CreedsConfessionsandCatechisms

CREEDS, CONFESSIONS, and CATECHISMS

The traditions of men and the teachings of men, i.e. the creeds, confessions, catechisms, Sunday sermons, have had their grip on the masses for centuries.

They have had their grip, even in spite of Jesus’ repeated warnings over and over again of the dangers of following men.

“And He answered and said to them, Why do YOU also transgress the commandment of God because of YOUR tradition? For God said, Honor thy father and thy mother and he that speaks evil of father or mother, let him die the death. But YOU say……"

“And you annulled the commandment of God on account of YOUR tradition.”

“Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy concerning you saying, ‘This people draws near to Me with their mouth, and with their lips honor Me, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the ordinances of men.”

Does this concern you?

Is your heart burdened by the great divide that exists between what the Scriptures say and what has emerged as the cold, hardened institution which we call the church?

From my own perspective and experience, churches, reformed baptist churches especially, are not interested in Truth, but rather in their traditions, confessions, and catechisms of men.

We first create our “own laws” of defining the Scriptures, “laws” which we now enshrine on a pedestal. We then ascribe a name to these laws as creeds, confessions, and catechisms. But we always tend to forget that these “laws” did not come from God's revelation; we invented them!

By almost reverencing these creeds, confessions, and catechisms, we understand "truths." By mingling in a mountain of "human wisdom, reasoning, good and necessary inferences," we transform these "truths" into "God's Laws," and then, bind them on fellow Christians.

Of course, these "laws of God” have now become nothing more than the traditions of men.

As was just stated, Jesus had to contend with them in His day. Time and again He challenged the Pharisees and scribes with respect to their traditions, charging them with making "void the word of God because of your tradition" (Matt. 15:6).

The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus' day guarded their traditions, their creeds, their confessions, with a fervent zeal, and defended them with a "righteous indignation." These "teachers of the Law" were willing to do most anything to protect that which had been passed on to them by their forefathers.

They would resort to treachery, hypocrisy, slander and the spreading of malicious lies, all in the name of God's service, and, finally, would put to death God's Son before they would give up their "sacred idols."

As someone has said, "We may think we are walking in the 'old paths' when we're only standing in a rut!"

The truth of the matter is that much of what “the church” has defined as "God's Law" rests upon the fallen, fallible and frivolous wisdom of man. "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, But the end thereof are the ways of death" (Prov. 16:25).

If the church establishment, along with its’ religious leaders of Christ’s time could invalidate the Holy Scriptures for the sake of their traditions and confessions and catechisms, is it not possible today?

Absolutely! Is the church today somehow immune?

There are some Christians who have not fully thought through the serious implications of this. Searching and quoting the S-C-R-I-P-T-U-R-E-S is of a lesser value to some Christians as opposed to searching and quoting from their favorite author or confession or catechism or creed or church constitution.

In a recent editing of a book entitled True Confessions – Baptist Documents in the Reformed Family, Dr. James Renihan (for those of you who don’t know, a former student of the now defunct TBC Ministerial Academy), he says this in regards to “True Confessions”:

Question: Historically, have Confessions and catechisms been important to Evangelical and Baptist churches?

“Yes…. And this is demonstrated in several ways, reaching all the way back to the Fathers. As heresies began to invade the church, it was deemed best to express the Christian Faith by way of creeds, confessions and catechisms. The creeds and confessions functioned in essentially the same way–they gave definition to the church’s beliefs; catechisms served to teach doctrine…”

“…As the centuries passed, this practice was continued. Philip Shaff’s great work ‘The Creeds of Christendom’ demonstrates how the true church has always adopted and used creeds, confessions and catechisms. More particularly for our own history, there have been a regular succession of creeds, confessions and catechisms produced by the Baptists and other baptistic groups such as the 16th century Anabaptists of Europe. There is a long history of the use of these documents in the church of Christ."

Reformed Baptist Fellowship: http://reformedbaptistfellowship.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/true-confessions-baptist-documents-in-the-reformed-family/

Is it no wonder we’re in such a mess today?

Institutionalism is the clearest mark of the church today – a church that is utterly smothered with creeds and confessions and catechisms of men. And of course, as the church has become “institutionalized,” so of necessity must flow the (falsely imposed) “authority”,

“invested in the elders”, to do God’s work on earth.

(A "falsely imposed authority" that is being exposed on this site)

Many Calvinists, and other "reformed" folk today, read nothing but Reformed titles and are always referring to their confessions, their creeds, their "men"; hence these brethren seldom learn new perspectives.

There’re locked in their own little “system.” In fact, they are continually reaffirming their own "theological correctness."

Such authors as A. W. Pink, the Puritans, John Murray, the 1689 confession, etc., etc., and such publishing companies as Banner of Truth become the sole staple for many.

To stray into a different area of thought is almost unthinkable for many of them. Yea, rather it is viewed as tantamount to heresy!

So the continued effort of:

always reading from the same material;

always listening to the same men of your own persuasion;

always singing from the same song book;

always going to the same conferences where your “already pre-formed perspective” is sure to be presented, all of these efforts (requirements) will certainly fortify you in your belief system.

I say without intending offense that such exclusiveness differs little from that of Jehovah's Witnesses or any other authoritarian groups.

So the next time you start to deride these poor folk, why not try looking into the mirror first!

Many in "church leadership" positions today, as well as many members sitting in the pew, need to wake up and take a good look around and see what is happening. Something is terribly wrong!

One brother jokingly remarked to me recently saying, "Since when does the Church need Scripture to support ANYTHING they teach?"

I began to think, "Hmmm. Has it already arrived to this point?" I'll let you decide.

Ken Cascio

Webmaster

www.wickedshepherds.com

e-mail: webmaster@wickedshepherds.com

Disclaimer: We are not responsible for all views posted on this website. Authors are solely responsible for the content of their articles. Linked material is the responsibility of the party who created it. Those sharing stories or testimonies are responsible for the content of comments. The opinions expressed in articles, linked materials, and comments are not necessarily those of wickedshepherds.com.