Traditions

1 Corinthians 11:16
But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God's other churches. (NLT)

Our lives are filled with customs. Think about Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. What are your customs or traditions? Do you all head over to Grandmother's house for a big turkey every Thanksgiving? Perhaps it is turkey on Thanksgiving, Ham at Christmas, and a Roast on New Years. Do you always watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve? These are customs and we all have similar ones.

Then there are the customs found in our local church. We usually refer to them as traditions. They can easily be wrapped so tightly with Biblical truths that we treat these traditions as Biblical. In the Catholic Church everyone believed fish had to be eaten on Fridays and that God would be angry if that was not the meal? Then a while ago that "truth" was changed and you can eat whatever you want on Fridays. It was a tradition, not Biblical truth.

In this case Paul is referring to length of hair and wearing hats (covering) in church. He calls it in his words a custom. There are many customs or traditions in churches today. One that comes to mind is baptism. As you go from church to church you find many different baptismal traditions. Some baptize just after birth, others later on in life. Some sprinkle and others dunk.

It is important that we recognize the difference between tradition and Biblical truth. One is manmade and the other from God. This does not mean our traditions are bad. Just because someone has a different tradition in their church from ours does not mean their walk with God is not just as strong as ours. It is the relationship with Him that builds character not the adherence to traditions.