Stories abound of young people who do certain things in a certain specific manner for no other reason than that it was done in this manner by their forefathers. In Mark 7:5-9, Jesus admonished the Pharisees for upholding their traditions above the commandments of God. The Pharisees had begun to perform the ritual washing as a mere tradition passed down by the elders; all meaning behind the act had been lost and people had started to just perform the washings for the sake of their forefathers.
Traditions often start out as useful elements of society and arise out of a certain specific need. However, as the generations roll on, the reason and truth behind the tradition is seldom passed down to younger generations, but only its empty form. The gift of tradition does much for the people of this world when it encourages common sense and caution, but for the most part satan has used this gift of our forefathers as a battering ram to break down our defenses and allow him a foothold in our lives. The story is told that in the war between the Greeks and the Trojans, that the Greeks simply hid a few soldiers in a wooden horse left outside the walls of the Trojan fortress and pretended to sail away. The Trojans, thinking the Greeks had abandoned the war effort and left the horse as a gift to their nation, wheeled it into the city as a victory trophy. That night, the soldiers hidden within the wooden horse secretly stole from their hiding place and opened the defenses of the city to their waiting comrades. Thus the otherwise undefeatable city of Troy was taken!
In the same way, satan uses traditions in the church to cause divisions in the Kingdom of God. It is Christ’s intention that His church be one Kingdom under one Shepherd, but the church has largely put the tradition of man over the commandments of God as revealed in His Word. This has resulted in myriads of schisms and different denominations all claiming to worship the same God, but each with its own traditional concept of which doctrines are the most important and which ones can be conveniently “done away with.” Popular preaching seeks to please the crowds, and if certain traditional standards are not upheld, members are lost. Indeed, the sayings of 2Tim 4:3 have come to pass in our lifetimes; the church has already started to fall away from sound doctrine, heaping up for itself false teachers who tell the people what they wish to hear, no longer condemning the practice of heinous sins but seeking safety in numbers. No longer is the Word of God and new light seen holistically in growing the people spiritually from strength to strength, but rather the powerful exert their influence in deciding what is supposedly important and what can be discarded.
Traditions also cause relationship problems between different generations if they’re forced to adhere to traditions that have passed their “sell by date” and are no longer relevant to the time in which we live. We must contend for the faith first delivered to the saints, seek the restoration of Apostolic Christianity, and not conform to false traditions of Babylon.
"Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them: Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." -Mark 7:7-9
Scripture references: Mark 7:5-13; Col 2:8; Rev 18:4
