We have all heard stories of preachers who have frightened audiences with guilt-manipulating “hellfire and brimstone” sermons. A great number of churches in our grandparents’ day would never have been spoken of as being accepting or tolerant or gracious. I have a picture of a church where all the men wore threepiece suits, all women wore modest dresses with shoulders and ankles covered, and the preacher taught his audience to either keep the Ten Commandments or miss out on an eternity with Jesus. I can also picture men sitting around having discussions on doctrine and theology. They disagree, but they have a knowledge of scripture that enables them to debate their brothers for hours, tossing verses back and forth like a volleyball. With fewer distractions than today, people found time to read and process scripture. In those days, and still in some churches today, knowledge was sought. Pursuing knowledge is good, but something was definitely missing.
The modern church is different. Today’s Christian reads scripture less frequently and does so mainly for devotional purposes. Application of a verse is important (“how do I apply this passage to my life” or “what does this passage mean to me”) while understanding contexts and having comprehensive knowledge are treated as secondary to the most important part of a Christian’s life: LOVE. Love and acceptance would be the characteristics by which most churches today want to be recognized. Love and acceptance (depending upon the definitions) are good, but something is missing.
A Christian who focuses on loving and accepting others but does not understand scripture is losing the spiritual battle. The apostle Paul teaches us that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” We are in a constant spiritual battle. Having love without knowledge might be compared to fighting a battle with guns but no bullets. To the casual observer, we APPEAR to be doing the right thing; but we ultimately cannot withstand the attack. Or, even if we are able to fend off the enemy for a time by swinging our guns like clubs, we only delay the inevitable. Paul also said:
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” Rom.10:1-2
Paul was referring to the fact that his countrymen were given theLaw and tried to live by it as the sole means to receive God’s promises. In the process, they neglected to recognize that their Savior had come and died for them. They sought after God, but missed the fact that He had actually come seeking them. He then said that they failed to submit to the righteousness of God since they were striving to establish their own.
Starting up evangelism programs, establishing passionate outreach groups, teaching acceptance, and having group discussions on “what does this verse mean for my life” establishes an appearance of righteousness. But such zeal, without knowledge, disregards the fullness of God’s will for us.
Do not be mistaken; I am not claiming that knowledge should take precedence over love. For knowledge without love is just as grievous. There must be a balance. In fact, true biblical love goes hand-in-hand with biblical knowledge.
“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment…” Phi. 1:9
“But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also.” II Cor. 8:7
And the practice of loving one’s brother must be built, according to Peter, upon a foundation which must include knowledge:
“…add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance Godliness, to Godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.” II Peter 1:5-7
Tradition First
Traditionalism is defined as: “adherence to the doctrines or practices of a tradition.” Traditions are generally things that are passed down through generations. Many families have age-old traditions of who carves the turkey and prays at Thanksgiving. Some churches have used hymnals since their doors first opened and would not change for any reason. Traditionalism causes them to avoid change for the simple reason of “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
A tradition does not have to be old. The first definition for tradition in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is: “an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior.” Based on that definition, a tradition can be any belief that one establishes or adopts and hangs onto.
I have been a Christian since 1994 and have paid close attention to other Christians for most of that time. My observation has been that Christians have traditions that they hang on to for dear life. And the most emotional traditions are theology and doctrines. Some of these are based on a knowledge of supporting scriptures and can be backed up to some extent. Some others are simply what one is supposed to believe…so he believes them. Ask most Christians what the characteristics of God are, and you will almost always get some form of “omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent.” A follow-up question – “Why?” - will usually produce the circular argument, “Because He’s God.” That theology is so fundamental to a Christian’s faith, that few give it a second thought. Even atheists believe that God (if He is real) is supposed to be all-knowing.
Then you have doctrines like “once-saved-always-saved”, baptism, tongues, and others where Christians on both sides throw a barrage of verses at one another to prove their stances. No explanation of context or Greek roots will convince the other side to sway. Traditionalism will usually keep a person firmly planted right where he is. The actual truth is somewhat irrelevant.
Truth Second
This is not to say that any traditional way of thinking is wrong. One man’s doctrinal position may be 100% correct, even if he adopted it from another without an ounce of investigation. But I am of the opinion that if a man believes he has eternal security because he has searched the scriptures through sweat and tears, yet he is wrong, then God takes more pleasure in him than in one who stumbles upon a truth but never labored to discover why he believes it is true.
Human nature will usually set actual truth aside and favor traditional thinking. No one would ever admit this, or even realize it for that matter. It occurs on a subconscious level. Man is, by nature, stubborn and selfish. Few eagerly admit to being wrong. Even the humble man is not thrilled to admit he is wrong (though it certainly feels good once it is done). Natural man wants to be right and tries desperately to not be wrong. This tendency is strengthened in the presence of emotional issues, like doctrine and theology. If I believe that God pre-ordained who would go to heaven and who would go to hell, then showing me in I Timothy that “…God desires all men to be saved…” is like a housefly on my shoulder that I effortlessly swat away. I have seen this played out countless times. I have even seen where one is faced with some information that challenges his position, and the information is so strong that he has no argument and admits so. But his next reaction is to find someone more "educated” than himself who holds his same position so that he can learn a good comeback. This is a very common response. And it illustrates the point that so many Christians refuse to give up a belief or beliefs without a serious fight.
Though this is the tendency of an individual and ultimately his sole responsibility, is the church without any responsibility?
Failure of the Modern Church
The Bible tells a story that begins at creation in Genesis and flows through times and events recorded in sixty-six books and concludes with a new creation in Revelation. Throughout this story, and like any good novel, there are twists and turns that must be understood or else the story will be choppy and perhaps even senseless.
Church leaders, in general, do a poor job of helping individuals to be aware of the big picture…the complete story of the bible. Preachers might make mention of God’s plan for redemption, the through-the-ages requirement for a blood sacrifice, and the portrayal of Jesus in many Old Testament characters like Joseph and Isaac. An audience might hear a multi-part lesson comparing Genesis with Revelation: the original creation and the new creation. And sometimes, Bible study teachers might take classes through a survey ofOld Testament history, which is a really important part of understanding the Bible. And while those are really important and make for interesting preaching and teaching, they do not alone fully lay out the foundation for understanding scripture.
For an individual to understand any verse, it must be viewed through a biblical theology. It must be placed within and viewed through the context of the big picture, a picture which includes not only history and typology, but also God’s fulfilled and prophesied plans. But the church throughout time has progressively created a culture where the big picture is, by default, not relevant and the application of a single passage to one’s life is most important. So one can hear a lesson on the eternal security of a believer, but he reads…
“But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” Matt. 24:13
…and is completely confused. He does not know how to reconcile the two ideas because he has never properly learned a basis for understanding the Bible. So…preference takes priority. And tradition trumps truth.
The result: DENOMINATIONS. Methodists sprinkle, Baptists immerse. Pentecostals speak in tongues and others proclaim that it is a fraud. One has to work to keep his salvation; another is always saved. Even within the same denominations there are significant differences. Under the Baptist umbrella are Southern Baptists, Independent Baptists, Missionary Baptists, Primitive Baptists, American Baptists, United Baptists, Full Gospel Baptists, and a host of others. One strives to keep the Mosaic Law; one preaches grace. One is a free-will advocate while the other preaches unconditional election. The one general commonality they have is a poor understanding of the big picture of the Bible and its immensely important supporting elements. Questions like…
...are generally foreign ideas to most Christians, including church leaders. And as the church leaders go, so goes the church and its members.
Purpose of this Book
This book in no way represents a research of denominational history. My intent is not to prove by historical example how the church has run into the doctrinal mess it is in today. The purposeof the book is, rather, to establish a firm foundation upon which one can build a rock solid system of doctrine and theology. After reading this, one should have an understanding of the scriptural lens through which any idea can be viewed to test its biblical validity.
This approach has the inherent ability to address every bible-based doctrine. Many of those doctrinal debates are automatically solved when one has an understanding of that which is set forth in this book. For those that are not resolved completely, they can at the very least be evaluated within a biblical framework that narrows down the possible interpretations.
Modern Church: Where Tradition Trumps Truth is a basic introduction to biblical theology. While it will cover the foundation and adequately equip the reader to tackle complex doctrinal issues, it is not intended to comprehensively cover every doctrine. Chapter 9 – “Doctrinal Application” - will deal with some basic doctrines, showing the reader how the application of this information addresses the debate with them. But volumes can be and have been written that take readers into much greater depth. You might find yourself seeking out some of those books after finishing this one. But my recommendation would be that you immediately go to the Bible and spend time evaluating for yourself the things that are presented. If you completely agree with what this book presents but cannot defend it by yourself from scripture alone, then your position is merely another opinion.
This book is not for the hard-hearted. If you are determined to always believe what you believe today and not interested in putting that position on trial, then do not waste your time. But if you recognize that there is some fundamental problem behind the reason why so many denominations exist and why so much confusion is present within the church, and if you are willing to set aside philosophy and tradition in order to objectively evaluate what you believe, then this book is for you.
If you are the latter, then here is what you can expect throughout this book. There will be no rationalization of difficult passages. You will see scriptures laid out in a logical and clear fashion. There will be challenges to traditional positions and to misuses of various passages. And in the process you will see many doctrinal traditions crumble before your eyes as the Bible is allowed to speak quite capably on Its own.
The end results will vary. Many will not accept what is written. But for those that do, the most common result is exciting: REVIVAL…an excitement about reading the Bible and about living out a Christian life like too many have never experienced before.
