always rides in on the back of truth. Without an element of scriptural truth upon which to hitch a ride, the lie never survives.

A prime example from the early church would be the Pelagian heresy that denied any adverse effect of Adam’s sin on the rest of mankind that was birthed after the Fall. That lie didn’t get very far and was condemned as heresy. the ‘Semi-Pelagianism that followed acknowledged that Adam’s sin affected of us, but man is still able in and of himself to cooperate with God in the salvation of his soul . That was also condemned as heresy (at the Council of Orange), but is in fact alive and well in both major camps of Christianity. No segment of Christianity has ever admitted to being Semi-Pelagian, although a synergistic Gospel is by nature, exactly that.

There you have one man’s explanation of the connection between truth, lies, and horseback riding. The initial lie, without an element of truth, failed. The second lie, while admitting ’some’ truth, made a modified version of the first lie perfectly acceptable, and even pleasing to human sensibilities.

There have been other examples of lies riding in on the back of truth, some with a longer history of ‘acceptance’ than others. The two most damaging to both the cause of Christ and the souls of men are 1) that Christ established a single religious organization as the only true church with an ‘infallible’ human as head of that church and 2) that God ‘accepts’ us unconditionally, WITH our sin.

Both have a segment of truth. Christ did declare he would establish His church on earth. God does LOVE unconditionally – it’s His nature and one of His divine attributes.

The church that Christ established is made up of those persons for whom he died, from every tongue and tribe and nation – those whom He purchased with his own blood. We weren’t put on layaway!

If God could ‘accept’ us into His Kingdom WITH our sin, His Son died in vain. The first point of the Gospel is that Christ DIED for our sin!

Shame on the Pope?

A 12 March 2009 article in the Jerusalem Post began with this:

“After meeting the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, and praying at the Western Wall on Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI arrived for a historic meeting with the chief rabbis at Heichal Shlomo, next to the capital’s Great Synagogue, and agreed that the Catholic Church will cease all missionary activity among Jews.”

I confess that I was immediately somewhat incensed that the leader of a large segment of professing Christendom would dare make such a statement! That’s in direct violation of the Great Commission! Christians don’t have the right too stop evangelization efforts to any people group!

There have since been articles published from the Catholic sector that say the Pope didn’t really say that, but that’s not the point of this blog post. I have no desire to get into any sort of wrangling about what the Pope did or did not say/mean, or the content/validity of RC message. So if you read this and have a burning desire to comment in either of those directions, please don’t.

What has captured my attention, with the seriousness of a heart attack, is that we Protestants, who call ourselves ‘evangelical’, are quite adept at something with far worse soul-damaging potential than NOT evangelizing when we spread a false gospel while claiming to share the Gospel! Before you get all huffy, hear me out.

You see, the Apostle Paul clearly defined an absolutely necessary point of any valid Gospel message – that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures (See 1 Cor 15:1-5).  That Christ died for our sins was the first of three points in Paul’s description of the Gospel, and what he emphasized repeatedly in the letters he wrote to several churches of his day.

Yet the issue of sin, beginning with the devastating effect of sin on all mankind after the Fall, is missing from much of what we like to call “spreading the good news!” Instead we would attempt to ‘attract’ lost people to Christ just by telling them how much Jesus loves them, has a wonderful plan for their life, and how they can find their best life now. We have replaced the God-centered Gospel message of Scripture, the message that is the power of God for the salvation of those who believe, with the man-centered, moralistic, therapeutic message of pop-psychology that sends people straight to Hell while they are convinced they are Heaven-bound!

Shame on the Pope? Maybe.

If our Protestant ‘evangelical’ message is missing the central issue in all of Scripture. . .SHAME ON US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ALL "for whom Christ died" WILL be saved.

“For whom did Christ die?” is a question that has generated a lot of books, sermons, discussions,  debates, and arguments. Apart from attempting to answer that question at this juncture, consider the statement in the title. Does scripture contain such a statement, or even passages that would support such a statement” Here’s an example – what did the angel mean when he told Joseph:

“…an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” – Matt:1:20-21

Do those two verses support the idea proposed in the title?

A New Type of Preacher

A.W. Tozer

But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. –Acts 20:24

Another kind of religious leader must arise among us. He must be of the old prophet type, a man who has seen visions of God and has heard a voice from the Throne. When he comes (and I pray God there will be not one but many), he will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. He will contradict, denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom. Such a man is likely to be lean, rugged, blunt- spoken and a little bit angry with the world. He will love Christ and the souls of men to the point of willingness to die for the glory of the One and the salvation of the other. But he will fear nothing that breathes with mortal breath. The Size of the Soul, 128-129.

The Evangelical Abomination

more about “The Evangelical Abomination“, posted with vodpod

 

Christians Afraid of Conflict

“Christianity today is in conflict; in conflict against the secular world; in conflict with world religions—which are hostile to us—in conflict against the Kingdom of the Cults—and the Occult; in conflict against corrupt theology in our theological seminaries—and oftentimes in our pulpits; in conflict against all forms of evil surrounding us on all sides. And it is a foolish person indeed, who does not recognize that the Church was born in conflict; lives in conflict, and will triumph in conflict. We have been called to be soldiers of the Cross.

And if we’re going to be soldiers of the Cross that means that we have to be attired to fight. That’s why Paul could say here in 2 Timothy, chapter 4 — I have fought the good fight [v. 7]. He did not say, “I have taken the long vacation.” I have fought the good fight, I finished the course, I kept the faith. But the problem we are facing today in Christianity—and one of the reasons why we are in crisis—is this: A large section of the Christian Chruch simply will not come into conflict with the world. And that, is one of our greatest drawbacks”

–DR. WALTER MARTIN: CHRISTIANITY IN CRISIS OF CONFLICT, 1985

Found at: Thinkerup

Another Perspective of Calvin’s TULIP

“T”  represents man the sinner.

“U”  represents God the Father.

“L”  represents God the Son.

“I”  represents the God the Holy Spirit.

“P” represents man the saint.

If you are familiar with what doctrinal point each letter represents, it will be easy to see the connection. It you are not familiar with the TULIP, here’s an opportunity to learn a little history of the Protestant Reformation.

And by the way, Calvin did not invent the TULIP. Most folks ascribe it to him, just as they think he invented the underlying doctrine. But that’s another bit of Protestant church history I leave you to discover for yourself, if you haven’t already .

"Salvation is of the Lord."-Jonah 2:9

Salvation is the work of God. It is He alone who quickens the soul “dead in trespasses and sins,” and it is He also who maintains the soul in its spiritual life. He is both “Alpha and Omega.” “Salvation is of the Lord.” If I am prayerful, God makes me prayerful; if I have graces, they are God’s gifts to me; if I hold on in a consistent life, it is because He upholds me with His hand. I do nothing whatever towards my own preservation, except what God Himself first does in me. Whatever I have, all my goodness is of the Lord alone. Wherein I sin, that is my own; but wherein I act rightly, that is of God, wholly and completely. If I have repulsed a spiritual enemy, the Lord’s strength nerved my arm. Do I live before men a consecrated life? It is not I, but Christ who liveth in me. Am I sanctified? I did not cleanse myself: God’s Holy Spirit sanctifies me. Am I weaned from the world? I am weaned by God’s chastisements sanctified to my good. Do I grow in knowledge? The great Instructor teaches me. All my jewels were fashioned by heavenly art. I find in God all that I want; but I find in myself nothing but sin and misery. “He only is my rock and my salvation.” Do I feed on the Word? That Word would be no food for me unless the Lord made it food for my soul, and helped me to feed upon it. Do I live on the manna which comes down from heaven? What is that manna but Jesus Christ himself incarnate, whose body and whose blood I eat and drink? Am I continually receiving fresh increase of strength? Where do I gather my might? My help cometh from heaven’s hills: without Jesus I can do nothing. As a branch cannot bring forth fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can I, except I abide in Him. What Jonah learned in the great deep, let me learn this morning in my closet: “Salvation is of the Lord.”  – Charles Haddon Spurgeon