WHEN TRADITION BECOMES A PRISON (PART I)

“When Error Becomes Tradition”

By Akin Ojumu

Ralph Waldo Emerson probably did not have Church folks in mind when, in his famous essay, Self-Reliance, he wrote:

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds…”

Emerson’s larger point concerned the folly of becoming enslaved to one’s previous opinions merely for the sake of appearing consistent. There is no virtue in stubbornly defending yesterday’s error after today’s evidence has exposed it.

Yet few descriptions better capture the disposition of many contemporary church folks.

When confronted with evidence that demolishes a long-held belief, rather than reconsider the belief, they double down on it. When sound biblical exegesis blows a cherished doctrine into smithereens, rather than abandon the doctrine, they barricade themselves behind tradition.

They dig in their heels. They close their ears. They refuse to reconsider. And their final defense is often nothing more profound than:

“That’s what we’ve always believed.”

Or:

“That’s how we’ve always done it.”

There is nothing admirable, honorable, or spiritually mature about clinging to an error merely because the error is old.

An ancient mistake is still a mistake. A cherished falsehood is still falsehood. And a doctrine does not become biblical simply because generations of people have believed it.

When incontrovertible evidence exposes your position as erroneous, intellectual honesty demands that you re-examine it. Biblical faithfulness demands even more: if Scripture demonstrates that what you have believed is wrong, you must abandon it.

Anything less is not faithfulness. It is bondage.

Sadly, this is the reality among far too many Church folks. Years of spiritual manipulation, doctrinal indoctrination, unquestioned tradition, and personality cults have conditioned people to defend inherited beliefs rather than examine them in the light of Scripture.

They have been trained not to ask:

“What does the Bible actually say?”

Instead, they ask:

“What did Daddy G.O. say?”

The result is a tragic inability—or unwillingness—to read the Bible without looking through the spectacles provided by religious tradition.

Paul wrote concerning Israel’s reading of the Old Covenant:

2 Corinthians 3:14–16

“But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.”

Paul’s immediate subject is Israel and the Old Covenant, but the warning against spiritual blindness ought to sober anyone who approaches Scripture with a mind already imprisoned by religious presuppositions.

There is hardly a greater theological folly than stubbornly clinging to false doctrine simply because it is the only doctrine you have ever known.

Yet this is one of the great maladies afflicting the contemporary church.

Present people with careful exegesis. Show them the historical context. Explain the grammar. Examine the original language. Trace the author’s argument. Compare Scripture with Scripture. Demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that their interpretation cannot be sustained by the biblical text.

And many will still respond:

“But my pastor said…”

“But my General Overseer taught…”

“But that’s not how we believe in our Church…”

As though the pastor is infallible. As though the General Overseer is the final court of appeal. As though denominational tradition possesses greater authority than the Word of God.

This resistance to reason and imperviousness to biblical evidence becomes less surprising when you consider what many establishments calling themselves Churches have become.

Far too many have been transformed into business enterprises, motivational centers, entertainment venues, self-help seminars, and religious psychotherapy clinics where congregants are supplied with precisely what their itching ears desire.

Paul warned that such a time would come.

2 Timothy 4:3–4

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”

That warning could have been written yesterday.

People who do not want sound doctrine will eventually find teachers willing to give them something else. And there is no shortage of such teachers.

Smooth-talking charlatans will tell them what they want to hear. Religious motivational speakers will baptize self-help philosophy in Christian vocabulary. Mystics will transform subjective experiences into revelation. Prosperity preachers will turn greed into faith.

And Bible hucksters will strip verses from their contexts and convert them into spiritual formulas for acquiring money, health, influence, spouses, visas, promotions, houses, cars, and miracles.

But there is another reason false doctrine thrives so easily in the modern church:

The people sitting in the pews often do not know the Bible well enough to recognize when it is being abused. That is where the problem becomes even more serious.

Continued in Part II: When Biblical Illiteracy Becomes Spirituality