Regarding Religious Traditions and Judgments

Judgments and traditions from God are binding on those to whom they are directed (immediately or ultimately). People are free to believe what they want religiously, and people are accountable to God for what they teach and practice. However, we sometimes believe that people who disagree with us religiously necessarily disagree with God. This is a mistaken and dangerous way to reason. With our flaws, limitations, and hypocrisies, we will never be the standard by which to measure others’ faithfulness to God. This is true for us as individuals, and it is true for the particular groups we participate in. Religious traditions that originate with human preferences and judgments do not come from God, even when the preferences and judgments are based on our best understandings of what God wants. No matter how dear these traditions are to us, they are not binding on others.

I am referring to any religious tradition people who claim to follow Jesus might have that does not originate with God. Examples include, but are not limited to, where we worship (in congregationally-owned buildings or not); how many services a Christian congregation offers on Sundays (whether we have evening services or not); how long the services last (the “sacred hour” versus assemblies that last 3 hours or more); the precise structure of our services; whether or not to have a located preacher; whether or not the singing has to be 4 part harmony, pitched a certain way, and without improvisation; the songs we get to sing (whether they were all written in the 1800s or whether we can sing “contemporary” Christian songs); and whether or not a man has to wear a tie or a woman has to wear a dress. There are many, many other things I could name. I have simply chosen a few obvious examples that I still see people struggle with and judge one another over.

I’m not focused on any one thing in particular. I affirm this basic principle because I think we too often lose sight of its merit and vex ourselves about things we ought not fuss about as if matters of human judgment and tradition are indicative of a person’s faith in God rather than their adherence to our particular stream of human traditions and judgments. I have seen this throughout my life as a Christian and I continue to see it. It invariably makes a mess because we insist that people agree with us and treat any disagreement like heresy. The conflation of God’s commands or doctrine with human tradition and judgments leads to hypocrisy, suspicion, bickering, and much harm. This is sad.

The key, of course, is correctly distinguishing between what God requires and what humans have required in order to promote what God requires. I don’t pretend to perfectly understand every instance where this tension arises. Admittedly, making this distinction is sometimes difficult. I mention the principle, though, as an invitation to careful introspection because we too often seem to forget that it even exists. God’s word judges everyone. That burden is heavy enough. No one should be condemned by what we personally believe or what we’ve always heard. Our parents did their best, and they were mistaken about some things. We do our best, and we are mistaken about some things. We are not the divine standard, and neither are our traditions.