Must Tradition Conflict With Truth?

MARTIN LUTHER was convinced he was right. The Bible, he felt, supported him. Polish astronomer Copernicus, on the other hand, thought that the traditional belief of the day was wrong.

What belief? That the earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around it. The truth, Copernicus said, was that the earth itself revolved around the sun. Luther dismissed this, saying: “People give ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the moon.”​—History of Western Philosophy.

Obviously, though, tradition can be true or false, good or bad. British philosopher Bertrand Russell, for example, commends people like Copernicus of the 16th century who had the honesty and courage to question traditional beliefs. They developed a “recognition that what had been believed since ancient times might be false.”

Even if we feel that our traditional religious beliefs are based on the Bible, all of us should take the time to examine them carefully. Remember, when Martin Luther held to the traditional belief of the day and condemned Copernicus, he believed that he had the support of the Bible. Yet, Luther failed to follow the fine example of the ancient Beroeans who ‘were noble-minded in carefully examining the Scriptures as to whether these things were so.’​—Acts 17:10, 11.