Tradition: Passing Down the Treasures

(The following is a newspaper article published in Emmetsburg and Algona, IA on differing dates.)

“Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you” (1 Cor. 11:2). “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter”( 2 Thess. 2:15). 

American culture has long been skeptical of tradition, believing that we humans are progressively improving from one generation to the next. So we discard the old simply because it’s old while we believe that the new must be better. Perhaps this is in part due to the industrial revolution and many recent technological advances: Eg, a car is better than a horse-drawn buggy. 

But too often we apply this “newer is better” principle also to other facets of our civilization. We’ve come to believe that Google is better than memorization, colored lights are better than stained glass, listening to music is better than making music, women are better working outside the home than inside the home, shacking up is better than marriage, and the list goes on and on and on. 

Eventually the positions become more polarized: old things are bad, new things are good. Monuments must be destroyed and our ancestors denounced.

But there’s another way. As Christians we don’t believe that humanity is progressively improving, instead original sin means that we’re degenerating until Christ returns. Just think, in the days after creation, but before the flood of Noah, people lived for hundreds of years, maybe even thousands of years! Today, with all of our advances in medical science, it’s a rarity to make it to a hundred. Because we’re “sinful from our mother’s wombs,” that means humanity won’t improve beyond our already sinful state.

 Thus, while our ancestors weren’t perfect, their works and their faith are still treasures worth preserving so that we (and our descendants) may benefit from them. It’s worth looking at the saints who’ve gone before us, so that we might emulate their character and virtue. We study their writings so that we might learn from them and know what they knew.

Moreover, as Christians we are given the Fourth Commandment: “Honor your father and your mother.” Part of keeping that commandment means speaking well of our ancestors instead of denigrating them. It’s foolish to focus solely on their vices, when we can learn of vices just by looking in the mirror. We would do well to look to the endurance and character of our ancestors and so mine whatever treasures they might have to offer us.

G. K. Chesterton talks about tradition like a fence. One generation builds a fence, and the next (not knowing what it’s for) tears the fence down. The elder generation has an obligation to instruct the younger in the purpose of the fence, to impart meaning and value to our traditions. The younger generation has an obligation to learn from the elder and discover the reason for the fence, to gain an appreciation and understanding of our traditions. It usually turns out that the fence (the tradition) is a great treasure and tearing it down would only be to our grave injury.

The greatest of all the treasures our ancestors have passed down to us, which many today are trying to tear down, is that of the Christian Faith. The words of Holy Scripture have been passed down through the generations. This book contains the truths of who God is and what He’s done for us in Christ. It gives us good examples of faithful Christians who’ve endured trials and yet were saved. It’s a treasure, a tradition, worth preserving and handing on to the next generation.

Instead of forgetting our ancestors and their traditions, we ought to learn from and emulate them; even believe with them! Instead of tearing down statues and monuments, we ought to build them, not to remember humanity, but to remember God and His mercies in Jesus.