Traditions of God and Men

One of the themes that we see in the four Gospels is the Savior’s rejection of many of the religious traditions of the Jews of His day.  For example, on one occasion we read that the Pharisees and scribes “saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands.”  They criticized Jesus for that and said to Him, “Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?” (Mark 7:2, 5)  Jesus had no concern for the traditions of the Jews that they had created which did not belong to the Law of Moses itself.  And yet He devoutly followed those traditions which were actual requirements of the Law—for example, He ate the feast of the Passover with His disciples in the manner that was required.  He told those Jews who were criticizing Him, “Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition” (Mark 7:9).  It is important for us in our day to be able to discern between what God commands and what is simply a tradition of men, and both the Gospel accounts and the Book of Mormon help us to see the difference between them. 

                Another example of the Savior’s rejection of false tradition is seen in His going to Samaria.  When he stopped at the well and spoke to the Samaritan woman there, she was shocked: “Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9).  The tradition of the Jews was to have no interaction with Samaritans, and they would go the long way around in the travels to avoid entering Samaria.  The Savior knew this was not God’s requirement but instead took the gospel to the Samaritans, not fearing the opinion of the Jews.  In the parable of the Good Samaritan He also made the characters that failed to help the injured man Jews and the character that did what was right a Samaritan, something His Jewish listeners certainly would have balked at.  Another tradition that He failed to follow was that over overly constrained Sabbath restrictions.  He healed many people on the Sabbath day and the Pharisees balked at this.  He responded, “It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days” (Matthew 12:12).  Their traditions had become so upside down that they, as Isaiah prophesied, called good evil.  The Savior certainly kept the Sabbath Day holy as the Father required, but He made no attempt to conform to the traditions surrounding it that the culture of His day expected of Him. 

                While the New Testament shows how the Savior broke away from the needless traditions of the Jews and focused His disciples on the essential elements of the gospel to love God and keep His real commandments, the Book of Mormon shows many attempts by the wicked to destroy the righteous traditions of the people of God.  For example, Korihor argued, “Behold, these things which ye call prophecies, which ye say are handed down by holy prophets, behold, they are foolish traditions of your fathers” (Alma 30:14).  Similarly the people of Ammonihah told Alma, “We know that thou art high priest over the church which thou hast established in many parts of the land, according to your tradition; and we are not of thy church, and we do not believe in such foolish traditions” (Alma 8:11).  The Amalekite who contended with Aaron likewise said, “We do not believe in these foolish traditions. We do not believe that thou knowest of things to come, neither do we believe that thy fathers and also that our fathers did know concerning the things which they spake, of that which is to come” (Alma 21:8).  The Zoramites said in their famous scripted prayer, “O God, we thank thee; and we also thank thee that thou hast elected us, that we may not be led away after the foolish traditions of our brethren, which doth bind them down to a belief of Christ” (Alma 31:17).  All of these examples and others show those who tried to convince the righteous that their beliefs were merely false traditions that had been passed down and that there really was no Christ or Redeemer to look forward to for a remission of their sins.  We certainly hear those same voices today. 

                All of these examples from the scriptures I think highlight a need for us to be able to discern between traditions that are of men and those that come from God.  The world seeks to tell us the commandments of God are merely foolish while at the same time trying to convince us that its traditions that focus on wealth, status, entertainment, etc. are what bring real value to life.  We have to have the wisdom to discern between “the doctrines of men” and the true “commandment of God” (Mark 7:7-8).