There are some churches that seem more like circuses or theaters, and there are others that seem more like mortuaries. I am talking about those churches which are legalistic, religious, and bound up in traditions. Even the more energetic, Pentecostal/Charismatic denominations have them, especially when it pertains to women having to wear dresses and a ban on or a strong discouragement of dancing and moviegoing. But there are those churches where, if you are suffering from insomnia, you will not be by the time you go through one of their services. The preachers there, these purveyors of spiritual propofol, could still the rumblings of a volcano with their predictable sermons and monotonous order of services. These prodigies of holy concrete numb the minds of their parishioners week after long week. If you are looking for a move of God there, forget it. These places are so fossilized in their religiosity that nothing moves in their services but the doors. So what are some of the things these churches do wrong?
A. Chloroform for the Soul
While, on the surface, some of these religious practices have an almost comical aspect to them, there is a deadly seriousness underlying them. Religiosity is frowned upon by the Lord. You may recall that when Jesus was here on earth He reserved His harshest rebukes for the hypocritical religious leaders. A good example of this, also found in Chapter 15 of Matthew’s Gospel, is told here:
Mark 7:5-13: Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.” He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”—’ (that is, a gift to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
The Pharisees were among the highest ranking, most respected, and most religiously educated men in Jewish society back in those days. Of all people, they should have been aware of the true meaning of the Scriptures they taught every Sabbath and of the fact that Jesus Christ was the long-awaited and promised Messiah of Israel, but through their status-seeking and arrogance they missed both. Not content to obey just what the Scriptures said, these religious zealots added rules to follow, foolishly thinking that their works made them righteous before God. Jesus saw the danger in their practices, pointing out that by teaching the traditions of men they made the word of God of no effect. This is one of the most serious errors a religious leader can commit. The preaching of the Word of God is vital both for salvation and for spiritual growth (Romans 10:8-17; Ephesians 4:11-16).Substituting manmade traditions for Biblical mandates and adding to or taking away from the Bible through such things cancels out the Word. God is not going to bless anything that contradicts what He says, and we should already realize that although men wrote the Bible, they did so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:19-21), which makes God the ultimate Author of the Word. In fact, as much as the Lord values His great name, look at what He values even above that:
Psalm 138:2: I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
Not only does dull, legalistic, tradition-bound preaching put people to sleep physically, it also fails to stimulate or edify anyone spiritually. Without God’s blessing, without the move of the Holy Spirit, the altar calls in such dead services are in vain, and the people coming to church to be fed spiritually are being given spiritual junk food and filler. They leave just as spiritually malnourished as they came—yet those who go to the altar in such places think they got saved and those who are already saved (perhaps) think they heard a great sermon! Spiritual blindness is real. Such religiosity is chloroform for the soul. Now we will examine just a few of the many traditions and erroneous teachings that are out there, as space in this blog permits.
B. Unappetizing Samples
This is a sampling of some of the more common traditions parishioners run into and get caught up in. Two good rules to go by: (1) Read your Bible daily. That way, you will know it; and (2) if what you see in a service does not line up with the Word of God, which you have taken time to read and become familiar with, then do not obey it or endorse it.
1. Tithing: The vast majority of Christianity is guilty on this one, and it certainly includes those mind-numbingly dull traditionalistic denominations. Tithing is an Old Testament mandate. There is a teaching on this website which details why we are not obligated to tithe. The New Testament model, which is what we should be living by, is that of the cheerful giver. Believers should contribute money to the work of the ministry, but not out of some legalistic obligation. It should be done willingly (2 Corinthians 8:1-15, 9:6-15). Verses such as Genesis 14:18-20, Malachi 3:8-10, Matthew 23:23, Luke 21:1-3, and Hebrews 7:1-10 are frequently ripped out of context and used to shame and scare people into “tithing.” Once you become familiar with the Word of God you will know better and will give the right way for the right reasons. It will be giving, not OT tithing.
2. Requiring anyone to dress up in fancy clothes for church: I don’t have many pet peeves, but this is one of them. It ties my innards in knots to see any kind of requirement for parishioners or clergy to have to dress up in three-piece suits or fine dresses for church. Some Christians even go so far as to try justifying this nonsense with Scripture, claiming that because the Old Testament priests had distinctive clothing, so should we. Yes, I have heard this with my own ears. Leaving aside the patently obvious fact that we do not live in the OT era, there is absolutely nothing in the Bible that requires any NT believer to wear particular clothes for church. Where does the requirement for dressing up leave the poor and the homeless? If you can wear something decent to church, yes, that is legitimate, clothing that is clean and not too revealing but modest—that goes for men as well as for women. But suits and beautiful dresses? This originated in the 1800’s when mass production made fine clothing affordable to many more people than in the past. Someone got the idea to wear such clothes to church instead of one’s work clothes or other ordinary clothes, and before long it got turned into a manmade expression of worship—“wearing your Sunday finest.” Now some raise this tradition to the level of a commandment and a doctrine when it is not even found in the Bible? Well, the Word has something to say about that (Proverbs 30:6).
3. Conferring special status upon clergy: Church elders are worthy of honor and respect according to the Word of God (1 Timothy 5:17-18), so what is the issue here? It is the idea that somehow, clergy, especially those who are seminary-trained, have an ability to know and apply the Word in a way that most people do not. While those with religious education may have more head knowledge, that does not necessarily mean they “know” the Bible in the sense of living it out. Any believer should read and study the Scriptures (Psalm 1:1-2; Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 2:15). Remember that all of us who are born again are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, therefore we can all know the Word of God (1 Corinthians 2:10-16; 1 John 2:20, 27). The apostle Paul was well-educated, having been trained and schooled in the Law in his upbringing as a Pharisee prior to his conversion, but others, such as Peter and John, had little education (Acts 4:13). You do not need a seminary degree to know the Bible or even to have a calling from God. Instead you need to be born again, have a humble heart, and be devoted to reading and studying the Word. God will teach you what you need to know, either one-on-one or through more mature believers.
A related error is made when clergy are held in awe. We reverence God, not people. Clergy are human, just like the rest of us. Respect them, but do not consider them to somehow be in some special class above the rest of us.
4. The belief that water baptism saves: If that was true, then Jesus would have never asked John the Baptist to baptize Him, since He is fully God and fully man (Matthew 3:13-15; John 1:1, 14). Christ alone saves; baptism is an outward sign of an inward change (John 3:16-17, 14:6; Romans 6:3-4). Also, if baptism saves, then the death of Christ would not have been necessary. Except for repenting of one’s sins, anything that adds to or takes away from the requirement of accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is a tradition or manmade doctrine and should be rejected.
5. Infant baptism and baptism by sprinkling/pouring: A tradition such as dedicating a child to the Lord is not bad in and of itself, for in the process of doing so the parents commit to living for Christ and giving the child a godly upbringing. However, babies and young children are not yet mentally capable enough to be morally culpable before God, and since getting baptized is something that all obedient Christians should do if at all possible after getting saved, then requiring infant baptism not only makes no sense, it is totally unnecessary. Not only that, but the correct method of water baptism is by immersion (Matthew 3:16a; Romans 6:4).
6. If you pray more than once, you have no faith in God: Persistent prayer is encouraged in the Bible (Matthew 7:7-11; Luke 18:1-8). Lack of faith undermines prayer at its outset regardless of how often or how few times you pray (Hebrews 11:1, 6).
7. The church program/schedule: It is interesting that revivals are scheduled, although I cannot entirely dismiss the idea because the prayers of the fervent God will respond to, including the cry for revival (James 5:16-18). Having a church program or bulletin is not necessarily wrong, either—until it is elevated to a level of importance above that of a move of God. If the Holy Spirit wants to reorder a service, then who are we to stand in the way? Yet so many churches and ministries do. It would be fair to say of a number of them that if they cannot control it or schedule it, they don’t want to have anything to do with it.
8. Some spiritual gifts and offices are not for today: This is known as cessationism, and usually singled out for this spiritual lunacy are the gifts of healings and tongues (including prayer languages) and the offices of apostle and prophet. Such verses as 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 are twisted to support this weird theology, but no statement of such cessation actually exists in the Bible.
There are other things out there such as Reformed theology (Calvinism) which states that God predetermines who is to be saved and who is to be damned independent of our desires, that there should not be music in churches, the aforementioned need for women to wear dresses only and prohibitions against dancing and moviegoing, and so on. By knowing the Word of God we can obey it and know better than to fall for this cornucopia of nonsense pouring forth from multitudes of pulpits, denominations, and branches of Christianity. In Part VII of this series we will look at some of the other issues in Christendom today that have not already been covered.
