Many years ago, the leader of a youth group demonstrated the way errors creep into our understanding. Several youth were chosen to participate and all except one were asked to leave the room. Then the leader told a very detailed story about a car accident that included the color of the cars, the number of people in the cars, the direction they were traveling and other details. Then a youth who was outside was asked to come in and the first youth told the story as he remembered it to the second youth. Then the third youth was brought into the room and the second youth told the third youth the story as he heard and remembered it. And so on until fifth youth reported what he had heard.

It was hilarious. The story got so twisted through five cycles that the story the fifth youth told barely resembled the original story. It was a powerful example of what happens when people pass on the things they think they heard.

Teaching God’s Word to others can fall into the same error and often does. The Levites were chosen by God to be priests. The duties and responsibilities were clearly laid out in the Law of Moses. However, mankind has a tendency to add or subtract things according to their own will.

1 Samuel 1:12-13a Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the Lord and the custom of the priests with the people.

The passage describes how these priests despised the offering of the Lord and how they had sex with the women who came to serve at the doorway of the tent of meeting. The senior priest, Eli, apparently did nothing to stop the sin and corruption.

These men were religious, but they were worthless. They did not know the Lord, and they did not know how the Lord wanted them to function as priests. Any instruction they may have received seems to have been from other people who thought they knew what they should do. It seems obvious to us that the priests should have studied the Law of Moses and followed its instructions.

By the time Christ walked on earth, the Pharisees and other religious leaders had added so many of their own regulations to govern life that no Pharisee could actually keep all of them. That didn’t stop them from trying to apply their rules to Christ.

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? (Matthew 15:1-3)

The Pharisees were very religious, but they were worthless. They placed their rules above God’s Word.

There are church organizations in the world today that are no different. Over the years, the leaders of these organizations have become very religious in their ceremonies and requirements but they are worthless. Several times I’ve talked with individuals who associate with an organization that calls themselves the “church” but I have discovered that the traditions and teachings of these leaders carry more weight with their followers than the Bible itself. When I point out the truth of God’s Word to these individuals, the response is similar: they don’t read the Bible and they would need to ask the priest for a response. Amazing!

So I ask them if they know for certain that they have eternal life. Everyone of them, no matter how good and religious, says, “I hope so, but we can’t know for certain.” So then I show them 1 John 5:13, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” And I say, the Bible says you can know for certain – why don’t you believe? The common response is that they can’t believe unless the priest tells them it is OK to do so, and the priests are unwilling to say that the Bible is correct because their years of tradition have taught that people must pass through purgatory to prepare them for heaven. For these people, tradition trumps the Word of God again!

It saddens me deeply to think that so many people would rather trust a teaching that has been retold many times when they could go right to the original and read the Word of God for themselves. Which do you do?