• September Calendars are now available. September Worship Rosters will be available this week.
• The Gregory's have a new address — 233 Teresa Kay Dr; Mt Washington (40047); home phone 502.904.0642; Stephanie (mobile) 502.930.2585.
• Photo Directory — If you haven't had your picture taken, or if you want it retaken for the photo directory, see Chuck Barnett September 9 or 16.

• September 8 — Practice Singing @ 7 pm.
• September 9 — Kid's Singing @ 4:25 pm.
• September 9 & 16 — Pictures for the new photo directory. AM only.

One of my most treasured memories is taking my daughter Kim to Derby Dinner Playhouse for her 25th birthday to see Fiddler on the Roof.  It was a special night and I still remember sitting there filled with pathos for Tevye, the Jewish father, who saw his world crumbling about him and was powerless to stop or change it.  He saw his children being swept away by a changing world and customs and the ancient traditions of family being left behind.  Those things were anchors of his generation and their importance is shown in his words:  "Because of our traditions, we've kept our balance for many, many years.  Here in Anatevka, we have traditions for everything…How to sleep, how to eat…how to work…how to wear clothes.  For instance, we always keep our heads covered, and always wear a little prayer shawl that shows our devotion to God.  You may ask, 'How did this tradition get started?'  I'll tell you, I don't know.  But its tradition…and because of our traditions…every one of us knows who he is and what God expects him to do."   Even today family traditions are important and should not be discarded lightly.  Religious traditions are an altogether different matter.

The Catholic Church places tradition on an equal footing with Scripture as a source of authority in their religion.  The following quotes from the Catholic Encyclopedia clearly state this teaching and also show their disdain for the Protestant view of Scripture:

"The [first] objective [or formal] principle proclaims the canonical Scriptures, especially the New Testament to be the only infallible source and rule of faith and practice, and asserts the right of private interpretation of the same, in distinction from the Roman Catholic view, which declares the Bible and tradition to be coordinate sources and rule of faith, and makes tradition, especially the decrees of popes and councils, the only legitimate and infallible interpreter of the Bible. In its extreme form Chillingworth expressed this principle of the Reformation in the well-known formula, 'The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, is the religion of Protestants.'

"The belief in the Bible as the sole source of faith is unhistorical, illogical, fatal to the virtue of faith, and destructive of unity.

"Again, it is illogical to base faith upon the private interpretation of a book. For faith consists in submitting; private interpretation consists in judging. In faith by hearing the last word rests with the teacher; in private judgment it rests with the reader, who submits the dead text of Scripture to a kind of post-mortem examination and delivers a verdict without appeal: he believes in himself rather than in any higher authority.

"Private judgment is fatal to the theological virtue of faith. John Henry Newman says 'I think I may assume that this virtue, which was exercised by the first Christians, is not known at all amongst Protestants now; or at least if there are instances of it, it is exercised toward those, I mean their teachers and divines, who expressly disclaim that they are objects of it, and exhort their people to judge for themselves' (Discourses to Mixed Congregations, 'Faith and Private Judgment')."  Such elevation of traditions, which are of purely human origin, strike at the sufficiency of God's revelation to man.  

The traditions of Catholicism are similar to the Pharisaical traditions that Jesus condemns in Matthew 15:1-6.  The Pharisees, because of greediness, refused to honor their parents as the law required, saying that food their mother and father needed, was dedicated to God and could not be used for common consumption.  Jesus saw through this hypocrisy and condemned such traditions by saying, "Thus you have made the commandment of God, of none effect by your tradition"  (Matthew 15:6). Phariseeism was rife with such repudiations of God's law in favor of their traditions.  It made their worship and religious pretensions vain.

The pagans of New Testament times had their traditions that were steeped in human wisdom, which the apostles warned, were damning.  "Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ" (Colossians 2:8).  Much of the "Christian" world has been duped by the humanistic machinations in our day and churches are saturated with the traditions which have arisen from man's wisdom.  Such traditions stand in opposition to the wisdom of God.

The apostles held to traditions as well as pagans.  "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word, or our epistles"  (2 Thessalonians 2:15).  In verse 6 of the same chapter Paul demand's that a brother who would not walk (live) according to the traditions which he received from Paul and his companions was to be withdrawn from.  There was a critical difference in the current Catholic, and the old Pharisaical, and human philosophical traditions, which the Bible condemns, and those traditions which Paul and the apostles taught and practiced.  It was the source.  God was the author of those traditions which Paul demanded that Christians were to obey.  Obeying any other religious traditions leads to sin rather than righteousness.

Today, in the church, we must be careful about making distinctions between what are commands of God and what have become traditional things that we practice.  These were designed to help us in our devotion, knowledge, and service. Invitations at the close of preaching, Sunday night and Wednesday night services, the manner of distributing the Lord's Supper, etc. are all good things and they were added by wise, spiritually minded men, who recognized the wisdom of those things to help us in our faithfulness.  I have no desire to eliminate or change any of the above mentioned things because they help keep our focus on the things that ought to be the most important in our lives.  As long as they are consistent with the spiritual principles and are expedient they should not be lightly regarded.  Tevye had this to say, "Without our traditions our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on the roof.  And how do we keep our balance?  That, I can tell you in one word, tradition."  We need to understand the essential nature of God's tradition and our obligation to keep it.  Our own can be beneficial as long as we realize it is "our own" and can be altered when circumstances demand it.