Are all traditions good?

Deuteronomy 18:9“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there.”

2 Kings 17:33Though they worshiped the Lord, they continued to follow their own gods according to the religious customs of the nations from which they came.

Worldly traditions may look charming or interesting, but we should be careful. In accepting these traditions, we may also be accepting ungodly thoughts and practices.

Matthew 15:2“Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”

Romans 4:11-12Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous—even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith. And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Religious leaders complained to Jesus that his disciples were not keeping one of their traditions. They were so focused on the ritual of the tradition that they had forgotten the spiritual meaning behind it. When a tradition becomes more important to us than the meaning behind it, we have lost a sense of what is really important.