I remember growing up believing that if I swallowed chewing gum, it would sit in my stomach for 7 years! I also remember being told that if crossed my eyes too much, they’d stay that way!
Both of those “facts” (and others!) were never questioned by me because I figured that my grandmother certainly knew everything there was to know about everything, and my friends had also been told these same things by their family members! After I grew older and learned more about the human body, I realized both of these “facts” were not facts at all! Simply handed-down traditions that may or may not have been believed as facts at one time.
Traditions are easily assumed to be facts by many people. No one really checks them out because it’s easier to accept them as truth. Unfortunately, when it comes to Biblical truths, it is not okay to believe something just because someone told you, or it’s been handed down from one generation to another.
Here’s an example that many of us have accepted as a Biblical truth: Jesus was born in a stable. Truth: There is nowhere in the Bible that states Jesus was born in a stable.
Here’s a personal example that’s a bit backward. I had always been told that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. Then someone told me that nowhere in the book of Jonah does it state that. So I checked it out. Sure enough, there is no mention of what this “big fish” was, so I figured it wasn’t a whale after all. However, I didn’t check with one out thoroughly. I have since found out that it was indeed a whale! How did I come to that conclusion? I read Matthew 12:40. It states, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Now that’s the truth!
Traditions vs truth is addressed in the Scriptures. In Matthew 15, Jesus is confronted by the religious leaders when his disciples didn’t wash their hands prior to eating. The Lord exposes the Pharisees as being blinded by their traditions when He rebukes them for the accusations. They chose to follow traditions passed down through the years instead of relying on the Word of God.
Assumptions are comfortable, and being comfortable feels good. Questioning something that has been passed down from the family or a church is not comfortable, but choosing to believe something because it “feels good” is dangerous. Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
The Bible instructs us to check out what we are told to what God has said in His Bible. Acts 17:11 tells of the Bereans who “searched the Scriptures daily” to determine if what Paul and Silas had preached to them was truly of God. These believers did not simply assume since Paul said it, it had to be true, and the only absolute truth is in the Word of God.
It is important for each of us to make a personal decision when it comes to what we believe. Do we want to know what God says about a particular subject, or do we want to assume something we’ve been taught as truth without knowing for certain? Often, assumptions are not necessarily the whole truth, and sometimes these assumptions can yield fatal consequences. The Titanic was believed to be an unsinkable ship; it was not. Spiritual gambling via assumptions can have negative eternal ramifications for an individual’s soul.
One of the most dangerous assumptions that has been assumed through the years is that belief that salvation is conditional. Some churches teach that a person has to work for their salvation. The Bible clearly states that the forgiveness of sins is a gift of God in Romans 6:23. Another fallacy is that a person can lose their salvation. Again, there is no verse in the Bible that supports this. The Scriptures clearly tell us that we cannot work for our salvation, nor can we lose it. One verse that confirms this is I John 5:13 (although there are many others.) “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
If it is the truth you seek, ask God to help you. Jesus tells us in Luke 11:9, “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
The choice to assume or be sure is yours. Will you be a “Berean”?
Simply trusting every day, trusting through a stormy way;
Even when my faith is small, trusting Jesus, that is all.
Trusting as the moments fly, trusting as the days go by;
Trusting Him whate’er befall, trusting Jesus, that is all.
(from “Trusting Jesus” by Edgar Page)
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” – John 8:32
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“It is far better to know God’s truth than to be ignorant of it.” – Billy Graham