Lloyd Ogilvie tells the story of returning to visit New College...
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Lloyd Ogilvie tells the story of returning to visit New College at Edinburgh University where he had studied many years ago: "I was alarmed by the modernization of those old hallowed halls of theological learning. On previous visits since I was a student, it was always a sentimental journey in nostalgia among the memorabilia of tender remembrance. Now things were all rearranged. But as I walked about, I realized that the important things were unchanged...
"So I believe in traditions -- when they do not distract us from the essentials. But what happens when traditions become more important than the truth they were meant to convey? What if our traditions of worship and customs of the faith become more important than God?"
That was just the point Jesus was making when he criticized the Pharisees and scribes for holding on to traditions at the expense of really understanding what God had intended in the rituals to which they were attached.
"So I believe in traditions -- when they do not distract us from the essentials. But what happens when traditions become more important than the truth they were meant to convey? What if our traditions of worship and customs of the faith become more important than God?"
That was just the point Jesus was making when he criticized the Pharisees and scribes for holding on to traditions at the expense of really understanding what God had intended in the rituals to which they were attached.
