Traditions

What is it?

Tradition is the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation. This is something you do a lot of the time without thinking any thing of it just because it’s another one of those things you have been trained to do. It can fall into many categories such as the foods you eat, places you live, beliefs you have, and certain things you do.

There are many things you are trained to do without thinking. From elementary school you learned basics such as reading; you don’t have to sound all these words out, right? You learned how to count until it became second nature. You learned the majority of the colors you know so you don’t even think when you name a color. These are similar to tradition. Tradition is something you do without putting any thought into it.

Problems…

The problem comes in when you are performing tasks that aren’t supposed to be tradition like they are tradition. It might not be very financially and medically smart to go out to a fast food restaurant every night, but because it’s tradition, you don’t even think about it. Sometimes you have to put thoughts into your traditions. You have to be true and Real in them.

You are also presenting a reason automatically for any tradition you have. When someone asks, “why?” You simply reply, “Because it’s a tradition.” It may be something absolutely stupid, but because it’s tradition it must be okay, right? You have to be careful of what you have traditionalized, and what shouldn’t be.

Traditions can also involve (habits) addictions. When you have a bad tradition like this, you begin to do it without putting any thought into it. When you do try to put thought into one of these bad traditions, it’s hard to break them because they’ve already become tradition. It takes a lot more effort to break it than make it, so be real when you are about to make a tradition regardless of the fact if it is good or bad. Good traditions require just as much thought as bad traditions.

Real

What is it?

Being real is as simply stated as it can be. Taking off all the facades you may have and showing your true identity. When you are being real, you apply what you have been trained to do into actions that you think through. You don’t just go off of impulses. When you are being real, and someone asks you, “Why?” You cannot just reply because it is a tradition, but you have some reason to back up your action. Rather it be a pointless action or a legitimate action, you have a reason.

Benefits…

With being real, you have no risk in treating certain things like another traditions. You are going to put your skills into what you need them to be put into for some sort of benefit. You won’t just be doing something for the sake of doing it. You will be able to avoid those bad traditions by incessantly being real with yourself. You will think about your actions whole heartedly and how they could affect others.

Your beliefs

This is where tradition vs. real becomes most influential, but before I continue, I want to make sure you know I am not saying ALL traditions are bad. There are some very good traditions out there, but how much more would it mean if you were actually real with your traditions.

Most people go about their belief system by using tradition. Now a days religions are all just traditions. The people that are real with their beliefs are just the radicals. When you make your religion another tradition, you kill your religion. Well, you actually do not kill it, but you make it just like every other religion.

Colossians 2:8 NIV
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.

The problem is Christianity is not your average religion. Christianity is more than just a traditional religion, it is real. If you read the Bible you will understand that Christ demands so much more from you than just keeping your traditions; you have to be real with God and others with love.

Isaiah 29:13 NIV
The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is made up only of rules taught by men.

So where is your Christianity? Is it tradition, or is it real?