Traditions

On January 9th, I posted the following short post:Samuel Froehlich
"The insistence upon externals and forms is the best weapon for the destruction of the congregation of God, and what the foe cannot do by the means of outward force and persecution, he succeeds in doing by such sly artifices, whereby one runs after a shadow and fights about words and loses substance."

~Froehlich~

I found that quote to be a powerful reminder in light of our church today. Let's keep our eyes on Jesus brothers and sisters!The following exchange took place in the comments of that post:
comments

Mark said...
Froelich's mindset was very much shaped by the experiences he had. Much of what he wrote centered around the religion he saw around him.

A common theme in his writings is commenting on what he saw as legalism, dead formalism, disunity over forms, and misplaced human authority. At the root of most division, as the quote implies, is making something into something it shouldn't be.

The ACC has been definately shaped by Froehlich's views to some extent, although I think in some ways it has at least partially become something he may have never even approved of.

Here are a couple of other quotes that may be interesting to read.

"The priests of the high places give their own fiction, legends, fables, and inventions, precedence over the Word of God, and the people accept these spurious, man-made commandments blindly and implicitly, as if they came from God. At first an addition was made to the divine commandment, and in the course of the time the man-made commandment was raised above the divine order, and the sacredness of the latter was transfered to the former."

"By such hierachial power and pretension the religious ceremony has been impressed with the stamp of the anti-Christ who in the course of time has not only grown much richer in such inventions and new commandments, but has also been by far more despotic than even the old Pharisees and scribes, by being able to confer on his decrees the respect due to divine authority, as it is customary up to this very day."

I wonder if Froehlich ever envisioned being quoted on a blog? ;)

God bless,
~Mark

3:55 PM


thedoors said...
Mark,
Thanks for what you said in addition to the post. We just had a Bible study on tradition, and it prompted a lot of thoughts, I may post a larger passage on my blog soon, after I run it by our Elder, but in the meantime, I think this aligns with Froehlich and the Biblical purpose of traditions:

Traditions are important to preserve the unity of this Biblical brotherhood and even more so to keep us from sin, but never to reduce Christianity to a set of rules that form and define our relationship with the Father. Instead, we must establish a relationship with the Creator-Father and seek Him first and foremost. Live for Him and you will then desire to live out a truly Biblical life including traditions and all around Godly integrity.

Problems with tradition only arise when the people of a church group begin to focus on a said tradition instead of first seeking out Christ and living for Him out of love for what He's given them, salvation based upon their FAITH.

2:19 PM



Mark said...
the doors,

I agree that traditions are necessary (every one has some sort of traditions, even if they think they don't). They can also be a great blessing.

However, I just want to add that I don't agree that traditions preserve unity or keep us from sin. The only thing, in my mind, that can preserve unity is brotherly love and the operation of the Holy Spirit. And the only thing, in my mind, that can keep us from sin is love for God, walking in the truth, and the regeneration of our hearts and the operation of the Holy Spirit.

Traditions may appear to give us unity, but if that is what causes our unity, we are in trouble (though on the surface thigns may seem fine). Same with sin, tradition can not be a crutch to keep us from sin. Because it is not powerful enough to do that and will never succeeding in keeping us from what evil desires want (sin) anyways.

I don't want to detract from your points, they are very good. I just wanted to response to the first sentence in the middle paragraph to hopefully clarify things a bit.

8:30 AM

I would welcome any further comments or discussions on this issue.