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TRADITION
Some people misunderstand why Protestants criticise Catholic tradition.
While Protestants don't dismiss tradition per se - tradition, whatever it may be,
must always be proven and clearly found in the Bible for Christians to accept it.
Sadly, Catholicism's tradition is nowhere to be found in the word of God.
Jesus dealt many times with the problem of tradition with the Pharisees.
Much like the way in which Protestants today dispute tradition with Catholics. So
serious was this then and now, the Lord said it was nullifying the word of God.
Please see two such cases that point to these self-righteousness/man-made
extra-biblical systems:
"Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to
the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it
is written, This people honoureth me with
their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do
they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as
the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye
may keep your own tradition"
(Mark 7:5-9.)
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of
the world, and not after Christ"
(Col. 2:8.)
The Roman Catholic will respond and point to other verses that
teach tradition is acceptable:
"And there are also many other things which Jesus did ,
the which, if they
should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that
should be written. Amen"
(John 21:25.)
"Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye
have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle"
(2 Thess. 2:15.)
The latter of these two verses is very much
a favourite for Catholic apologists, for they believe it gives their system of tradition
running parallel with the Bible, and in some cases even superseding the Scripture, some
form of credibility. Yet in reality, all this verse is saying is that traditions
were given orally to local assemblies before the New Testament was written. Also
anyone who is well grounded in Holy Scripture, can see straight away that the Catholic
Churches traditions are so diametrically opposed to the word of God, i.e., purgatory,
Mary, the saints/statues, that Jewish Christians (early church) would have had no
interest whatsoever in the way in which westernised Catholicism conducts its business.
Therefore, the tradition spoken of in 2 Thessalonians would have been to reinforce
Sola Scripture, not diminish it with unbiblical traditions. Also in chapter 3:6,
Paul warns his reader against "false tradition." With such a serious alert as this,
one would therefore expect the New Testament to be a timeless guide, to help steer
people from falling into this dangerous error, otherwise how would one be able
to know what was correct or not.
Finally, the Apostle Paul encouraged, welcomed and even commended
the Jewish Bereans, who checked
the Old Testament diligently to see if what he said to them was true or not (Acts
17:11,12.) With this in mind, Popes today and forever, should be quite content for
all open-minded Catholics (and non-Catholics for that matter) to make sure what
their church teachers is actually found and substantiated in the word of God, and
not just made up by false prophets and false churches.
James
G. Battell, 2004
Updated, March 2007
(All
rights reserved)
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