why is Holy Tradition necessary?

Question

this question is intended to explain the notion to the protestants so please give a complete answer if possible. also why should it be followed?

Answer 1

It is not necessary because the "Holy" traditions you speak of came from pagan rites and rituals

How did Paul tell of Christ? Did he use tradition?
Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ." Acts 17:2

He used the scriptures

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, that the man of God may be COMPETENT, equipped for EVERY good work.”

Scripture equips us for EVERY good work.

How did Jesus live? by the scriptures

1) Look at Jesus, When he was tempted he quoted Deuteronomy.

2)Jesus gave us new laws Love God and love your neighbor.

Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Leviticus 19:18 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD

3)On the Cross Jesus quoted Psalm 22

4)He said "anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not worthy of the kingdom of God" That’s from Kings it is from the story of Elijah

5)He quoted Isaiah to Speak against the teaching of tradition.
Mark 6:6-8 He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

6)Everything Jesus said and did was according to the Scriptures, he did not create new traditions. Even the New Covenant is found in the Old testamnet. Jeremiah 31:27 & Daniel



Is 59:21 "As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever," says the LORD

What covenant did God make with Israel?
that is found in the scriptures, Exodus.

1 Cor 15:3,4
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the SCRIPTURES;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the SCRIPTURES:

1 Cor 15:11 How did Paul preach to new believers
Acts 17:2. from the scriptures... on the Sabbath as his custom(tradition yet people who believe in tradition don't follow this tradition)

2 Timothy 2
Again, how did Paul preach



Eph. 6:13-17 says
Therefore put on the FULL armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the WORD OF GOD.

It says the full(meaning complete) armor makes you able to stand against the evil, then it mentionss every peice of equipment, yet it fails to mention the "Spear of Tradition."

How do we understand the Bible?
Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Isaiah 28:10

By comparing scripture with scripture line with line

Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.Acts 17:11

The scriptures tell of the will of God not traditions. The teachings of the Apostles conformed with the scriptures.

Answer 2

Because it is the third leg of the stool that supports Christian truth, the other two legs being Scripture and the Church. Holy Tradition is 1.) HOW the passages are to be correctly understood ( not left up to each person's own understanding, as the Protestants claim)
2.) how we are taught to live in the world in a daily basis, ie the correct APPLICATION of the truths revealed by God.
3. other teachings of Jesus to the Apostles that are not included in Scripture ( see Mark 6:34, John 21: 24-25)

Answer 3

Any tradition whether religious or cultural is only necessary, if it beneficially serves its purpose at the time. When the time comes that such traditions become harmful causing pain, war and strife then I believe, God gave each of us a brain to think for ourselves and Wisdom to fulfill it. Otherwise, the concept of free will is just false advertisement like snake oil...

Christ himself changed the roots of tradition did he not? From an eye for an eye to ... turn your right cheek. If tradition should be strictly adhered to without some semblance of wisdom, like chopping off someone's hand for stealing a paper clip, or stoning adulterers, how many people of our new millenium would be without stone marks? ( those were Divine Laws too no?)

Sometimes I wonder if the Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit are not looking upon humanity with a whimsical smile... Brother against Brother, Human against Human, Racism, Violence and Intolerance everywhere and we humans whether we are off any denomination, claim to be serving THEM... the one TRUE one.

In this case, I think tradition or not matters very little, when we openly slap the very face of Christ by going against his teachings of Love thy brother... then going to receive communion or prayer revival and feel holy pure again... thats just fooling ourselves and TRYING to fool the Almighty. Christ washed away our sins when we invite him into our heart...true.... but he never said once I am in there you can be the naughtiest little devil ever, consciously and ask for forgiveness just before death to enter the pearly gates... how stupid do we think God is? If we want to follow christ we should do that which he taught, not just follow that which suits our purpose and discard the rest coz it encumbers us... we take one, we take the whole package... not just the flight ticket and then R&R as we like. haha

Tradition IS necessary if it is coupled with honoring Christ by being Christ-like inside and outside. Otherwise, its just a theatre act believing we can pull a fast one on ourselves, others and the almighty.

Answer 4

Sacred and apostolic tradition recalls critical events in the life of the church, as the church itself responds to the urgings of the Holy Spirit.

God never provided written instructions authorizing Moses or the other sacred writers of the Old Testament, to write. They simply responded to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and did it.

This is tradition.

Jesus never wrote anything we know of, except a few words in the sand, and he never provided written authorization for anyone to write the various New Testament Gospels and Epistles.

Again, the sacred writers responded to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and to the ESTABLISHED TRADITIONS of the OLD LAW, and just did it.

This is tradition.

God never provided the early church with a written list of the Bible books that he accepted as authentic.

The church, guided by the Holy Spirit, recognized the need for an official collection of authentic scripture, got the pope and the bishops together, and (eventually) they just did it.

This is tradition.

In the 15th century, in response to alleged corruption in the Catholic church, a number of groups got together and decided to begin a new, alternative tradition, based only on what was written in the Bible.

These were the protestant reformers.

God never issued commands to them in writing either. They just went ahead and did it. And even though protestants claim to have a serious disdain for tradition, everything they claim to believe rests on it.

This is tradition.

Amazingly enough, no where in the Bible does the Bible itself claim to be the only faith authority.

More protestant tradition.

In fact, the Bible clearly names the church as "the pillar and ground of the truth".

When tradition matches up with scripture, and with the actual, real world experience of the church, according to the authority of the pope, or according to the authority of the pope and bishops, in council together, it becomes official, and it may then be incorporated into the sacred deposit of faith.

Traditions of the Catholic church that can be traced all the way back to Jesus and the apostles are rightly termed "Apostolic Tradition".

Traditions of the Catholic church that may be traced back to other, non-apostolic periods are rightly referred to as "Sacred Tradition".

In any event, the biblical principle of two or three witnesses has always been used to test the authenticity of church tradition.

1) Any tradition must be in complete harmony with scripture.
2) Any tradition must be in complete harmony with the constant practices and beliefs of the church.

Bible believing protestant Christians often claim that Catholics make stuff up and don't follow the Bible, but that's only because the Bible doesn't contain all the answers.

It was never intended to.

Neither God or his church ever intended the Bible to be the sole faith authority. That role rightly belongs to the church which Jesus personally founded ... the Catholic (universal) church ... which was the only church in existence for the first 1500 years of Christian history.

There's another protestant tradition that can't be found anywhere in the bible, either. The one that erroneously claims the Catholic church was corrupted and paganized by Emperor Constantine, and that it ceased to be the true church from that point on.

Not only is there no evidence for this in scripture, there's no evidence for it in history, either. It is a complete fabrication. A myth. A false tradition.

History clearly records that the church converted both Constantine and the entire Roman Empire.

No small feat!

Then, the Roman empire was destroyed, spreading the true faith throughout the rest of the known world.

Today, the Roman Empire is no more, but the Catholic church remains:
1Timothy 3:15 ... the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

From the official Catechism of the Catholic Church:

II.
The Relationship Between Tradition and Sacred Scripture
One common source . . .

80
"Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together and communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing and move towards the same goal."40 Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who promised to remain with his own "always, to the close of the age."41
. . . two distinct modes of transmission

81
"Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy Spirit."42 "And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully preserve, expound, and spread it abroad by their preaching."43
82
As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence."44

Of course, Catholics have the pope to settle any differences of opinion.That's why we don't have 32,000 different Catholic denominations.

But that's not based on Tradition. The office and authority of the pope is totally biblical.

Answer 5

Scripture is God's revelation to us, but as many of us can see, without proper focus and guidance, it can be badly misinterpreted.

Jesus came to Earth as a living example to us in order to show us the way we should live our faith--this is what we call tradition. The Church was formed by Christ. Much of what we call Tradition can be found in Scripture--for those sola scriptura people. I personally appreciate the Church's support in my daily struggle of living for Christ.
I also love the sacramental life within the Church. We can accomplish so much more through the grace of God.

Answer 6

I do not think that following tradition is necessary. When it comes to faith, its all about relationship, not religion. Whatever you do to maintain your relationship with Christ is good enough for me. It is stupid for someone to tell you that you have to do certain things for Jesus to be in your heart. I just don't get it. I am a protestant, but that word is thrown around so casually. It is just a catch all word for any christian who is not catholic.

Answer 7

"Tradition" is a "freak-out" word for many Protestants. They read one verse spoken by Jesus which talks about condemning tradition, and they "freak out" and assume that every and all mention of that word is bad.

In fact, when Jesus in Mt 15:6-9 condemns "these traditions of yours," He was referring to a specific "tradition" -- in this case, the act of dedicating one's money to the Temple, not for charitable purposes, but to avoid having to use the money to care for one's elderly parents.

Unfortunately, Protestants have taken use of the word "tradition" out of context here. They've taken Jesus' words to mean that ALL traditions are bad, when that is not what He was saying at all.

The Bible speaks positively about Sacred Tradition -- that part of religious truth that was not written down but rather handed down orally from person to person. See Is 59:21; 1 Cor 15:3, 11; 2 Tim 2:2.

You know the phrase "It is better to give than to receive." It is attributed (rightly) to Jesus -- but none of the Gospels quote Jesus as saying this!

So how do we know that He said it? It was handed down orally, from Jesus to the next person to the next, and finally down to St. Paul, who attributes the quote to Jesus in Acts 20:35. All of this -- including Paul's attribution of the quote and Luke's written recording of it in Acts -- occured well before the existence of the Bible.

"Better to give than receive," then, is an example of Tradition -- not the human kind that Jesus condemned, but the Sacred kind that is a part of the deposit of faith, in addition to Holy Scripture.

Answer 8

Holy Tradition shouldn't be followed, because it's dogmas and doctrines are man-made, and there for, fallible. The Bible should be the sole source of doctrine.

Answer 9

***Catholic traditions are frivolous and ridiculous. some examples comprise holy water, the pope, confession, transubstantiation, and the rosary**** ~~~Holy Water~~~ Num 5:17 and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel; and he shall take various the airborne dirt and mud it somewhat is on the floor of the tabernacle and placed {it} into the water. ~~~Pope = Bishop of Rome via Definition~~~~~~ 1Timothy 3:a million The asserting is definite: If everyone aspires to the place of work of bishop, he needs a noble job. Titus a million:7 For a bishop, as God's steward, could desire to be harmless; he could desire to no longer be smug or speedy-tempered or a drunkard or violent or grasping for benefit, ~~~Confession~~~ John 20:23 "in case you forgive the sins of any, {their sins} have been forgiven them; in case you shop the {sins} of any, they have been retained." Lev 5:10 'the 2d he shall then practice as a burnt offering in accordance to the ordinance. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin which he has committed, and it would be forgiven him. ~~~Transubstantiation~~~ Mat 26:26 Now as they have been ingesting, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and stated, "Take, devour; that's my physique." ~~~The Rosary~~~ Is a itemizing of Prayers from in the previous Christs concept to his Ascension. So in accordance to you God doesnt want us to desire???? The beads are used to concentration on the prayers. ~~~custom~~~ ---you're able to pay interest to this one!!!!! 2Thess 3:6 Now we command you, brethren, interior the call of our Lord Jesus Christ, which you shop removed from any brother who's living in idleness and not in accord with the custom which you gained from us. to cite you "i ought to bypass on yet there isn't any want." i think of you get the image. I advise you bypass lower back and study the bible and you will see why they are mandatory. in the event that they weren't then they does no longer be stated interior the bible. Peace be with you <<>>

Answer 10

i'm not typing this again, but look at my answer to your other question :)
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhpzNvLj7k4_h.ypvs0UEHTzy6IX?qid=20060724135522AAI6KHP