Tuesday, April 14, 2015

25 Extra-Biblical Protestant Traditions

Talking to Protestants about the Bible can be frustrating. They insist that they rely only on the Bible, and that Catholics are in deep error by having what Protestants call "traditions of men." That's a quote from Mark 7:8 that Protestants like to use against Catholics.

So, as a rebuttal I created this list of 25 Extra-Biblical Protestant Traditions. I present this list not necessarily as a criticism of the items on the list, but to point out that Protestants rely on their own traditions far more than they realize.





  1. order of worship services (praise singing, then a long sermon)
  2. order of wedding services
  3. order of funeral services
  4. the Biblical canon
  5. Sunday school
  6. youth groups
  7. denominations
  8. Sacraments
  9. the pulpit
  10. grape juice instead of wine
  11. church buildings
  12. stained glass
  13. bringing a Bible to church
  14. pews
  15. asking Jesus into your heart
  16. alter calls
  17. age of accountability
  18. invisible church
  19. wedding rings
  20. the Trinity
  21. the Sinner's Prayer
  22. Lord's Prayer doxology ("for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.")
  23. Bowing heads and closing eyes during prayer
  24. remarriage after divorce
  25. "agreeing on the essentials"
There are probably others. If you can think of any more, tell me in the comments. If you are a Protestant, what do you think about this list? Tell me in the comments.

No comments:

Post a Comment