A HISTORY OF STUMBLING OVER TRADITIONS 
Down through the ages, religious leaders have found Biblical texts on which they could start a movement, or a church or a ministry, or a tradition, or a sacrament that people will follow because they believe that God wants them to do these things. People will follow almost any charismatic leader who promotes Biblical teaching because they are hungry for real spiritual food and are looking to connect with a God who promises relief from their earthly troubles and give them eternal security. They are eager enough and gullible enough to listen to the teachings of religious leaders and pay charismatic religious leaders to teach them. They do this sincerely believing that what God wants is that people should obey his literal, written word. This is the how Judaism and Christianity evolved.

The willing eagerness to follow and listen to charismatic religious  leaders has its Biblical origins in two places: Garden of Eden and when Israel told God it wanted a king.

In the Garden of Eden, after Eve had eaten of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, God told Eve that her desire would be for her husband/man. This was part of the curse that God put on Eve when she symbolically chose to listen to a religious leader instead of listening to God’s voice (i.e. Tree of Life). That a wife should have desire for her husband does not seem to be a curse when interpreted literally and logically, but when we look at this desire with spiritual eyes and ears, we see that it is indeed a curse.

Elsewhere in the Bible, religious leaders referred to as husbands that God’s people (symbolically represented as Eve) choose over God. When people choose to listen to these men/husbands, they are considered to be adulterers as we read in Ezekiel and Hosea. The curse, therefore, is that people will always desire to listen to religious leaders who create and administer religious traditions. This curse explains why religious traditions have always existed and why people are so addicted to them.

Such wrong choices are also represented in Israel’s desire to have a king rule over them and fight their battles for them. Kings are symbolic references to religious leaders that people want to lead them them in matters relating to God and the Bible. In both examples, people choose to listen to false prophets instead of God.

Just as God did not intervene when Eve and Adam choose to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and allowed Israel have the desire of its heart when it wanted a king, he does not intervene when his people choose to listen to false prophets who preach about and lead people in the observance of traditions. In this sense, he lets Jews  and Christians have the desire of their  hearts — even though such desire is against God’s own desires.

God’s attitude about not interfering with man’s desires appears to be callous and uncaring until we remember that he does have a plan to interrupt and change man’s desires. To implement his plan, God sends true prophets to speak truth that overcomes the lies false prophets preach about religious traditions. When Old/First Covenant religionists hear the truth, the following things happen:

• • • • • • • • • Their eyes and ears are opened to the truth about religious traditions.
                • They are humbled when they learn that God hates religious traditions.
                • They are born again
                • Their hearts are changed so that they no longer desire to observe religious traditions.
                • They worship God in spirit and truth. And they are delivered from the curse of the desire to practice religious traditions.

These events are a very brief summary of the story of the Bible: People addicted to religious traditions are delivered from the curse that condemns them to practice religion. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible contains parables that report how people transition from loving religious traditions to understanding that religious traditions are sin in God’s eyes.***

What we learn from these parables is that the inclination to listen to false prophets and follow religious traditions is addictive, impossible to resist, and impossible to escape unless God does a miracle in which he changes hearts and attitudes about traditions. Restating this another way, it can be said that the temptation to participate in Old/First Covenant religion is irresistible. That is a curse and it is bad news. The good news, however, is that God is calling his people out of religion so he can set them free to be New Covenant disciples.

STUDY TIP: See Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 1, Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 2, and Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 3 for more about obedience to the literal, written word.

The truth is, however, that obedience to the literal, written word of God satisfies Old/First Covenant religious laws but does not satisfy the terms of God’s spiritual laws. The truth is that neither Judaism nor Christianity obey the laws that God wanted them to obey.

The religious laws that Jews and Christians obey are based on traditions that God says are lip service without the right heart attitude. Lips, mouths and tongues are parts of the human body used in defiled religion and are not necessary in pure religion.

Even though both religions are based on concepts of sacrifices, festivals, rituals, physical worship and singing mentioned often in the Old and New Testaments, God says the following about these traditions:

Neither Jews nor Christians understand why the Bible appears to command practicing traditions, and then also condemns traditions. Lacking understanding, both religions adopt traditions that appear to agree with the commandments and ignore God’s attitudes about traditions. They do this because they do not understand the “first the natural and then the spiritual” principle, nor do they understand the differences between pure religion and defiled religion.

New Covenant disciples understand that what God really wants from his people is worship in spirit and truth. This is a night and day contrast to the beliefs of Old/First Covenant religionists who believe that what God wants them to worship using their physical bodies — even though God says clearly that the flesh (i.e. what they do with their physical bodies) counts for nothing. Because they don’t understand that God’s written word is not the same as God’s spoken voice, they build their religion on the literal words of the Bible and do not listen to God’s voice.

Jews and Christians created religious laws that conform, more or less, to their interpretations of the literal, written Bible. Jesus was the mediator of the New Covenant which is based on God’s spiritual laws written on the heart. The written Bible gives instruction for worship in the flesh, but God’s spiritual laws give instruction for worship in spirit and truth.

Jesus’ understanding of God’s view about traditions is evident in his condemning reply to religious leaders who questioned why he and his disciples did not follow Jewish traditions. Christians, full of pride about their righteousness in obeying their own traditions, fail to recognize that Jesus’ condemnation of tradition applies to them and their traditions also. In their ignorance, they invalidate God’s word for the sake of preserving and advancing their religious traditions. They too have stumbled over the written laws on which their religious traditions are based.

STUDY TIP: See Religious Rituals and Traditions: Circumcision, Baptism, Communion, and Sacrifices, Tithes and Offerings