The Tradition Series: Identity According To Clothing

At 2 years old, I was already hanging out with beauty queens and coming in 1st place ;)

I was dressed up, according to American tradition, as Huckleberry Finn.
Fictions, and their reflected traditions, assist mankind in understanding right from wrong.
It is a 'soft landing' to the morality that God has established.
To see most traditions as anything less is to likely miss the lessons derived from our humanity.

All traditions are kept by human effort.

Some traditions are God-inspired or God-commanded.

When looking at God-taught traditions, notice it is what the tradition produces that is the point.

'How' the tradition is performed is arguably less important acknowledging and doing it.

It is less the setting or the technical details than the fact of breaking bread and forwarding the blessing. (regarding the citations above)

Human effort desires to commemorate an event, ideal, place, etc., perfectly and without defect.

This is commendable, but troubling when such aims stifle the spirit of the tradition.

Traditions can often become religious (even for people claiming to be irreligious).

'Religious' meaning: obeyed / followed out of reverence, or fear, or simply a desire to forward something believed to be true, and becoming monotonous and losing its spiritual meaning.

Traditions ensure that posterity remembers, or does, something... and doesn't forget it.

Reasonable.

Depending on who you ask, all traditions are 'good' or hold some kind of value.

A better word than 'good' could be: edifying.

A better word than 'edifying' could be: useful.

Yet a better word than 'useful' could be: necessary.

When looking at edifying and necessary traditions, we can likely find that most things people do are meaningless and not useful.

But does this reality somehow mean that the believer is restricted from participating in any such tradition?

I don't think so.

So when considering what is necessary as to what can be useful, but not actually necessary, the believer is free to choose.

All human practices seem to have both failures and glories.

Regarding human effort, failures accompany any moments of glory (or success, triumph, accomplishment, realization, et al).

As I began to learn about the world around me, I began to realize how saturated with tradition my existence was.

At first I was alarmed, because I didn't understand.

I was wholly judging be appearance all things around me.

I thought my ignorance in following certain traditions perceived as 'unbiblical' was going to condemn me.

How doubt-filled my heart was.

I was ignorantly judging things according to my eyes, but not His wisdom nor my heart.

I had very little understanding of what God had done, built, and allowed through grace, at that time.

Men very much like to define and label the world around them.

There are many labels.

In this effort people are also defined and labeled, and so are their activities (traditions).

Some of the traditions I kept as a young man could have been labeled 'pagan' by a religious zealot, or simply 'American' if labeled by a religious historian.

Mankind derives meaning from what is most mundane and most profound... and has a tendency to categorize and judge things.

When one man makes a judgment in his heart about something, he may run the risk of condemning another man.

So I wonder: if I had not attached meaning to some 'thing', although I kept 'doing it' out of ignorance (cultural tradition), would I be found guilty due to my ignorance?

Or: did any certain tradition (whether religious or pagan by man's definition) somehow condemn me?

Or: would my not participating in certain traditions (whether religious or whatever) somehow condemn me?

To answer such, we have to consider the condition of one's heart.

And the answers include the teaching of righteousness (10 commandments and the moral perfection established by Christ).

Consider that moral perfection surpasses the world's 'do not touch' restrictions.

The point needing consideration: does a particular tradition / activity / manner offend God as we've come to understand Him in Christ, or somehow trespass the freedom I have been given in Christ?

Freedom not to 'sin' (again, the commandments and loving Him and others), but freedom to meet human beings where they currently are .. yet not indulge as some may indulge their sinful nature.

There is a teaching of righteousness that surpasses the keeping of traditions (or the contesting of them).

Countless traditions are fully ingrained into any people's society, whether they are religiously understood or not.

From the home to the street to the school and to whatever religious institution (whether theistic or atheistic), there is found tradition.

It could be said that human existence is tradition.

A colored spectrum depending on a time, a place, and its people.

Consider what can be learned from the 8th chapter of the 1st letter to the Corinthian church.

Depending on how one was taught to interpret that chapter, and more importantly their gifted amount of faith and understanding, they may miss precisely what, as I understand it, the lessons are.

That chapter's teaching is why there are different looking Christians all over the world.

Christians having many different traditions (whether religious or secular).

Yet these Christians are defined spiritually as one Church (His kingdom - body unified).

Where someone may perceive 'disunity', they likely judge by outer appearance.

If we were to search the hearts (if that were possible by some human effort), we would instead 'see' unity according to the Spirit.

Surely the Spirit of God living in the faithful throughout the generations has become all things to all men.

Consider how religions demand followers to wear certain kinds of clothing.

Many reasons for this.

One reason is to distinguish themselves from others.

Notice the teachings of Christ make no such external demand.

There is the issue of covering of the head when believers come together, but nothing much else regarding uniformity.

There is a reminder to be discreet and to adorn one's self internally, not externally.

If there was a religious dress code taught by God, then the world's Christians would be very visible according to their dress code (as is the case with many other religions).

What is happening on the inside matters most.

The inside (heart and mind) is where no man can 'dress up' or beautify on his own, but only with the help and direction of God.

That place is where one's attire (attitude) is important... and this is what God is asking.

How often do traditions and man's effort actually match the inside?

Not that often.

What is the teaching to those who make such efforts?

Point is: the clothes you wear matters less than how your heart and mind is clothed.

Outer clothing matters less, in general, than how you speak and treat others.

The issue is not avoiding a particular kind of attire (besides things too revealing or depraving), but to always be mindful of what is stirring inside.

Don't be a hypocrite.

Some people think if they dress a certain way, then that effort will convey on the inside.

In some cases, it sure does (like when women and men dress in ways provocative or in appealing to the lust of others... or choose not to).

I've found people who may reflect the traditions of their culture on the outside in wearing things less-than edifying, but inside they are mindful of God's consciousness gifted to them.

Their white robe is revealed to my heart.

I've also found the opposite: people who make a great effort to dress a certain way, but when opening their mouths and according to their actions, they are very far from what their clothes say.

Their lack of wedding clothes is revealed to my heart.

If the inside is not truly 'good', then no matter what clothes you wear, or whatever strict rules you follow regarding your clothes (or other religious efforts), is a futility.

Meaningless.

It would be great if everyone who dressed a particular and identifiable way would be noticed as their efforts desire.

It would be great if the persons on earth wearing white robes truly were 'pure' inside.

However, one has to wait... for that will be made explicitly clear in other time.

Religion is identified as such when people do not understand that 8th chapter's lesson.

Continue to Part Two: Identity According To Ideas.