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January - February 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel
The Power of Tradition
June Narber Harrison
Have you ever wondered why so many people out in
society, who claim to believe and live by the word of
God, have no understanding of God's Ten commandments? If
they do, they conveniently eliminate the fourth one (The
Seventh Day Sabbath Command), or they believe that
Sunday is the Sabbath for Christians.
History has deceived most of our society. The
established religions have eased millions of
"Christians" into believing that their established
religious system is "God's word," and that any teaching
contrary to the established order is wrong, and is
quickly labeled a "cult."
We have to realize that understanding God's laws is a
blessing. The majority of humans beings don't (and in
fact cannot) understand, because God has not opened
their minds to it. The power of tradition over the
average human being is amazing. It blinds the eyes,
shuts off the mind to anything contrary to its teaching,
and establishes itself with strong nostalgic
associations. Take for example, the memories of Sunday
morning services when you were a child: the smell of the
freshly cut church yard grass, the sun shining in
through the stained glass windows and the Sunday ham
dinner waiting at home for you after communion at your
family church. If you've never experienced this, think
of society's religious holidays and the nostalgic things
associated with them: kids under the Christmas tree
opening gifts, the smell of the Christmas pine tree, the
taste of eggnog, the Christmas cards of baby Jesus and
the manger, and of course, all kinds of music associated
with this particular religious season.
Why is tradition such a powerful thing? It is because as
human beings, we like to have patterns and order in our
lives. The way things have always been done, whether in
our family structure, our communities, or in our
churches, we get used to a pattern from our childhood
and associate it with comfort, safety, and other
emotions which we consider pleasant.
To disrupt these "patterns" for the average human being
is a devastating thing- as their mind tells them that
something is not right. Change is the hardest thing in
life to accept- whether it be the death of a loved one,
a new job, a child leaving the nest, or whatever.
Some traditions are beautiful, and all right to
observe. However, any tradition that takes us away from
the truth of God, the will of God, or the word of God,
is wrong. We must make the effort to remove it from our
lives and to change our patterns of behavior, and also
our patterns of thought.
If you have been a life long Sabbath keeper, what
traditions could be wrong in your life? Are you
superstitious? Do you read your horoscope? Do you have
icons in your house that are associated with religious
or good luck (i.e. crosses, horseshoes, a rabbit's
foot)? If you do, it is up to you to remove these from
your life. Why? Because something amazing happens when
we individually choose to remove traditions- we then
begin to grow. Wrong traditions and wrong ways of
thinking hamper not only our physical growth, but also
our spiritual growth.
Instead of our society's religious traditions, why don't
you personally, create traditions of your own? For
example, if you are alone, you can do special things on
the Sabbath that you do not do during the week. Light
candles on Friday night to make the beginning of the
Sabbath distinctive. Have uncommon meals and special
things that you do for yourself, your family and others
only on the Sabbath. If you have children, they might
have a unique Sabbath toy that they play with just on
this day.
Whatever traditions you create for yourself to better
fellowship with God, just remember that traditions can
become powerful holds on your life. Limit that control
by creating new things to do to honor God in your
life. Some traditions can bind families together for two
or more generations (i.e. family reunions, family photo
dates, anniversary celebrations, Thanksgiving
dinners). The bottom line is, that the tradition should
be a true blessing, and not a ball and chain that you
HAVE to keep or observe. If any activity or method of
doing something becomes binding and restrictive, or you
just do it because you have always done it (or feel like
you have to), then it ceases serving any useful purpose.
May we root out the bad traditions from our life, and
incorporate continual new behaviors, challenges and
methods of doing things to continually bring us closer
to God, to Christ, and to each other.
TSS
January - February 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel
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