On Ash Wednesday, remember it is "for freedom, Christ has set us free"

Beggars All: Reformation And Aplogetics ^ | 3-09-2011 | John Bugay

[bkaycee]

It’s true that Lent is one of the earliest church traditions. But it’s also one of just a handful of such “traditions.” Most of these are really just practices, which in fact are no longer practiced. Yves Congar, in his “The Meaning of Tradition,” (and derived from his scholarly “Tradition and Traditions” and a textbook for Roman Catholic seminarians), provides a list (pg. 37) of some of the traditions that can be traced to the early church:

-- The Lenten fast (Irenaeus, Jerome, Leo)

-- Certain baptismal rites (Tertullian, Origen, Basil, Jerome, Augustine)

-- Certain Eucharistic rites (Origin, Cyprian, Basil)

-- Infant baptism (Origen, Augustine)

-- Prayer facing the East (Origen, Basil)

-- Validity of baptism by heretics (pope Stephen, Augustine)

-- Certain rules for the election and consecration of bishops (Cyprian)

-- The sign of the cross (Basil, who lived 329-379)

-- Prayer for the dead (note, this is not “prayers to the dead”) (John Chrysostom)

-- Various liturgical fests and rites (Basil, Augustine)

Again, while such practices as Lenten fasts the sign of the cross are still practiced, many of these “apostolic traditions” – really those extending earlier than the 4th century – such as prayer facing east, and Cyprian’s rules for electing and consecrating bishops are, well, in the dustbin of history.

Note, too, that the only way we can trace these “traditions” is not because they are somehow held “orally”; rather, we know of the origins of these practices because we trace their beginnings through the writings of various fourth and fifth century writers.

Yves Congar was one of the leading experts on the early church. He was influential at Vatican II, and John Paul II named him a Cardinal in 1994. (I mention this because Congar was a noted liberal, as well, and I’ve had some Catholic apologists dismiss “liberal” theologians as if their writings had no official standing in Rome.)

Congar wrote, “We should be prepared to find that the apostles had not recorded in writing all the rules they gave the churches in view of the fragmentary and occasional nature of their writings.” (pg 34)

“What do the written documents we possess tell us of the preparation for baptism, of the Eucharistic celebration, of the way to deal with sinners, and so on? St. John tells us he has not written everything concerning Christ, at least with regard to his miracles (Jn 30:30 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] ; 21:35 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] ). The apostles preached before they wrote (cf. 1 Cor 15:1 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] ); they preached more than they wrote, and their letters speak of certain of their actions that are not recorded in writing. St. Paul gave this advice to the Thessalonians: “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thess 2:15 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] ); he congratulated the Corinthians because they “maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you” (1 Cor 11;2); just as without repeating them he reminded the Thessalonians of the instructions he had given them verbally (1 Thess 4:1-2 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] ; 2 Thess 2:15 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] ); finally he told the Corinthians that he would settle a certain number of points at his next visit (1 Cor 11:4 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] ).” The existence of unwritten traditions is therefore a certainty…”

However, as I noted above, the only “unwritten apostolic traditions” that exist, from the time of the earliest church, are the items listed above.

Catholics are wont to trumpet the fact that their church has “tradition,” but the paucity of actual extra-Scriptural traditions means that any other “unwritten traditions” from the Apostles were either unimportant enough to be forgotten, or written down as Scripture.

David King, in his work “Holy Scripture: A Biblical Defense of the Reformation Principle of Sola Scriptura,” explains this very well:

“Roman apologists use [these texts mentioning tradition, including 1 Thess 4:1-2 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] ; 2 Thess 2:15 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] ] often when objecting to the principle of sola Scriptura. What they attempt to prove is that if we hold only to those traditions delivered in Scripture, then we are not receiving God’s full or complete revelation, leaving the impression that the Roman communion has access to special revelation not contained in holy Scripture. So then, failure to hold to the traditions passed down orally in the Church is disobedience to the complete revelation of God. However, as has been repeatedly shown, the problem is that they cannot even identify what these orally ‘preserved’ traditions are. (pg 119)

So now, for those Protestants concerned that you might be missing out on “the fullness of the faith,” you can know that many of the “infallible [T]raditions” are accretions that were added in post-apostolic times.

And when all is said and done, the best advice about this day comes from the pen of the Apostle Paul:

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh (Col 2:8-22 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] ).

It is “for freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

I am not among those who think that the practice of asceticism in the early church was a good thing. Even if the early church did not explicitly adhere to a doctrine of “sola Scriptura,” what was preventing them from adhering even to this not-unclear admonition from Paul? In the light of this passage of Scripture, what good reason is there for anyone to walk around today with a black dot on his forehead? NOT having a dot on your forehead today also means something in that context.

[bkaycee]

ping

[caww]

In the light of this passage of Scripture, what good reason is there for anyone to walk around today with a black dot on his forehead? NOT having a dot on your forehead today also means something in that context.

Having or not a dot only means something to those who practice getting one. Those who do not practice this are not affected either way IMO. It's simply another ritual practice added to all the others.

[Gamecock]

###NOT having a dot on your forehead today also means something in that context.###

What a great point!

[rbmillerjr]

“It is “for freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” “

In Galatians Paul is addressing the problem of those who are sticking to the Old Law in Judaism, circumcision etc.

The yoke of slavery is targeting the Old Laws, not Christ’s new Gospel an traditions.

[bkaycee]

In Galatians Paul is addressing the problem of those who are sticking to the Old Law in Judaism, circumcision etc.

The yoke of slavery is targeting the Old Laws, not Christ’s new Gospel an traditions.

I see. so a NEW yoke of slavery is fine if the church invents it.

Col 2:16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings?

[Campion]

Jesus said sin is slavery. How then is sorrow for sin, or an external mark signifying it, also be slavery?

[Lera]

Ashes on the forehead on Wednesday = not Biblical
It’s pagan.

Wednesday = Woden’s day
Woden = Odin
Odin = father god for the pagans

The pagans used to put ashes on their foreheads so that Odin would bring them through the fire.

[daniel1212]

Glad to see someone else is reading http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/ See side bars for more.

I actually looked in my FR inbox after reading the latest, and there it was!

While there is nothing wrong with certain non-dogma practices, and even things like altar calls, if Scripturally conformable, the problem is when they become a set ritual, and lead to perfunctory practices.

[daniel1212]

Piety, like prayer, and expression of it, are not wrong simply because pagans do them, but God does not need to borrow from paganism, and while skeptic charge this, they are refuted: http://christianthinktank.com/copycat.html)

It is not clear to me how much Ash Wednesday is, though Christmas certainly is, but the N.T. church is to be led by the Spirit in such, and need not to bow down to an annual mandatory observance which is not set forth as such in the N.T., but was made by Rome, which we are told accommodated paganism:

We are told in various ways by Eusebius [Note 16], that Constantine, in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen, transferred into it the outward ornaments to which they had been accustomed in their own. It is not necessary to go into a subject which the diligence of Protestant writers has made familiar to most of us. The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees; incense, lamps, and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water; asylums; holydays and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields; sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the East, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison [Note 17], are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church. {374} - http://www.newmanreader.org/works/development/chapter8.html

Tertullian of Carthage (in eastern Egypt) noted near the beginning of the third century:
Mithra there, (in the kingdom of Satan,) sets his marks on the foreheads of his soldiers (Tertullian. The Prescription against Heretics, Chapter 40. Translated by Peter Holmes, D.D., F.R.A.S.)

Barbara Walker reported:

Ash Wednesday This allegedly Christian festival came from Roman paganism, which in turn took it from Vedic India. Ashes were considered the seed of the fire god Agni, with the power to absolve all sins…

At Rome’s New Year Feast of Atonement in March, people wore sackcloth and bathed in ashes to atone for their sins. Then as now, New Year’s Eve was a festival for eating, drinking, and sinning, on the theory that all sins would be wiped out the following day. As the dying god of March, Mars took his worshippers’ sins in with him into death. Therefore the carnival fell on dies martis, the Day of Mars. In English, this was Tuesday, because Mars was associated with the Saxon god Tiw. In French the carnival day was called Mardis Gras, “Fat Tuesday,” the merrymaking day before Ash Wednesday. (Walker B. The woman’s encyclopedia of myths and secrets. HarperCollins, 1983, pp. 66-67).

In the Republic of Ireland, Ash Wednesday is National No Smoking Day. The date was chosen because quitting smoking ties in with giving up luxury for Lent. (WP)

But what we need to do more of is the “sigh and cry ministry:

“{4} And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. “ (Ezekiel 9:4)

How many would be marked today in America?

For the degree of abominations quantified, see http://peacebyjesus.witnesstoday.org/RevealingStatistics.html

But remember, we must first look at ourselves more, for “judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1Pt. 4:17,18)

[bkaycee]

Glad to see someone else is reading http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/

Yes, Those brothers are great! Top notch information.

[Salvation]

“Warning, this post has nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with bigotry. All Catholic and Orthodox Catholic posters, as well as all Christians of good will, are advised to avoid such threads as they are here to generate hate, not the love of Christ.”

[Gamecock]

“Warning, this post has nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with bigotry."

Trust the Katholic Kitty

[bkaycee]

I Suppose Jesus was generating hate when he called the pharisees a brood of vipers and blasted their man made traditions in preference to scriptures

[RnMomof7]

later read

[rbmillerjr]

“If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—”Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings?”

As in Galatians, so as in Colossians, Paul was talking about the Old Judaic Laws. There was a particularly strong anti Christian Jewish element in this area. Colossians were bending to their Jewish critics and Jewish past.

Paul stresses most of his energy clarifying the truth of Christian Doctrine. The Truth of the Christ and the Apostolic Church.