Why many Christians reject God’s word

Mark 7:8-9 “For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men-- the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do." (9) He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.”

The replacement of God’s word with man-made doctrines is not something new, for Jesus had the same problem with the Pharisees and religious leaders in His day, for they too had replaced God’s word with their own man-made traditions. In the above quoted passage of scripture our Lord speaks plainly of the fact that many of the religious practices of His day had replaced God’s word with man-made traditions. And so in a similar manner today, if you speak to certain churches about water baptism as it is taught in God’s word, they emphatically reject the commandment of God so that they can keep their tradition of sprinkling little children. And yet as we will see from scripture, the early church diligently obeyed the Lord’s instruction to be baptised in water. In the light of that we need to ask the question, why it is that so many in the church today reject God’s teaching on water baptism. Some may say that my choice of words is a bit harsh when I say that believers reject God’s teaching on water baptism. I refer you back to the words of the Head of the church, for it is Jesus who said that those who replaced God’s word with man’s tradition “reject the commandment of God, that they may keep their tradition”. Later in this teaching we will address the question as to why so many in the church reject God’s teaching on water baptism.

Michael E.B. Maher