Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Is Scripture vital for doctrine but not for practice?
Excellent post from Alan Knox, The Church in the New Testament. Alan asks the question: why is Scripture so important for our beliefs but not for our practices? I think many people would take umbrage at that. Of course our church practices are based in Scripture! I think an honest assessment of most gatherings of the church will yield an admission that there is at best sketchy evidence for many of our practices, which is one thing. It is entirely another when our extra-Biblical traditions impede the life of the church, which is far too often the case.
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3 comments:
Where tradition holds up Christ and His work for us, then it can be a good thing.
Where tradition holds up 'man' and what we do, or it is just religious exercise for the sake of tradition...it can be very bad.
I think the question is, "Who decides which traditions hold up Christ?" Do we get to decide? Does anyone think their traditions do not honor Christ?
-Alan
So true. Unfortunately, many churchgoers don't understand why they hold these traditions. I've heard people say, "Well, it's just what we've always done.", or, "That's just what we've always been taught." Of course, the commonly held opinion that the pastor is the ultimate authority, and you should have complete faith in the 'leading' he receives for the church, allows many members to sit back on their haunches, let him make all the decisions, and never once crack their bibles in order to follow the example set by those in Berea. (Acts 17:10&11)
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