What the Bible says about Blind Acceptance of Tradition

Amos 4:4-5

“Come to Bethel and transgress, at Gilgal multiply transgressions; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days,” God says in Amos 4:4. Transgress means “rebellion,” not just sin. As we have seen, God considered Israel's syncretistic approach to religion to be an outright rejection of His way of life.

Amos is speaking sarcastically when he suggests that the people sacrifice and tithe more often. “If you bring your tithes every three days instead of every three years,” he says, “maybe your god, Baal, will respond,” which sounds somewhat like Elijah's sarcastic comments in I Kings 18:27.

“'Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, proclaim and announce the freewill offerings; for this you love, you children of Israel!' says the Lord GOD” (Amos 4:5). Leavening was not allowed to be in any sacrifice: “No grain offering which you bring to the LORD shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering to the LORD made by fire” (Leviticus 2:11). Only two offerings, the wave loaves on Pentecost (Leviticus 23:17) and the thanksgiving offering (Leviticus 7:11-14), were made with leaven. A sin offering preceded the offering of the wave loaves, the leavening in them representing the sins still in the congregation of Israel.

In Amos 4:5, his sarcasm continues. The Israelites might as well have been making all their sacrifices with leaven because all their traditions, doctrines, customs, and religious duties were nothing but vanity. Even though they were sincere in doing them, they were nevertheless a leaven brought in from the world. In like manner, Jesus tells us to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:6-12), that is, of their doctrine and their traditions.

Even a glance at modern religious practices reveals how thoughtlessly people accept the doctrines and traditions they have learned—without proving them. Millions of sincere people attend church every week, celebrate the holidays, and send their children to church schools without ever proving their beliefs. They sing in the choir and donate generously when the plate is passed, but they do not really know—have an intimate relationship with—the god they worship. They blindly accept the leaven they were taught growing up.

John W. Ritenbaugh and Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Prepare to Meet Your God! (Part Five): Religion and Holiness

Matthew 23:1-39

In one chapter, Matthew 23, Jesus Christ rips the scribes and Pharisees to shreds. Eight times He pronounces on them woe—defined by Webster's Dictionary as "deep suffering, grief, affliction, ruinous trouble." He dubs them "hypocrites" seven times, "blind guides" twice, "fools and blind" twice, "blind" once, "whitewashed tombs" once, and finishes His name-calling tirade by designating them"brood of vipers"!

He then accuses them of being the children of those who had killed the prophets—a heavy-duty insult considering how proud they were of their ancestry. He predicts they would do the same themselves and declares that He would have nothing to do with them until they accept and bless the ones He sends.

Jesus was really worked up over this! Why? These people were extremely careful in keeping every minor article of the law. They even added many precise rules themselves to ensure they did not overlook the law's details.

Their lives, and the lives of those under their jurisdiction, consisted of endless, mindless details. Endless, for they continued to break branches of the law down to twigs down to leaves. Mindless, because this focus hampered their ability to think and properly weigh what was most important. They became so involved in making sure everyone else obeyed their demands that they no longer remembered the fundamental purpose of the law or kept it properly themselves. Even worse, they used the law against others and took advantage even to the point of "devouring widows' houses" (verse 14). Hence Christ's remonstrance: Hypocrites!

Yet they LOOKED good, publicly counting their mint, cummin and anise. It is not wrong or unlawful to count each seed; tithing should be done, as Christ pointed out (verse 23). But there are far more important issues of the law to consider than counting individual seeds—namely, JUDGMENT, MERCY AND FAITH.

Notice Christ's scathing indictment of the Pharisees' religion and it's effects:

♦ They set a horrid example by not following their own teaching (verse 3).
♦ They abused their office by burdening others with strict requirements while not requiring the same of themselves (verse 4).
♦ What they did do was only for vanity and show (verse 5).
♦ They were social climbers (verse 6).
♦ Their teaching had negative results, driving people farther from the Kingdom rather than closer to it (verse 13).
♦ Their twisted reasoning led them to steal even from the weak (verse 14).
♦ Their misguided zeal made their proselytes twice as bad as they were before they were even "converted" to Pharisaism (verse 16).
♦ Gold, money, and greed became their main focus and god (verses 16-18).
♦ Their perspective was so perverted that they would pay more attention to keep from swallowing a gnat than they would a camel (verses 23-24).
♦ How others saw them was far more important than moral values (verses 27-28).
♦ While they extolled the virtues of past men of God, they were so deeply hateful and murderous that they would kill Christ and any of His followers that they could (verses 29-37).
♦ Their religious house was utterly worthless and desolate, bereft of any contact with or influence of God, though they thought they were perfectly righteous. In a word, they were self-righteous.

We could easily break these attitudes down into many more categories of sin, but the point is obvious: The total of all their religious efforts was zero. Actually, Pharisaism had negative value, for the scribes and Pharisees took what people already had and made them even worse off than before!

Staff
The Weightier Matters (Part 1): Introduction

Acts 17:11

The Bereans are models of right-minded followers. Though zealous to hear, they did not thoughtlessly or uncritically accept what Paul said. They first tested it for themselves from the Scriptures and then submitted themselves to following it.

Pursuing this course avoids the potentially disastrous "blind leading the blind" syndrome (Luke 6:39). Jesus' statement warns us to be careful who we follow. If a leader can see no more than those who follow, it spells trouble for both. The Jews fell into this spiritual trap of presuming themselves as guides to the blind, though their lives did not qualify them for such a responsibility (Romans 2:19-24).

It also warns about the leadership of Jesus' followers. A Christian cannot hope to act as a guide to others unless he himself clearly sees where he is going.

John W. Ritenbaugh
'I'll Never Follow Another Man!'

2 Thessalonians 2:15

God has His traditions. On the one hand, God is teaching traditions us through His Word and the ministry, traditions to which He wants His Family to conform. However, we have brought traditions with us from the world: Southern traditions, Northern traditions, Western traditions, Eastern traditions, Texas traditions, European traditions, Asian traditions, and so forth. These conflicting traditions set the stage for conflict. The traditions of God and the traditions of the world we brought with us cannot in many cases co-exist! When we add to this our desire to be free, it makes for a most interesting mess!

John W. Ritenbaugh
Submitting (Part 1)