Matthew 15 - Tradition

I'm about 24 minutes away from taking my ecclesiology exam at Multnomah Bible College. I hope it won't be too hard, but the professor likes to put shrewd questions (not trick questions) on his tests.

One of the valuable things that I've learned in his class is about tradition...specifically religious tradition. Everybody has it. The Catholics acknowledge their tradition, while the Protestants usually say that we don't have it. But we have tradition. It is inevitable.

We like to say that we go sola scriptura, the Bible only, but we have our ways of doing things and our ways of interpreting.

"Tradition isn't bad," our professor says, "only bad tradition is bad!"

I read Matthew 15 today where Jesus tells the Pharisees that their tradition is bad because it nullifies the word of God. In other words, their tradition actually went against what God had said. But in other places, Jesus practiced tradition that wasn't mentioned in the Old Testament. It was helpful tradition.

I guess the question should be, What tradition does my church and denomination practice that help out...that aid in following Jesus and His word? And what traditions actually go against what scripture teaches? They can be tough questions to ask, especially if you don't realize that you have traditions!