Man's Traditions negate The Gospel

Matt. 15: 9, "They worship me in vain, their teachings are but rules taught by men."
Deut. 4: 2, "Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it...."

A few days ago I put a (what I thought was) rather humorous quote from Charles H. Spurgeon regarding his cigar smoking. While that was a funny quote, he actually wrote a very serious message regarding a "Pharisaic system" that was creeping into the church that added to the commands of scripture. The Pharisees in Jesus' time had added numerous rules and regulations to the 600+ rules that the Old Covenant contained. The irony of them "improving" upon and expanding upon what the law mandated, is they actually BROKE the law because the law specifically said "do not add to or take from".

In regard to the cigar smoking, Spurgeon said he could not find a verse in the bible that said "thou shalt not smoke". If the verse can be produced he was willing to give up the cigars. It's not in the scripture. Often a verse that is invoked in that case is 1 Corinthians 6:19 which says that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The context of this verse is sexual immorality. Nobody argues that we should take care of ourselves. But one cannot take a verse like this out of it's intended context in order to support a manmade doctrine.

Of course it is true that if a person's conscience convicts them that something is sinful, it becomes sin to them and they should stop doing it. As Spurgeon again said, "Why, a man may think it a sin to have his boots blacked. Well then, he should give it up, and have them whitewashed". However, a man has no right or authority to stand up in the pulpit on Sunday morning and impose his own, personal conviction on anyone else.

The Westminster Confession says it very well:

"God alone is Lord of the conscience and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are -- in anything -- contrary to his word, or which -- in matters of faith and worship -- are in addition to it. Therefore anyone who believes or obeys such commands out of conscience betrays true liberty of conscience. The requiring of an implicit faith and an absolute and blind obedience, destroys both liberty of conscience and reason."

Regulations against, alcohol, smoking, playing cards, movies, dancing, and many others are not in the bible and they should not be taught in the church. If you attend a church that mandates these types of prohibitions, it's time to find a new church.

Often this discussion leads to the misunderstanding of what liberty means. It does not mean we can do whatever we want. The bible does specify that certain things ARE sin. Murder, stealing, sexual immorality among others. We need to discuss them. There are also principles that determine whether something may be sinful or not, such as gluttony or excesses. But in those areas we need to come alongside each other as encouragers. But always allow the Holy Spirit to do the work of convicting and sanctification in the life of other believers.

I hope this is helpful.
God bless you all.