Tradition and the Bible

I read something the other day in Alan Schreck’s book “Catholic and Christian” that I had never thought of before. It said that the catholic church is actually older than the Bible as we know it. Now that I think about it, of course that is true. I’m sure most people reading this have already realized that, but for some reason, it never hit me.

Now, obviously the Old Testament was written long before, but the Bible that the old grey haired ladies carry to church with them every week (young people no longer carry bibles thanks to iphones and giant screens) wasn’t compiled until the 4th century. In fact, the New Testament wasn’t even written when the church was established at Pentecost.

Now, why is this important? Many churches these days, mainly protestant, subscribe to the idea of sola scriptura. This basically means that the Bible contains everything that we as Christians need to know. If its not mentioned or commanded in the Bible, it really isn’t that important. This is why a lot of modern churches have done away with so many ancient traditions.

Now, of course we believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the writings of the Bible. But since the Bible wasn’t completed when the church was founded, isn’t it safe to say that the Holy Sprit also inspired early church leaders/church fathers who may have taught us some of these traditions? The sign of the cross mentioned in my previous post is a good example.

God has always used random people to be leaders to his people. (Moses, Abraham, Noah, David, The Apostles, Paul, etc. Heck, even his Son was an ordinary carpenter!) So why would we assume that God did not inspire the early church leaders to teach certain traditions before the Bible was written years later? (And canonized WAY later!) Did the Holy Spirit just sit around and wait for the Bible to be written and completed? Or was it active in the formation of the early church by inspiring these teachings and traditions?

In conclusion, I do believe that the Bible contains all of the information necessary for salvation. But I, as a traditionalist, believe it is important not to ignore the teachings and traditions of the early church.

My question is this: If we ignore a tradition that isn’t explicitly mentioned in the Bible, are we ignoring a tradition that may have been divinely inspired? I’d love to hear from you!

The Sign of the Cross

The best way I have come to understand the sign of the cross is that it is a way of praying and worshipping with the body. It is a bodily act of prayer which could be compared to raising your hands in worship. The sign of the cross is a reminder of Christ’s sacrifice for us as well as an outward proclamation of our faith.  It is also commonly used as a blessing at baptism, Eucharist, or to bless a particular person or thing.

While there isnt a specific scriptural reference, or command, to what we know as the sign of the cross, there are certain passages where the idea may have come from. (Rev. 7:3, Rev. 9:4, Rev. 14:1, Ezk. 9:4-6, Gal. 6:17) It is also important not to ignore what the early church fathers said about this sign. Tertullian said, “in all our travels, in all our coming in and going out, in putting on our shoes, at the bath, at the table we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross.”   St. John Crysostom wrote that Christians should “never leave home without making the sign of the cross.”

In his work, “On The Holy Spirit,” St. Basil writes: “For were we to attempt to reject such customs as have no written authority, on the ground that the importance they possess is small, we should unintentionally injure the Gospel in its very vitals; or, rather, should make our public definition a mere phrase and nothing more. For instance, to take the first and most general example, who is thence who has taught us in writing to sign with the sign of the cross those who have trusted in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ?”

This was clearly a tradition that was widely practiced as early as the 3rd century,(A.D. 200s) although it is believed to have been practiced earlier as well.  It seems that the reason there aren’t many other early writings is because this was a practice that was taken for granted and performed by all Christians.  Therefore, not as many people felt the need to write about it. (Although, I admit, I could be wrong.)  Like St. Basil said, the sign of the cross was the “first and most general example” of a tradition that does not have a particular biblical command, but is still rooted in Scripture itself, thus making it an important practice and reminder of who we as Christians live for.

Does it make you a bad Christian if you dont do it?  No.  But I think it is important to understand that this isnt just some weird thing that only a few crazy catholics do.  It is a practice that so many Christians have practiced from the earliest of times.  It shouldn’t just be a Catholic thing, but rather a Christian thing.  To those who say it may be a form of idolatry, I would say that lifting your hands in front of the cool rock band at church is idolatry too.  Sure, you arent worshiping the band, but those who make the sign aren’t worshiping the cross either.

If it was practiced by so many who came before us, particularly by those who lived not that long after Christ, why abandon the practice?  Do we know better than them?

If you are familiar with the topic, have any questions, or just want to tell me how stupid I am, please feel free to leave a comment!

blog idea…

I’m really bad at coming up with things to write about. Lately, as you can see, ive been doing the whole “Christian” blog thing. I’ve always thought that was lame, but since getting older I’ve realized that I get more and more lame every day. Thats why in the column to the right of this post it says I “used” to be funny. At one time in my life, I could make a joke and people would laugh. Thats not the case anymore. Here’s an example:

Today, I was playing drums at City of Refuge. Today was particularly cool because they unveiled their new health clinic that will be open to the local community. This facility will be run by volunteer physicians. Pretty cool, huh?

So as we were getting a tour of the facility we went past one of the rooms where they will perform surgeries. In a brief moment of sheer comedic genius I uttered these words to the guy in charge, “Let me know if you need someone to perform any surgeries!” He gave me a courtesy laugh and looked at me as if he wanted me to go away… This seems to happen to me a lot these days!

So this is where I stand as far as being funny goes. I just cant seem to pull it off anymore. Ive lost it. I was the class clown my whole life, and now my humor is more useless than a blind kid at mute camp. Maybe even more useless than the white crayon. Being funny probably isnt the best goal for me to attempt to achieve through this blog.

I think I am going to write about some of the different elements of liturgical worship for a while. This may sound boring if you are already familiar with these things. If you are not familiar, maybe I can help with understanding some of these things that may seem weird, as well as clear up any misunderstandings. (Note: I am still learning too and will probably just copy a lot of things I read from other blogs… im not claiming to be the fountain of wisdom that you should turn to for spiritual guidance. I’m just interested in the topic.) If you are familiar, I would love to have you chime in and correct my mistakes, or add to what I may have missed since I do try to keep these short.

From Lent to Pascha…

I have put off doing this for quite a while because I dont want to come across like I am boasting about “how spiritual” I am. If you know me, you know thats not really true. I dont care to brag about deeds anyways. (See Matthew Chapter 6)

Even though I am running the risk of sounding like one who may announce from a megaphone, while tweeting, that he is about to pick up trash near a local playground, while wearing a t-shirt that has the church name, a random bible verse, and matches those of everyone else he is with, I would like to share my experience anyways. (Run on sentence? I dont claim to be good at writing…)

This is the first time I fasted from meat as I, in the past, picked something that didnt quite seem as hard. It sucked. But in the words of Dale Brown, the priest at The Advent Atlanta, “if you enjoy Lent, you arent doing it right.” (Sure, many other people have probably said that too. I just happen to be in the room when he said it….)

The beauty of it is this: Every time you think about how much it sucks to not eat meat, (or whatever you’re fasting from) you are reminded of how bad it must have sucked for Jesus to be on death row when he obviously didn’t want to be. Who would???? Although the comparison is no where close, it puts you in a time of suffering as well. (Like I said, the comparison is no where close. Im not saying that my not eating meat is equal to the weeks before Christ’s death. The goal is to share in his suffering. Theres nothing you could do that would equal his suffering anyways.) It also reminds you to spend time with the Lord. If you are anything like me, you are really bad at keeping that as a part of your daily routine. I will never understand why it can be such a difficult thing to do. I think I MIGHT have an idea, but ill save that for another blog…. Im probably wrong anyways.

So now what? Thanks to me not being able to partake in a chik-fil-a sandwhich, or dominate a pair of chili dogs from the varsity, (which would in turn dominate me…) I feel like I am getting back to a place where I should be. Good for me… right?

Then, Pascha finally rolls around and we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. From here on out, you can eat whatever you want. Whats the big deal? The big deal to me is the fact that until now I have never realized how much more I appreciate something that I once took for granted. During this 50 day long Easter season, every time you partake in whatever it was you were fasting from, it is much more of an enjoyable experience than it normally is. It’s like a mini celebration. “Oh yea! I can eat meat now! And this is the reason why!!” That mini celebration is a constant reminder of the HUGE celebration that is the Easter season itself. Its amazing how taking the Church calendar seriously can help keep you focused on what is of the utmost importance.

Thats my rant. I realize this is nothing profound. Its not supposed to be. I just shared because although I have fasted before, this year I experienced something different. I would also like to encourage Christians who may not have participated in this special time of the year to give it a shot next time around.

church history

ive posted this before, but what are your thoughts on this? (you can click on it to make it bigger)

Hail Mary?

Lets break down the Hail Mary prayer… Starting with the first word.

“Hail”

-  I dont know where the idea came from that this means worship.  It was a common greeting in the language Luke used in his Gospel.  (The Gospel of Luke is where the Hail Mary comes from, as im sure you know, but we’ll get to that in a second.)  This translation comes from the greek word “Chaíre” (I believe its pronounced Chy-Ray, but I could be wrong.  Dont know much greek….) which literally means “Rejoice.”  ”Hail” is the Latin (Roman Catholic) translation while “Rejoice” is the Greek (Orthodox/Eastern Catholic) translation.   So, if you go a Roman Catholic church when this is prayed, you will hear them say  something like, “Hail, Mary, full of grace…..” where as if you go to an Eastern Catholic/Orthodox church, you will hear something like, “Rejoice, Mary, full of grace….”

“Hail/Rejoice, Mary, Full of grace, the Lord is with thee.”

- This is a direct quote of Luke Chapter 1:28.  Not much else to say.

“Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

- This also directly comes from Luke.  It comes from Chapter 1:42

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of death.  Amen.”

- This is simply asking Mary to intercede on our behalf.  This really is no different than asking a friend, family member, pastor, etc to pray for you.  I guess the reason so many people pray to Mary in particular is because she obviously found a unique favor with the Lord.  We also see a biblical example of her intercession in John Chapter 2:1-11 at the wedding.  Mary notices they are out of wine and asks Jesus to do something.  Even though Jesus said it was not yet his time, he did it any way.  One may argue that it wasn’t actually intercession, and thats fine.  You can think whatever you want.  I dont care to debate that.  The bottom line is I dont see what is so wrong with asking Mary or any other saint who came before us to pray on our behalf. Is it completely necessary?  No.  But at the same time, it is not always necessary that you ask your friends, family,  or pastor to pray on your behalf since you can pray on your own.  It seems the general belief is that the more people you have praying for you, the better off you are.  Which, I guess, is why we ask our loved ones to pray for us.

So why not ask those who are already present with God?  You dont have to.  I dont do it often.  But I dont see anything wrong with doing it.

P.S. – I would love feedback.  I hate posting blogs because I dont like to come across as if I know everything. Im still learning.  Just making an effort to understand some of the differences between me and my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Piggly Wiggly

This post has nothing to do with piggly wiggly.

For some reason, I have been studying a lot of church history lately.  I wish I had studied more in college when I was actually supposed to….

It seems that this has, for now, replaced my interest in politics.  So, now that I wont be offending people for being a hardworking, self sufficient person who doesnt want to rely on the government to take care of my health, educate my future children, or pay my bills, I will have to find a new way to offend people.

This probably wont be the way.  (Im kidding anyways.  My goal is never to offend people.)

You cant study church history and ignore the Catholic/Orthodox church.  And it seems that I have made a lot of my friends uncomfortable with my interest in the Catholic and Orthodox church, even though I have never shown interest in actually converting. (Dont think I ever will.)  Its sad that so many people seem to frown upon the biggest denomination of Christ followers in the entire world, as if they believe they wont receive salvation because their teachings are a little different than what you’ve heard all your life.

Maybe one day I will write about something more specific.  This blog mainly happened because I am bored and wanted to write a blog.

So please, put your stones down.  And lets all get a long….